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£32million helicopter deal signed at Italian Embassy reception
An historic £32 million deal for two new state-of-the-art helicopters was signed last night at a glittering reception at the Italian Embassy in London.
Celebrity supporters including Eastenders actor Adam Woodyatt, chef Antonio Carluccio, former tennis star and TV presenter Annabel Croft, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, chocolatier Paul A Young and singer Anna Pancaldi were among those who turned out for the event.
The seven year lease deal for two Anglo-Italian AW169 helicopters was signed by senior figures from the Children's Air Ambulance, helicopter company Leonardo and Specialist Aviation Services.
Award-winning teenage soprano Katie Marshall treated the audience to a memorable performance after the contract signing formalities were completed.
The Air Ambulance Service's CEO Andy Williamson told the packed reception the new helicopters would make a "huge difference" to the young children who need our services.
The commitment is one of the biggest ever investments in air ambulance services in the UK. The new aircraft will come into service in 2017 – providing seven day a week, 19 hours a day coverage from new bases in the north and south of England.Currently our one helicopter operates in daylight hours, Monday to Friday.
Read all about the new helicopters here.
Find out how you can support the Children's Air Ambulance here.


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Mountain Fest is the perfect way to get motivated and learn skills for spring and summer mountain adventures. Come by and learn about everything the Club has to offer while enjoying beer, music, skills clinics, open climbing and more.
Join Caribou Mountain Collective for live music, beer hosted by Upslope Brewing Company and get a chance to win a 2 night lodging giveaway near Winter Park by Koebel & Co. Gear demos from Arc'teryxand Tenkara USA will also be offered.

subset: commoncrawl


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Modi in 'Mann ki baat' urges students to compete with themselves
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday exhorted students and their families to treat exams as a festival and not as a source of stress, saying they should "smile more to score more" and not take it as "test of life".india Updated: Jan 29, 2017 13:55 IST
With the exam season round the corner, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday exhorted students and their families to treat exams as a festival and not as a source of stress, saying they should "smile more to score more" and not take it as "test of life".
In his monthly 'Mann ki Baat' broadcast, he underlined the need for students to relax by taking breaks from studies and rest properly and said that the memory's recall power is at its best when the mind is relaxed.
He also asked students to chose 'anuspardha' (competing with self) over 'pratispardha' (competing with others) and cited the example of legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar who kept challenging himself and bettered his records.
Students, parents and teachers were the focus of Modi's 40-minute address as he noted that he found exams a source of concern for them wherever he went all these years and he always felt that they should come out of this "strange psychological pressure".
"Examination should be a source of happiness. It should be seen as an opportunity to highlight all the hard work you have done in a year. There should be enthusiasm and zest. It is your decision to treat as a pleasure or pressure. Those who treat it as a pleasure will gain and those who treat it as pressure will repent.
"My view is that examination is a celebration. Take it as if it is a festival. And when there is a festival or celebration, then the best comes out of us. We feel the society's strength during celebrations. Whatever is the best comes out... Smile more to score more," he said.
He gave the example of discipline seen among masses in 'kumbh' fair even though it is generally felt that there is a lot of indiscipline among people. "This is the strength of celebration."
During examination, there should be a festive atmosphere among students, families and neighbours and it will convert this pressure into pleasure.
He also asked people to put examination in perspective and not treat it as "a question of life and death or as a test of life but merely of the study students have put in during the year".
He urged students not to chase marks but gain knowledge.
"Only studying for marks will lead to shortcuts and one will limit himself or herself. It is important to study for knowledge. Marks and marksheets have a limited use. Knowledge, skill, self-confidence and commitment will be of use to you during life," Modi said.
He have the example of late President A P J Abdul Kalam's failure in an air force recruitment examination and said had he accepted it as a defeat, then India would not have got such a great scientist and President.
He also asked students to desist from resorting to shortcuts and cheating to score more.
"To cheat is to be cheap. It makes you a bad person. If you form a habit of cheating, there will be no desire to learn. Trying to cheat involves one's time to find ways. Use it for better purposes. People have told you often but I am saying again -- do not cheat. Even if no one catches you, you know that you have cheated in exams," he said.
First Published: Jan 29, 2017 13:53 IST


