Weird Wales
I found these stories on our local paper`s Weird Wales archives online tonight.
12:33 - 13 May 2008
A Man who dressed up as Darth Vader and attacked the founder of Britain's first Jedi church was spared jail today.
The force was with A****l Hughes, aged 27, of Holyhead, on March 25 this year - a little too much force.
He donned a black cape and bin bag and confronted Barney Jones with a metal crutch while Jones
and his cousin Michael were filming themselves playing with light sabres.
The duo attained a form of fame in North Wales after national publicity surrounding their church.
Hughes, who has a chronic alcohol problem, jumped over a garden wall in Holyhead to launch his assault.
He bellowed "Darth Vader" as he hit Barney Jones over the head with the crutch and punched his cousin in the thigh.
Today, at Holyhead Magistrates' Court, Hughes was sentenced to two months in jail suspended for one year.
The court heard he had previous convictions for assault, was drunk when he attacked the duo and did not
know anything of it until the authorities called on him.
His solicitor told the court he was doing his best to win his battle with the bottle.
Frances Jones, defending, said: "He is very sorry for coming before the courts.
"He knows his behaviour was wrong and didn't want it to happen, but he has no recollection of it.
"He made an early and timely guilty plea."
Ordering Hughes to pay £100 each to the victims, £60 costs and implementing a supervision order,
District Judge Andrew Shaw said: "Perhaps the publicity from the last hearing
has been a good thing for you, it was a wake-up call."
********************************************************
Cheesy!
08:35 - 26 May 2008
A Welsh man will be hoping to add to a hat-trick of victories when he chases
a giant cheese down a steep slope.
Jason Crowther from Pembrokeshire will be among dozens of fearless competitors taking part in one of the country's most bizarre and dangerous sporting challenges.
Every year contestants flip, somersault and tumble their way 200 metres down the sheer face of Cooper's Hill in Brockworth Gloucestershire, in pursuit of a giant runaway circle of Double Gloucester.
Thousands of people usually gather on the hillside, which in places has a 1:1 gradient,
to watch five bone-crunching downhill races.
Teams of volunteers from the St John Ambulance are on hand to treat the inevitable injuries.
Competitors and media from around the world flock to the event which has come to celebrate English eccentricity.
It is thought the tradition of cheese rolling may date back as far as the ancient Britons or the Romans,
but no-one knows for sure how the race started.
During rationing between 1941 and 1954, a wooden substitute with a token piece of cheese inside was chased by competitors.
12:33 - 13 May 2008
A Man who dressed up as Darth Vader and attacked the founder of Britain's first Jedi church was spared jail today.
The force was with A****l Hughes, aged 27, of Holyhead, on March 25 this year - a little too much force.
He donned a black cape and bin bag and confronted Barney Jones with a metal crutch while Jones
and his cousin Michael were filming themselves playing with light sabres.
The duo attained a form of fame in North Wales after national publicity surrounding their church.
Hughes, who has a chronic alcohol problem, jumped over a garden wall in Holyhead to launch his assault.
He bellowed "Darth Vader" as he hit Barney Jones over the head with the crutch and punched his cousin in the thigh.
Today, at Holyhead Magistrates' Court, Hughes was sentenced to two months in jail suspended for one year.
The court heard he had previous convictions for assault, was drunk when he attacked the duo and did not
know anything of it until the authorities called on him.
His solicitor told the court he was doing his best to win his battle with the bottle.
Frances Jones, defending, said: "He is very sorry for coming before the courts.
"He knows his behaviour was wrong and didn't want it to happen, but he has no recollection of it.
"He made an early and timely guilty plea."
Ordering Hughes to pay £100 each to the victims, £60 costs and implementing a supervision order,
District Judge Andrew Shaw said: "Perhaps the publicity from the last hearing
has been a good thing for you, it was a wake-up call."
********************************************************
Cheesy!
08:35 - 26 May 2008
A Welsh man will be hoping to add to a hat-trick of victories when he chases
a giant cheese down a steep slope.
Jason Crowther from Pembrokeshire will be among dozens of fearless competitors taking part in one of the country's most bizarre and dangerous sporting challenges.
Every year contestants flip, somersault and tumble their way 200 metres down the sheer face of Cooper's Hill in Brockworth Gloucestershire, in pursuit of a giant runaway circle of Double Gloucester.
Thousands of people usually gather on the hillside, which in places has a 1:1 gradient,
to watch five bone-crunching downhill races.
Teams of volunteers from the St John Ambulance are on hand to treat the inevitable injuries.
Competitors and media from around the world flock to the event which has come to celebrate English eccentricity.
It is thought the tradition of cheese rolling may date back as far as the ancient Britons or the Romans,
but no-one knows for sure how the race started.
During rationing between 1941 and 1954, a wooden substitute with a token piece of cheese inside was chased by competitors.