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VICKSBURG, MS. – Mississippi Blood Services proudly announces that Ruth Osburn has been awarded the Hero of Humanity Award during our Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at the Vicksburg Chamber of Commerce. Ruth has been a key player in our mission, coordinating blood drives in Vicksburg for over a decade and contributing to the collection of 7,062 […]
The post MS Blood Services ribbon cutting ceremony held this morning appeared first on Vicksburg Daily News.
THEY are sexy and sophisticated – and fashion-savvy celebs cannot pull them on fast enough.
All hail 5 to 10 denier tights, which are also proving big business on the high street as one of the season’s biggest trends.
But how practical are they for a busy working mum?
Emma Lazenby gives her verdict after putting 8 denier tights to the test . . .
“GETTING dressed is a dilemma as the weather flits from wet and windy to hot and sticky.
It’s not winter-tights season but, despite the warmer spells, I’m not brave enough to bare my legs.
Enter the transitional tights.
Colleagues in the fashion department tell me this is a staple this autumn, with celebs such as Maya Jama, Michelle Keegan and Lily Collins showcasing their pins in barely-there 5 denier stockings.
Slimming, sexy and stylish, the sheer hosiery adds je ne sais quoi.
But are they snag-proof and practical for a working mum of three?
I tried an 8 denier pair from Calzedonia — and with a £6.99 tag, I didn’t expect much.
First issue, fear of laddering your tights when you haul them up in a rush is tenfold with these.
You must gather them neatly and peel them up slowly. Like in the movies.
But all good. The next pitfall was then negotiated too — I’d remembered to shave.
And sheer tights need to be pulled taut.
But faced with a wrinkly ankle and low-hanging crotch, I had to start again.
I would need to factor in five minutes each morning to get these on properly, without laddering — not ideal when I have to get three young kids to school before my commute.
Still, they feel sumptuous, so maybe it’s worth sacrificing those five minutes in bed.
It was nippy out, so I pulled on a jumper-dress for the school run and pleaded with my children to not touch Mummy’s new tights.
Pointless, clearly.
My five-year-old daughter dried her wet hands on them.
But they dried almost instantly. Tick — and good to know they’ll fare well on rainy school-runs.
I’m usually a 70-denier gal.
My motto has always been: “The thicker, the better.”
As any child of the Nineties will recall, sheer hosiery was reserved for Madonna in Who’s That Girl and Princess Di.
Barely-theres were too Eighties.
Opaques also meant we could get away with shorter skirts.
I remember when M&S brought out 70 deniers with a magical new material — Lycra.
It was £2.50 a pair and I never looked back.
But that was 30 years ago.
Now I’m in my forties, my thermostat is unpredictable and I’m ready for a change.
Sheer is great when you can’t be bothered with fake tan or have the odd bruise or spider vein — you get the right coverage while adding sex appeal.
I see how alluring Lily Collins, Alexa Chung and Maya Jama look. The tights seem to lengthen their legs.
When I wore them with a mini-dress and asked my husband for his verdict, he said, “Won’t you be cold?’, and then: “The children will trash them.”
I took him back to the Eighties and Nineties — Kim Basinger, and Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles — and he got it.
Sheer tights were sexy then.
I might not be showbiz but he did admit: “I see what you mean, legs do look really nice.”
I also tried them under cropped trousers — they looked great — and as a base layer they felt light and comfortable.
I also tried them with a floaty midi-dress.
Fearing I would look frumpy, I’d never considered tights with a longer frock, until now.
My new hosiery took the edge off the leg-chill factor and there were no ladders — although I had some clear nail varnish to paint over those tiny nicks.
So it might be wise to invest in a ladder-resistant pair, for up to £20.
I did feel a bit overexposed, especially in the mini-dress, but I came to love the bolder sheer look.
And why not?”
HAVING spent months rebuilding a scrap moped before it was stolen, Dwayne Fields was not about to let the thieves keep it.
Marching on to their estate in East London, he grabbed hold of the bike and got into a scuffle with one of the youths.
The next thing the then 21-year-old Dwayne knew, the barrel of a gun was pointing at him from 15ft away and he heard it click. Twice.
Both times he saw the bullet shoot out from the side of the misfiring weapon rather than at him.
Dwayne recalls: “As he was wrestling to reload it, some of the boys grabbed him and said, ‘Don’t waste the bullets.’ ”
That moment changed Dwayne’s life.
