Ex-rugby stars turned motor neurone disease campaigners Rob Burrow and Kevin Sinfield have both been honoured at this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony.
The former Leeds Rhinos teammates have both gone on to become truly inspiring individuals in their own right but remarkable fundraising figures too, generating millions for the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) and other charities in the last few years.
Raising huge awareness around the condition in the UK, the pair’s impact could not be overstated, with Burrow earning the Helen Rollason Award “for outstanding achievement in the face of adversity” and Sinfield also handed a special award for his own extraordinary efforts this year.
We’ll pre-warn you, it is a tearful watch:
This year's Helen Rollason award goes to Rob Burrow 🏆
From fundraising efforts to his fight against MND, the rugby league legend is an inspiration to us all ❤️
Having already been awarded an MBE not only for his services to sport but for MND charities and now this, Burrow told the audience: “I’m totally overcome with this award due to the amount of amazing people that have won this before, in particular my MND hero Doddie Weir.”
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Weir – a fellow rugby and fundraising hero in Scotland – sadly passed away in November this year, with legends of the sport turning out for his tartan memorial service earlier this week.
Speaking via the same computer that allowed him to read his own CBeebies Bedtime Story in his own accent earlier this year, Burrow said that he didn’t feel he would be here without having met Weir less than a week before his diagnosis in 2017, insisting that he was accepting on the award “on his behalf”.
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He also recognised his friend Kevin, “who makes the impossible, possible”, and his family and wife Lindsay for putting their lives on hold to care for him, stating that he would not be here “without [their] sacrifice”. He also thanked his fellow MND warriors, assuring them, “we will not stop, we’ll find a cure”.
As for local Oldham lad and OBE, Sinfield, he delivered some rather moving words of his own as it was clear there was a lot of emotion on the stage, throughout the room and certainly among those watching back home.
"Rob's probably the most inspirational bloke in the UK at this moment" ❤️
Rob Burrow's former teammate, Kevin Sinfield, who's raised money for MND causes, is recognised with a special BBC Sports Personality award.
The 42-year-old dubbed his friend and colleague as “the most inspirational bloke in the UK at this time”, remarking that his efforts have “shown us all how to be better friends” during difficult times.
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He also went on to reflect on the power of sport and its ability “to bring communities together and provide hope” for groups like the MND community, also honouring Doddie Weir by sharing his lasting and crucial message: “MND isn’t incurable, it’s underfunded”.
However, Sinfield’s own inspiring and simply incredible feats cannot be overlooked, having completed the ‘Ultra 7 in 7’ marathon challenge in 2022 on top of numerous other unbelievable achievements in previous years, helping raise over £7 million for MND charities.
The newly-named England defensive coach summed up his speech by reassuring that “we are going to keep fighting; these people need us, the families need us”, adding that he and his team, not to mention everyone else involved in MND will “keep banging the drum and doing our best”.
Truly powerful stuff and more than well deserved, both of them.
If you want to help Rob Burrow and Kevin Sinfield and make an impact in fighting this disease, you can donate to the MNDA here.
Onlookers ‘in tears’ after tiny duckling rescued from storm drain in beauty spot
Daisy Jackson
The RSPCA has shared a heartwarming video of a reunion between a tiny duckling and his mum, after the baby bird fell into a storm drain.
The charity, with the help of staff in the nearby Grandpa Greene’s Luxury Ice Cream Parlour, managed to fish the tiny bird out of the storm drain in a painstaking two-hour-long operation.
Miraculously, the duckling was unharmed, and his mum was waiting nearby on the canal in Saddleworth ready to be reunited with her baby.
The RSPCA has now thanked the staff member who helped rescue the duckling, and issued a warning to the public to keep dogs on a lead when near wildlife, believing the poor bird was chased by a dog before falling down the five-feet-high grid.
The rescue operation too place in Diggle last Wednesday 9 April, with Animal Rescue Officer Lee Ferrans taking on the ‘long and painstaking’ process of tempting the duckling into a net.
Lee said: “I wasn’t able to lift the grid so the only thing I could do was push an extendable pole straight down and try to catch the duckling in a net. There wasn’t a lot of room for manoeuvre and the net kept catching on all the debris.
“Just when I thought I’d been successful, the duckling kept disappearing into a drain on one side and then popping out again. A member of staff from Grandpa Greene’s had just finished her shift and came across to the other side of the canal to help me. I unscrewed the top of the pole with the net and held it down on one side of the drain while she used another section to gently encourage the bird to go into the net.
“It was quite a long and painstaking rescue but we eventually managed to bring the little one back up safely after more than two hours.”
The pair then placed the duckling into a cardboard box before heading further up the canal to reunite them with their mother and six sibling ducklings.
The adult duck ‘instantly recognised’ the chirping and swam straight towards it.
Lee added: “A little crowd had gathered and as the family were reunited people were shedding tears. It was a really lovely moment to see them all back together.
“I’d especially like to thank the member of staff from Grandpa Greene’s who offered an extra pair of hands – I couldn’t have done it without her – and to all the people in the area who stopped and were concerned.
“Storm drains can be a bit of a menace for ducklings, especially at this time of the year when there are babies around, and this brood was only a few days old.”
Man jailed for throwing acid in the face of a 16-year-old boy
Daisy Jackson
A man has been thrown behind bars for eight years and two months after throwing a corrosive substance over a 16-year-old boy, leaving him with serious injuries.
When Gilson Martins of Ashton Street, Rochdale, was arrested, he was found to be in possession of acid, being kept in a bottle of hair dye.
He pleaded guilty to robbery, possession of a corrosive substance, and witness intimidation, and was also sentenced for unrelated drugs offences in 2022.
On 24 March 2024, Martins plotted the attack on his 16-year-old victim, even demonstrating to another man how effective the acid would be by using it on a piece of paper.
The victim was then lured to an address in the Woodley area by an accomplice, where he was confronted by Martins.
When an altercation broke out, a corrosive substance was thrown over the teen.
He was taken to hospital with serious injuries which required intensive treatment at a specialist burns unit, with several more procedures taking place since.
When a man spoke to police about the acid attack, Martins attended his home and threatened to ‘stab him, throw acid on him, and carve his name’ into him.
#JAILED| A man has been jailed following an acid attack on a 16-year-old boy in Stockport last year.
Gilson Martins (06/12/01) was arrested by armed police following the attack, and was discovered with an acid-filled bottle of hair dye.
The man in question barricaded himself in his bedroom while Martins knifed the door, fleeing shortly before police arrived.
He was arrested by armed officers on 10 April this year, where he was found with a bottle of hair dye.
Detective Constable Heather Parke, from GMP’s Stockport district, said: “The effects of attacks involving corrosive substances are well-known, and can result in severe, life-changing injuries or even death.
“Using them in attacks is utterly vile and I am glad Martins is now behind bars for his vicious assault. His victim received injuries from which he is still suffering, and has already received numerous treatments.
“We have zero tolerance for these sort of crimes, and we put considerable resources into ensuring that Martins was arrested, charged, and sentenced. He now has a long time to think about his actions inside a prison cell.”
Danny Jones -
22nd December 2022 