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Encore Houston
Encore Houston, Episode 90: Ars Lyrica
Posted on · Ars Lyrica performs works by J.S. Bach and François Couperin.
Posted on · Ars Lyrica performs works by J.S. Bach and François Couperin.
Posted on · Ars Lyrica performs music by Telemann, Handel, and J.S. Bach.
Posted on · Ars Lyrica and the Bach Society Houston perform an English oratorio by Handel.
Posted on · Ars Lyrica performs works from the collection of eighteenth century Berlin socialite Sara Levy, with pieces by C.P.E. and W.F. Bach and Telemann.
Posted on · Ars Lyrica performs music of Beethoven, J.C.F. Bach, and Jean-Marie Leclair with special guest soloists.
Posted on · Ars Lyrica Houston and mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton perform music inspired by pursuit, love, and even madness.
Posted on · Houston Public Media is partnering with local concert organizations to produce "Encore Houston," a new weekly music show and podcast that celebrates Houston's vibrant classical music community.
Posted on · Houston ensemble presents love duets from Monteverdi and Handel, and cantatas by Vivaldi and Scarlatti.
Posted on · A concert of romances, villancicos and zarzuelas from the Old World and the New.
Posted on · Addicted to coffee? Yeah, it was a problem in Bach's day too as his famous Coffee Cantata shows!
Posted on · Early music ensemble Ars Lyrica Houston's annual New Year's Eve concert in the Hobby Center's Zilkha Hall focuses on music from 17th- and 18th-century Venice and its famous carnival. Artistic Director Matthew Dirst talks with St.John Flynn about Ars Lyrica's Venetian Carnival.


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On December 14, 2016, come and hear Toronto's own ACTA Recorder Quartet as they present a program of early and modern-era music for the holiday season!
Wednesday December 14, 2016 7:30 p.m. Heliconian Hall (35 Hazelton Ave., Toronto)
Purchase REDUCED price tickets in advance from the BeMused Network, here:
Tickets at the door: $25 ($18 for students/seniors; $10 for kids under 12)
For more info, call 416-588-4301
There's something for everyone on the musical menu, from carol settings of the German and English Renaissance to excerpts from Corelli's Christmas Concerto and Handel's Hallelujah Chorus, from Britten's Alpine Suite to Stan Davis's Chanukah Medley and arrangements of Winter Wonderland, The Twelve Days of Christmas, and other holiday fare, all performed on combinations of recorders both large and small.
Anne Massicotte started her musical career as a clarinettist, graduating from the Conservatoire de Québec. She played with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and toured for Jeunesses Musicales with her chamber music group. She taught music in elementary school for many years, conducting award winning children`s choirs. A lifelong recorder player, Anne played Renaissance and medieval music with Ensemble Anonymus in Quebec City. Since 1984 she has taught recorder to children at CAMMAC's summer music camp, north of Montreal, where she also performs. She currently sings with the Amadeus Choir, and is very much enjoying exploring the recorder consort repertoire with ACTA.
Toronto-born Alison Melville began playing the recorder in a school classroom in London (UK). Her subsequent career has taken her across North America and to New Zealand, Iceland, Japan and Europe, most recently to Switzerland and Finland. A member of the Toronto Consort and Ensemble Polaris, she appears regularly with Tafelmusik and collaborates with many others. Some highlights: playing for The Tudors, The Friendly Giant, and Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter; solo shows in inner-city London (UK) schools; playing Bach in Switzerland; improvising music in duet with an acrobat in northern Finland; and, oh yes, a summer of concerts in Ontario prisons. Alison has been heard on CBC/R-C, BBC, RNZ, NPR, Iceland's RUV, and on over 60 CDs. She taught for many years at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and is currently on faculty at the University of Toronto and Wilfrid Laurier University. http://www.alisonmelville.com
Colin Savage has performed on recorder and historical clarinets with ensembles in Canada, the USA, Europe and Japan, including Artek, New York Collegium, Tafelmusik, Canadian Opera Company, Opera Atelier, la Nouvele Sinfonie, Aradia Ensemble, Apollo's Fire, les Boréades and the Toronto Consort. He is principal clarinetist with the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra, and particularly enjoys playing bass clarinet with the Arctic fusion band Ensemble Polaris, whose recordings of Nordic/Canadian/Mediterranean folk melodies have received international critical acclaim. He is regularly heard on CBC Radio, and has recorded for Sony Classical, ebs, Naxos, Atma, Analekta and Dorian. Colin's interest in analog photographic processes finds him in well-lit and very dark places, and his images of abandoned spaces, shot with a vintage twin lens reflex camera, are featured in the book "Modern Canadian Interiors".
Tatsuki Shimoda has been playing the recorder since a young age, and comes from a musical family with whom he has explored music in various settings. While studying at the Royal Conservatory of Music in downtown Toronto, where he recently received a Performer's A.R.C.T. in recorder, he has played at numerous music festivals around the GTA and Ontario. Also a player of oboe and cello, and currently working to improve his skills at the piano, Tatsuki continues to explore the recorder and music as a passion in life.


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HARRISBURG, Pa. — Supporters are pushing for bills to regulate abortion clinics like other freestanding outpatient surgical centers and to prevent abortion coverage within the federal health care law's insurance exchanges.
Dozens of state lawmakers, including a handful of Democrats, held a news conference Monday to express support for the bills.
Blair County Republican Rep. Jerry Stern says a vote on the outpatient surgery regulations is expected next week. It's already passed the Senate.
It was drafted in response to conditions, described by an investigative grand jury, at
Opponents say the clinics are currently being inspected, and the surgical standards are expensive and unnecessary, and will force clinics to close.
The insurance bill is also in the House after having passed the Senate.