Today he is recounting that story with a scarf tied around his neck and wearing a hooded top with the words “Chief Scout” on it.
It was the first time I got to feel I had something to offer because I could take part in what was happening and give advice.
Dwayne Fields
It’s fair to say that the new face of the 114-year-old youth organisation has experienced even more life-and-death situations than his daredevil predecessor Bear Grylls.
Dwayne has been stabbed above the heart and in the abdomen.
As an explorer, he’s also been hunted by a polar bear and faced a deadly viper.
His background could not be more different from Old Etonian Bear: he barely knows his father, is estranged from his mum and spent time homeless.
These days, he goes on adventures with movie stars such as Will Smith and presenter Ben Fogle, and he’s had a message from the Princess of Wales saying: “Looking forward to working with you!”
This week, The Sun joined married father-of-four Dwayne as he gave out his first badges to young Cubs in his new role.
He sees the Scouts as a “wholesome” place in the community, which offers youngsters experiences that will keep them away from knife crime.
Dwayne explains: “I’ve been stabbed on the streets of London.
“To me, that’s an extreme survival experience.
“There are so many young people who pick up knives and don’t respect life.
“The Scouts teaches us respect for your teammate, respect for your peers, respect for your community — which I think is lacking in a lot of places.”
Dwayne, 41, had been “an unexpected pregnancy from a short relationship” and has had almost no contact with his dad.
Born in Jamaica, the youth leader arrived in North London just before his seventh birthday, and shortly afterwards a friend introduced him to the Scouts.
He recalls: “I was anxious and nervous, I was shy.
I hadn’t had any arguments. I had not stepped on anyone’s shoes. I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I lost a lot of blood.
Dwayne Fields
“But before I knew it, we were doing all the things that I was used to doing in Jamaica.
“I was using ropes and logs and planks of wood to make bridges between two benches.
“It was the first time I got to feel I had something to offer because I could take part in what was happening and give advice.”
A few months later, though, his family moved to Stoke Newington in East London and he was unable to continue as a Cub Scout.
The first time he saw a knife was at the age of ten — and nine years later one was plunged into his chest when yobs gatecrashed a friend’s social event.
He recalls: “I hadn’t had any arguments.
“I had not stepped on anyone’s shoes.
“I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I lost a lot of blood.
“And I remember just pointing the knife out to one of the friends to kind of, you know, come to my rescue. And I remember him shouting, ‘He’s passing out.’”
The blade had hit the second rib down.
Any lower, the doctor who saved him at the Whittington Hospital in Islington told him, and it could have punctured his lungs.
His friends urged Dwayne to get revenge on his assailant — but he says: “I don’t harbour ill will towards anyone, even people who have done me harm.
“I decided I was going to use this as a catalyst for me to change my direction and do something positive.”
By the age of 20, his mum, from whom Dwayne is estranged, told him to find his own place to live.
Without the money for a hotel room or rent, he ended up walking more than ten miles from Stoke Newington to Streatham in South London every night, fearing being attacked if he slept on the capital’s streets.
After receiving some kindly advice from a Tube driver after sleeping in an Underground carriage one night, he found himself a place to stay.
Dwayne, whose jobs have included working for the High Street chemist Boots, in a bank and as an apprentice engineer, got his life together after the shooting incident.
He became involved again with outdoor pursuits, taking part in a half-marathon and the Three Peaks Challenge, which sees enthusiasts climbing the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales.
Then, in 2008, he saw Ben Fogle and Olympic rower James Cracknell on TV asking viewers to apply to be the third person on their expedition to the South Pole.
He missed out on the deadline because “it took a good few weeks to pluck up the courage to send an email” but was asked if he’d like to join a trek to the North Pole instead.
After knocking on doors, saving half his wages and using his student loan, the University of East London graduate pulled together the £23,000 he needed for the trip in 2010.
While tackling the frozen Arctic landscape, the team spotted they were being tracked by a polar bear.
Dwayne recalls: “It kept coming closer, to the point where we thought, right, let’s put into action everything that we’ve done in training.
“Let’s make ourselves look big.
“Open your jackets, flap, bang your skis, bang your poles — anything you can do to make noise. And it just didn’t seem to work.
“Eventually, we fired off some of the flares to try to scare it off.
“It slowed it down, but it didn’t stop it.
“As it kept advancing, my teammate took the shotgun and fired a couple of times in the air to scare it off.
“That’s exactly what it did.”
