News

Father of three rescued from Kong Adventure climbing centre in Keswick tragically dies from injuries

Just terrible news.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 1st May 2023

A father from Lancashire has tragically died following an accident at Kewsick’s Kong Adventure Climbing Centre in the Lake District.

Carl O’Keeffe from Lancaster was attending a family member’s birthday at the popular North West tourist spot on 22 April when he slipped and became stuck in a section of the tunnels that run around the indoor climbing centre.

As various other visitors, staff members and emergency responders began to dismantle the walls to gain access to the tunnels behind them, he was eventually freed after four hours but was left seriously injured.

Sadly, despite being rushed to Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle shortly after, the 49-year-old tragically died as a result of his injuries. His family confirmed his death around 3pm on Sunday, 30 April.

Carl O’Keefe sadly died after his climbing centre this weekend (Credit: Family photo/Keswick Mountain Rescue)

Six different crews are said to have attended the incident, including members of the Cumbria Fire and Rescue, local police and Keswick Mountain Rescue; Cumbria Ore Mines Rescue Unit, Great North Air Ambulance and the Northwest Ambulance Service‘s Hazardous Area Response Team.

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A spokesperson for Cumberland Council issued a statement saying: “We have been notified of an incident that took place at the Kong Adventure Centre, Keswick, and are investigating the matter as the regulating body.”

As per ITV, the dad of three was described as a clever and devoted family man who also was also “a strong advocate for the neurodiverse community”, helping teach people to “learn what adjustments they needed in life and to not only accept them but to live them.”

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Carl often wore dark glasses and a fedora hat as he was photophobic — sensitive to light — and was described as having “a brilliant mind”, having been in the process of applying to study an astrophysics PhD and explore his love of space.

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Writing in an emotional Facebook post, Carl’s older sister Olivia said: “At 3pm today I sat with Carl and said goodbye forever. He was my baby brother and over the last few years became my best friend.

“I loved him dearly and we were in contact daily doing word challenges and exchanging weird facts of nature. I also got to spend alternate weekends with him and his children.”

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Having been at his bedside for the entire time he spent in intensive care with crush injuries, she explained how he was moved to a private room “so that he could die with some dignity.” She went on to describe the period as “unbearable”, leaving her and his loved ones “broken-hearted.”

Our thoughts are with Carl’s family and friends. Rest in peace.

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Featured Image — Keswick Mountain Rescue/Family Photo

News

Yorkshire Tea is Manchester’s ‘favourite’ brand of teabags, according to new data

Danny Jones Danny Jones Yorkshire Tea is Manchester's favourite teabag

The Great British debate of which teabag is best is one that will rage on for millennia, that’s just the way it is, but according to new data, it sounds like we might at least have an answer to which brand makes for Manchester’s favourite brew.

It won’t be a surprise to many of you and we can certainly confirm it on our end but the one and only Yorkshire Tea looks to have taken the cuppa crown when it comes not only to Manchester’s preferred teabag but seemingly the best-loved in Britain as a whole.

This is according to numbers pulled by local firm, TonerGiant. The Atherton-based ink and toner suppliers decided a poll around the office wasn’t enough and instead chose to turn their knowledge of the market and consumer trends into a bit of online research.

At the end of the day, tea is has got to be the most important of all the office supplies, surely?

mancunians favourite brand of teabags
According to the stats, Yokrshire Tea is Manchester’s favourite brand of tea bags. (Credit: Yorkshire Tea)

Using data from trusted online source Statista, which nailed down the top 25 teabag brands in the UK, each make was then ranked in relation to its average monthly searches via Google Keyword Planner to reveal that Yorkshire Tea was clearly the top dog.

With roughly 390 searches per month in Manchester alone, compared to PG Tips as the next best (260), it seems us Mancs have to concede at least one thing to our fellow Northern county: Yorkshire makes a bloody good brew.

The Roses rivalry raged for centuries but if there’s one thing that brings us together, it’s a good cuppa.

In terms of other tea brands that came in high on the leaderboard, Pukka Tea (170), Twinings (140)and Teapigs (90) made up the rest of the top five most-searched tea brands in Greater Manchester. It’s also interesting to see how those figures looked when extrapolated nationwide. Here’s the full ranking:

RankTeaAverage UK monthly searches
1Yorkshire Tea27,100
2PG Tips18,100
3Pukka Tea14,800
4Twinings12,100
5Teapigs8,100
6Whittards Tea6,600
7Tetley4,400
8Clipper Tea4,400
9Lipton Tea3,600
10Barrys Tea3,600
11Thompsons Tea1,300
12Typhoo1,300
13Taylors Tea1,300
14M&S Tea1,300
15Tesco Tea1,000
16Tick Tock Tea880
17Sainsbury’s Tea720
18Lyons Tea720
19Asda Tea590
20Aldi Tea590
21Waitrose Tea590
22Lidl Tea480
23Morrisons Tea320
24Bewleys Tea90
25Cafedirect Tea40
Few of these on here we’ve never heard of. Taste test, anyone?

