Beer pumps 'desecrate church'

(Image credit: Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)

published 21 September 2023

A priest has been accused of desecration after he set up two beer pumps in a 600-year-old church. The controversial bar was installed by the St Ives Brewery in St Ia's Church, ahead of a local festival. Local resident Barry Lewis told The Telegraph that putting a bar in the church "desecrates the memory of those who died for their faith" but the Rev Dr Nick Widdows said the bar was "just part of our way of welcoming all sorts of people into the church".

Boots in the air record bid

The National Plowing Championships in Ireland has been the stage for a Guinness World Record attempt where 995 people threw Wellington boots into the air at the same time. The annual show in Ratheniska, County Laois, featured "hundreds of waterproof rubber boots flying through the air at the same time" in a record attempt organised by a youth farming group, said UPI. The previous record was set at 792 at the Holsworthy and Stratton Agricultural Show in England in 2018.

'Twin-dergarten' time in US

A US school district has announced the arrival of the "Twin-dergarten" school year, with 17 sets of twins starting kindergarten in the 2023-24 school year. The Colonial School District in Pennsylvania said seven pairs of twins are starting kindergarten at Ridge Park Elementary school, six sets are attending Whitemarsh Elementary School and four are starting at Plymouth Elementary. "I have been a kindergarten teacher for 20 years," a gobsmacked local teacher told WPVI-TV. "Usually, there's maybe a couple sets of twins, if that."