But adventure really starts at the green space at the end of your road or in your local park, if you’re lucky enough to have access to it.
Dwayne Fields
Since then, Dwayne has appeared on the BBC’s Springwatch and Countryfile, worked with Will Smith on his Disney+ documentary series Welcome To Earth and joined Ben Fogle for Channel 5 show Endurance: Race To The Pole.
Now he fronts his own adventure programme, 7 Toughest Days, on the National Geographic channel, visiting far-flung places such as Gabon in Africa and Kyrgyzstan in Asia.
This month, Dwayne will fly to Uganda, Zambia and Tanzania to film a new TV series about the source of the river Nile.
He also founded the #WeToo Foundation, which plans to take ten underprivileged young people to the Galapagos Islands this year.
He says: “I’m really fortunate that I get to go on these big expeditions.
“But adventure really starts at the green space at the end of your road or in your local park, if you’re lucky enough to have access to it.”
Plenty of youngsters are searching for real-world adventures, with 107,000 on a waiting list to join the UK’s half a million active Scouts.
His mission as the new Chief Scout is to encourage enough adults to volunteer to work with the association so that all those kids can find a group local to them.
As he hands out badges to Cubs and Beavers at Kingsbury Scouts in Brent, North London, it is clear that children are inspired.
Dwayne, who was an ambassador for the Scouts for seven years prior to taking over from Bear, says: “Every single one of those badges, to me, is a lesson learned.
“It’s setting yourself a goal and taking the steps to reach it.
“The badge represents dedication, perseverance, resilience, determination.”
And few people represent those traits better than Dwayne.
A CLASSIC trench can see you through to spring and beyond.
Here, Deputy Fashion Editor Abby McHale reveals why it’s the only coat you’ll ever need…
This month, the weather is frustratingly unpredictable. From rain one minute to glorious sunshine the next, it’s hard to keep up.
And when it comes to what to wear, it makes dressing tricky.
Luckily, a trench is perfect for this. Nice and light, it can simply be folded away into your bag if you suddenly feel too hot.
Wear it with a midi dress, such as this floral one from Bonmarché.
Your coat will be light enough for those sunny days, but still warm enough to keep you cosy when the autumn chill sets in.
As we move into autumn, it’s time to start layering.
Begin with a long sleeve top, such as this one from Peacocks.
A sweater vest is perfect for adding warmth to your body while keeping your arms cooler – useful at this time of year when it’s not always super chilly.
Boot season is also upon us and this slouchy pair from TU at Sainsbury’s works well with midi skirts and dresses.
Finish the look off with your trench for the ultimate in autumnal style.
Leopard print top, £12, Peacocks; sweater vest, £14, George at Asda; skirt, £29.99, Reserved; boots, £65, TU at Sainsbury’s; bag, £75, Next
November brings the chill, so bigger, thicker knits are a must.
This is the time of year you’d normally ditch your trench in favour of something thicker, but that need not be the case.
Wearing something warm, like a jumper dress, underneath your coat will ensure you stay toasty.
This dress from George at Asda even has a scarf attached, meaning you won’t need to splash out on a separate one.
Wear thick tights and long boots and I promise you won’t miss your big winter coat.
Knitted dress, £22, George at Asda; tights, £4.50 for a pack of 3, Primark; boots, £59.99, Stradivarius
Now, you may be thinking: “Why is she wearing fewer clothes than with the November outfit?”
Well, December is all about festivities and a trench is the perfect option to wear over your party frock to take you from A to B.
Being beige, it will go with almost everything in your wardrobe and works just as well for both smart and casual occasions.
Dress it up with a clutch, sparkly jewellery and a dress to impress.
Dress, £89, M&S; bag, £16, George at Asda; necklace, £18, River Island; earrings, £2.50, Peacocks; shoes, £27.99, New Look
Thermals are a really great option if you want to wear your thinner coats during the winter months.
Using special technology to keep you insulated, Uniqlo has a great range of thermal pieces, such as this long sleeve blue top that can be worn underneath your clothes to keep you warm.
Once you’ve got the base down, layer it up with the likes of an all-in-one, with a scarf over the top.
Finish off with a pair of winter boots for a comfortable, stylish look that will keep you snug in even the coldest of months.
Jumpsuit, £85, Monsoon; top, £14.90, Uniqlo; boots, £45, Next; scarf, £18.99, New Look
Trench coats are ultra-versatile and really do work with pretty much everything in your wardrobe.