While Yorkshire Tea was found to be Manchester’s and the nation’s favourite, Belfast was the only UK city where Yorkshire Tea didn’t take the top spot. Instead, it was Irish-owned Barry’s Tea that came out as their favourite – we definitely need to hold a ‘brew-off’ between the two. The Hoot, you up for it?

As for supermarket’s own-brand offerings, out of the eight options on the list, Marks and Spencers teabags were found to be the most popular, closely followed by Tesco and then Sainsbury’s.

Commenting on the findings, TonerGiant’s Stuart Deavall said: “With so many office workers opting for tea to get through the day, it’s no surprise that the UK has a day dedicated to the drink.

“In light of National Tea Day on Sunday, 21 April, our new data shows that Yorkshire Tea is the nation’s favourite, with over 27,000 Brits searching every month… We can expect many Brits to be celebrating in style this Sunday, no doubt with a mug of Yorkshire tea in hand”. Speaking of, anyone fancy a brew?…

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Featured Images — Yorkshire Tea/Rumman Amin (via Unsplash)

News

Manchester palaeontologist unearths bones of what may be the largest known marine reptile

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

A Manchester-based palaeontologist has unearthed the bones of what may be the largest known marine reptile.

This new identification is a crucial part of a fascinating eight-year long discovery journey.

It all started when a seasoned fossil collector named Paul de la Salle found a giant jawbone on Lilstock Beach, near Bridgewater in Somerset, back in May 2016, and then father and daughter, Justin and Ruby Reynolds from Devon, found the first pieces of a second jawbone and another giant bone while searching for fossils on the beach at Blue Anchor, also in Somerset, in May 2020.

And now, a palaeontologist at the University of Manchester (UoM) Dr Dean Lomax, has identified the fossilised remains of the second gigantic jawbone that measures more than two metres long.

Experts have identified these bones as belonging to the jaws of a new species of enormous ichthyosaur – which is a type of prehistoric marine reptile – and astonishing estimations suggest the oceanic titan would have been more than 25-metres long.

Dr Lomax has been working together with Justin and Ruby Reynolds, along with Paul de la Salle and several family members, since the father-daughter duo first contacted them about their groundbreaking discovery in 2020.

A Manchester palaeontologist has unearthed bones of what may be the largest known marine reptile / Credit: UoM

“I was amazed by Justin and Ruby’s find,” Dr Lomax commented.

“In 2018, my team and Paul de la Salle studied and described Paul’s giant jawbone, and we had hoped that one day another would come to light.”

He explained that Justin and Ruby’s new specimen was “more complete and better preserved” than the first find, and that he “became very excited” at the chance to learn more following their discovery.

As mentioned, the Manchester-based research team, led by Dr Lomax, revealed that the jaw bones belong to a new species of giant ichthyosaur that would’ve been about the size of a blue whale, and they have called the new genus and species Ichthyotitan severnensis – which means ‘giant fish lizard of the Severn’.

The bones – which represent the very last of their kind – are around 202 million years old, and date back to the end of the Triassic Period in a time known as the Rhaetian.

During this time, the gigantic ichthyosaurs swam the seas while the dinosaurs walked on land.

The University of Manchester, where Dr Dean Lomax works as a palaeontologist / Credit: UoM

Ichthyotitan is not the world’s first giant ichthyosaur, but the discoveries by Paul, and Justin and Ruby, are said to be “unique among those known to science”, as they appear roughly 13 million years after their latest geologic relatives – including Shonisaurus sikanniensis from British Columbia in Canada, and Himalayasaurus tibetensis from Tibet in China.

Speaking on the confirmation of the bones’ identification this week, Dr Lomax said: “This research has been ongoing for almost eight years.

“It is quite remarkable to think that gigantic, blue whale-sized ichthyosaurs were swimming in the oceans around what was the UK during the Triassic Period.

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“These jawbones provide tantalising evidence that perhaps one day a complete skull or skeleton of one of these giants might be found.”

Featured Image – UoM

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