Junior soldiers graduate from the AFC in Harrogate

19^th February 2015

Junior soldiers graduate from the AFC in Harrogate

The end of the beginning for hundreds of recruits passing out from their phase one training in the British Army

Platoon 6 on parade at Harrogate earlier today.

By Rebecca McNaughton

Today almost 500 soldiers from intakes 36 and 37 passed out of the Army Foundation College (AFC) in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

The ceremony that took place in Penny Pot Lane marked the end of 457 male and female junior soldiers phase 1 army training.

Despite the heavy rain, the young soldiers didn’t let the weather rain on their parade as they graduated with their heads held high.

The AFC parade is the second biggest military parade in the UK. The biggest being the Queens ‘Trooping of Colour’ birthday parade, that is held annually in June on Horseguard’s Square in London.

Training Courses

The AFC provides junior soldiers with both a 23-week and 49-week course depending on their chosen unit.  

The 49-week course leads to phase two training in the Royal Artillery, Royal Armoured Corps and Infantry. The 23-week course is for soldiers from other cap badges who will go on to have more increased technical coaching within their new unit.

After graduating today, each soldier will continue to progress their training with their chosen regiment in different locations around the UK.

Lieutenant General Sir Gerald Berragan – the Army’s Adjutant General, awarded 22 Junior Soldiers with respected trophies during the ceremony. JS Crawford was one of the young soldiers to win a trophy; he was awarded with ‘Best Junior Soldier’ from intake 36.

Infantry

 18 year old JS Crawford confessed ‘There’s a lot of good recruits from this intake who are equally as worthy of this award, but I am honoured to be representing everyone involved’.

JS Crawford’s chosen unit is Infantry, his next step will be moving on to the Infantry Training Centre (ITC) in Catterick on the 8th March 2015.

Recruits joining the Infantry regiments like JS Crawford need to finish the specialised Combat Infantryman’s Course at the ITC, which will finalise their combined phase 1 and 2 training.

Thousands of families and friends watched with pride at the Uniacke Barracks as each soldier finalised their time in Harrogate.

Among the relatives was proud mother Lesley Crawford who revealed ‘When my boy first told me he wanted to be in the army I was scared, but today I’ve realised that the army are lucky to have him as he is now a loyal soldier, I feel nothing but joy’.

As they march onto their next stage of training, they will take forward all that they have learnt from their last year at AFC.

Addressing the Junior Soldiers in the final stages of the ceremony, the Adjutant-General ended with ‘Critically being here you have adopted a new set of values and standards which if you follow, will stand you in good step, not only for your time in the army but for the rest of your lives’.

Fashion

23rd February 2015

Newcastle based fashion stylist set to open an ‘Oscar dress’ replica store!

The 87^th Academy Awards brought more stunning dresses, designs and sparkles to Hollywood for one night only. Now, they’re coming to Newcastle!

By Lauren Etherington

Last night brought us the 87^th Academy Awards held at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Julianne Moore and Eddie Redmayne took home the best actor/actress awards, but which designers were the real winners out on the red carpet?

The Fashion

The red carpet saw five pairs of Jimmy Choo heels, five Christian Louboutin’s, nine Prada suits, nine Versace dresses and hundreds of thousands of crystals. Lupito Nyong’o, star of “12 Years a Slave”, wore a Calvin Klein gown with 6,000 pearls. Scarlett Johansson’s dress was embossed with around 2,000 Swarovski crystals, and Lady Gaga’s custom Alaia gown took 25 people to construct, and was made in less than 1,600 hours.

Julianne Moore wore a Chanel Haute Couture gown, designed by Karl Lagerfeld, which was sewn by 27 people and was finished in 987 hours, decorated with 80,000 hand-painted sequins. Wow!

Emma Stone wearing Ellie Saab

Replica Designs

Former celebrity stylist for online fashion store ASOS, Gemma Todd, said her favourite dress was worn by Emma Stone – designed by Ellie Saab. “The colour was beautiful with her hair and skin tone. I loved how the dress was demure from the front with a high neck and long sleeves, and then backless.”