They can instantly make an outfit look smarter, but also look effortlessly cool when thrown over a casual outfit.
Here, our trusty trench works well over the top of wide leg trousers, a half-zip knit and some loafers. It’s an outfit that would work brilliantly for the office, or on the weekend.
Jumper, £35.99, Mango; trousers, £32.99; shoes, £35.99, both New Look; socks, £1.99, Sockshop
Moving away from winter and with the first signs of spring approaching, the trench is a core staple at this time of year.
Go for thinner knits, like this pink knit t-shirt from Next – but as the weather can still be temperamental, an extra layer, like this green TU at Sainsbury’s jumper, can come in handy.
Pairing the look with a midi skirt and some sophisticated slip-on shoes will ensure that you’re ready for spring.
Pink knit, £29; shoes, £60 both Next; green jumper, £22, TU at Sainsbury’s; skirt, £45.99, Mango
A LABOUR council leader was once caught covered in lipstick at a brothel.
When Brent Carter, 52, was found by police there was also a packet of condoms on the floor and lubricating gel.
But the politician avoided prosecution and held on to his seat for Labour in the 2022 local elections.
He was made leader of Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council on Wednesday night.
But some residents have criticised his appointment.
Simon Ryan, 57, said: “How will people respect the town when its leader has acted in this way?
“He was caught red-handed in a brothel — people can’t have faith in a man like that. It’s highly embarrassing for him and for Merthyr Tydfil.”
Police raided the brothel in Merthyr Tydfil in 2015.
The town’s magistrates heard Mr Carter was in the property at the time.
He avoided criminal charges but was reported to the Public Services Ombudsman — which later ruled there was no evidence he had brought his office or authority into disrepute.
Mr Carter said: “I have learned from my past experiences and have worked hard to grow and evolve as a person.
“I am more than willing to address any concerns or misconceptions about my past.”
DUNNO what the BBC’s paying comedian Chris McCausland to take part in Strictly Come Dancing this year, but it’s not nearly enough.
They could double it, in fact, and it would still fall some way short.
Because, in under two hours, Chris didn’t just take the sting out of the bullying scandal, he stopped the grinding torture of the launch show as well.
No small achievement. For if there’s a more empty, mis- leading, pointless, over-hyped, gushing, insincere non-event in the TV calendar, then it’s definitely Transfer Deadline Day.
Strictly’s pairing-up shenanigans comes a close second though, and got off to the worst possible start on Saturday, with a routine that looked like controversial returnee Aljaz Skorjanec had abducted the other survivors on The Vengabus.
It didn’t get any less unsettling once he’d dumped them at the studio, where it swiftly became clear there was a significant gender imbalance with the numbers, which might not have been unconnected to the Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima fallout.
Nine male celebrities, but just six women, Toyah Willcox, Sarah Hadland, Sam Quek, Montell Douglas off Gladiators, Dr Punam Krishan (who?) and professionally trained dancer Tasha Ghouri, who all gave off such an air of desperation you got the impression they’d have paid to take part, even if Strictly had paired them up with Abu Hamza and still jumped into his stumps screaming: “I was hoping for you.”
The blokes didn’t play it totally cool either, obviously. Least of all “singer and actor” Shayne Ward, who’s in it to win it and introduced himself as “The lead in The Good Ship Murder”, like it was Titus Andronicus at The Globe Theatre.
The real 2024 gold, however, was to be found somewhere among the satisfyingly long list of male celebrities who very obviously can’t dance at all.
I’m thinking here of Towie’s Pete Wicks, Wynne Evans, from the Go Compare adverts, and terror-stricken footballer Paul Merson, who looked like he was about to enter a civil partnership with Duncan “Chase Me” Norvelle, on Saturday rather than do a pat-a-cake routine in the group dance.
Merse is very fragile indeed. Not an accusation you could ever throw at DIY SOS host Nick Knowles, who claimed he had “very humble beginnings”, but has certainly been making up for it since then.
To the point he cannot now see a TV camera without explaining: “I’m literally the least talented member of my family,” lest we confuse him with Sir David Attenborough.
Lucky for Nick, Shayne and everyone else on Strictly, then, that the line-up also includes Chris McCausland who’s a welcome presence and corrective, given Strictly’s last high-profile blind guest was The Voice winner Andrea Begley who sang — and I swear I’m not making this up — Dancing In The Dark.
Chris is also that rarest of creatures on TV these days — a funny comedian who can actually make an audience laugh just by butting into Claudia’s interviews with Dr Punam to say: “None of us can believe we’ve managed to get in the same room as a GP.”
There’s not a hint of self-pity about him either, as Chris demonstrated when he claimed his partner Dianne Buswell was: “Absolutely over the moon to get me because she wants November off.”
It was all part of a show-stealing appearance that transformed the atmosphere of the occasion — although it may still be too soon to describe him as Strictly’s “saviour”.
Saturday’s launch was a million viewers down on last year’s and the series is still lumbered with a host, Tess Daly, who cannot ad-lib-a-single gesture, and a suicidal desire to neutralise the barbs of Craig Revel Horwood, who is often the only person that stops Strictly melting into sickly self-parody.
But hey, if they can get Chris McCausland to quick-step around to Pinball Wizard, it might just be worth watching (BBC1, tomorrow, 7pm).
EASTENDERS nicking Teddy Mitchell’s “So dense light bends round him” line from The Thick Of It, left. Absolutely no one paying for anything at Catherine’s Bar on Death In Paradise.
Oversharing Maria refusing to shut the hell up about her sex life on My Mum, Your Dad. And all the most tiresome attention-seekers in Britain waving EU flags at BBC1’s Last Night Of The Proms.
An expression of self-loathing dumb-f***ery which is right up there with the protest legend: “Queers for Palestine.”
OH no. A carriage full of Scottish character actors are stuck on the driverless Glasgow to London sleeper train and it’s hurtling, out of control, towards the border.
There’s Trevor from EastEnders, Peaky Blinder Joe Cole, Game Of Thrones’ James Cosmo, the woman from The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, who’s now pretending to be the Government’s Transport Secretary.
And only Frank Gallagher, off Shameless, can now save them.
My thoughts, then, are with the cast of BBC1’s Nightsleeper, a drama which appears to be based on a classic Thomas The Tank Engine episode called Rusty And The Boulder and finds the world’s least ambitious terrorist blackmailers demanding £10millionor they’ll reduce Britain’s rail network to chaos, which is about a billion less than Aslef would get to achieve exactly the same thing.
So I’d have caved in to their demands by the end of episode two, just to spare us four more hours of a script that does nobody any favours.
It’s 95 per cent disaster movie cliche and techno-garble, but peppered with some earnestly out of date political propaganda about the Government and rail privatisation (Scotrail’s nationalised) and funny name-checks for random Scottish locations like Wishaw, Carstairs and Ardrossan South Beach which, if you haven’t visited it, is a lot like South Beach Miami, but with fewer mobility scooters and more three-legged cats.
Understandably, then, the cast are getting a little tetchy on the train. Trevor from EastEnders is still trying to pick fights with everyone, somebody else has just adlibbed the line “What a bag of s***e,” and James Cosmo’s dropped a stat, in the Scottish borders, which requires critical updating.
“Quintinshill. The worst rail crash in UK history.”
Second worst, James.
SAM MATTERFACE: “Rico Lewis’s only England appearance came on his debut.”
Paul Merson: “I worry that Jorginho hasn’t got real legs.” And Paul Merson: “Villa away, Spurs away and City away are three away games.”
(Compiled by Graham Wray)
TIPPING Point, Ben Shephard: “The Teeswater is a breed of which woolly domestic farm animal?”
Martin: “Cow.”
The Weakest Link, Romesh Ranganathan: “In maps, which letter that is the 24th in the alphabet is said to mark the spot or special location of something?”
Jowita Przystal: “P.”
The Chase, Bradley Walsh: “After the moon, what is the brightest object in the night sky?” Sophie: “The sun.”
And Ben Shephard: “Located in the Mediterranean Sea, the island of Majorca is part of which European country?”
Maureen: “America.”
CHRIS McCAUSLAND rescuing Strictly Come Dancing’s launch.
Apple TV’s Slow Horses masterpiece.
Gogglebox’s Mary Killen watching the full horror of Dating Naked unfold with a sad shake of the head and the comment: “This country’s gone to barnyard culture.”
And a woman called Sophie who gave one of the best answers in quiz show history, on Monday’s episode of The Chase, even if it wasn’t technically correct.
Bradley Walsh: “Which leader was exiled to islands in the Mediterranean and South Atlantic?”
“Tony Blair.”
THIS week’s winner is Labour’s Deputy Moron Angela Rayner and Chucky.
Many congratulations to C Williams, of Yalding, Kent.