The stylist, who has dressed A-listers ranging from Britney Spears to Rihanna, is now branching out to a new career within the fashion world. “I’m opening a store in Newcastle that will sell identical replicas of some of my favourite Oscar dresses, for a fraction of the price!”

A Fraction of the Price

A whopping amount of money was spent on jewellery for the evening, including Rita Ora’s Lorraine Schwartz jewellery, a pair of 40 carat Victorian-inspired diamond drop earrings and a 25 carat champagne diamond ring which totalled a massive £7.5 million alone.

Karolyn Waddington, a Marc Jacobs Womenswear Production Intern in New York (and close friend of budding fashion entrepreneur Gemma), credited the teams that put together these designs and dresses in such a short space of time.

“My favourite dress from this year was definitely Scarlett Johnasson wearing Atelier Versace. The bold necklace in addition to the striking emerald green dress was a knockout. I hope to see this in Gemma’s store for a fraction of the price, because I will certainly be the first to go and snap that up!”

Gemma, aspiring stylist since the age of 15, has always had to ambition to try and help people with their fashion sense and the way that they dress. “I loved playing dress up from a really young age. I’ve always wanted to dress Posh Spice when she first started in the Spice Girls. She looks brilliant these days and I love her sense of style.”

The store, located on Grey Street and set to launch on 03/05/15, will replicate all of the dresses worn by “Best Actress” winners from the past ten years, along with many more of the stunning designs.

With just 370 days to go until the 88^th Academy Awards party, the countdown has already begun to see the next lot of stunning dresses.

From renowned rock venue to a gourmet menu

6th February 2015

Locals are frustrated by the opening of an Italian restaurant in a County Durham pub, where Led Zeppelin once played.

By Bethan McCoy

Before: The Argus Butterfly before new ownership © vintagerock.wordpress.com
After: The newly refurbished Tree of York Road

This week Peterlee saw the opening of Martino’s Italian restaurant, inside of The Tree of York Road, which was once The Argus Butterfly. While many occupants of the County Durham town are rushing to try the food at the new gastro pub, the latest image is causing some frustration. Some locals feel that their pub has been taken away from them, since the ownership has been passed from pillar to post over the years.

Led Zeppelin once played at The Argus Butterfly in the 1970s, which is a ‘claim to fame’ for a small and underprivileged town, and some believe this is a part of history that should not be taken away.

Football failure

The local football team, Peterlee EBG, would drink in The Argus Butterfly after matches and most other days also. They were forced to fold when the new owners took over and wouldn't support them, as they hand no funding or a pub to play from.

22-year-old Luke Wallace, who lives next to the pub and played for the team, spoke to Digital Journalism about the problem, "I feel as though the owners are discriminating against class. It's not right that they've told us they don't want our sort in when there's lads who've been drinking in there for years." 

One of the old regulars invites friends to his house where they bring their own alcohol, rather than visiting The Tree of York Road, in spite of the changes made by the new owners.

Alan Jones, who did not wish to be filmed, told us, "The owner's views have been spread just through word of mouth, but with a cocktail list and dress code I think it's obvious we aren't welcome there for a good drink."

Peterlee has an unemployment rate of 5% and is known as one of the worst places to live in the UK. Jones explained, "They're expecting us to be something we're not just to be allowed in their restaurant. Everyone around here is working-class. We need a good old-fashioned pub, not somewhere we feel like we can't go without getting judged."

Positive change

The pub describe themselves as a, "Friendly local serving quality beers, wines and spirits along with unpretentious pub-food every day of the week." The food served is of a higher standard than regular 'pub-food', with most locals we spoke to describing it as 'posh'. However, there are some locals who believe the pub's new image is a positive development. 59-year-old Olwen Hunter told Digital Journalism, "In all the years that I've lived in Peterlee that pub has always been an eyesore and attracted rowdy alcoholics. I can understand that the footy team is suffering and people feel unwelcome, but it's important to see the jobs it's creating. It's nice to see a bit of class come to an area that gets nothing."

Whether or not the owners are discriminating, the pub is currently more successful than ever, with nearly 4000 likes and a 4.5 star rating on it's Facebook page.