My awards night with Sir Michael Parkinson at a star-studded presentation event in London.

By Don Hale

*Sir Michael Parkinson (*above) with Don Hale OBE at an awards ceremony in London.

My awards night with Sir Michael Parkinson at a star-studded presentation event in London.

https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com

It was sad to hear of the loss of Sir Michael Parkinson this week. I was fortunate to have met Sir Michael, some time ago, and he was a keen follower of my former justice campaign. He presented me with a top award when I was Journalist of the Year for the first time in about 2001. I was on the top table with him at an awards do, we chatted about lots of things and afterwards, he presented my wife Kath with the table flowers. It was a great star-studded evening at some rather posh place in London. RIP Parky!

Don Hale is a former award winning investigative journalist and now a best-selling author who has created a very popular blog post linked to numerous social media sites. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025.

Comments

Post a Comment

Your comments are welcomed

Most recent posts

Welcome to parkrun North Wales - an exciting new initiative from Dave Munday.

By Don Hale
Image
Welcome to parkrun North Wales Dave Munday launches an exciting new online site for NW parkrunners. Special report by Don Hale. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025   This an exciting new initiative from the well-known, popular parkrunner and local  athlete Dave Munday, who is ready to provide a regular summary of all North Wales parkruns. He explained this week:  " This is the site I am using for the round-up of all 17 North Wales parkruns, stats on numbers attending etc.  "The parkruns are continuing to grow in North Wales, and this group is for regular local parkrunners and visitors to our wonderful events throughout the region.  "Weekly stats and information will be shared, but please use it to tell your own parkrun journey, achievements and milestones, and also to connect with other parkrunners." *For more details please check out this link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2193251831088739
Read more

Parkrun rowers in pace challenge with athletes at Llandrillo yn Rhos...plus other parkrun reports.

By Don Hale
Image
Parkrun rowers in pace challenge with athletes at Llandrillo yn Rhos..,plus other parkrun reports... Report by Don Hale. Most photographs by Michael Finnie. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025 The Llandrillo yn Rhos parkrun team welcomed some surprise members from  Colwyn Bay Rowing Club  to their event last Saturday morning – AKA the ‘parkrun rowers’ - who waited just offshore and set a challenge to try to keep pace with some of the tail walkers along the adjacent but very sandy promenade course as they headed towards the Porth Eirias turn point. *Pictured above and top - the Llandrillo yn Rhos parkrun rowers, and  (*below), the 5K Your Way, Move Against  Cancer Group on the promenade at Rhos on Sea last Saturday morning. The event also greeted the  5K Your Way, Move Against Cancer group,  who attended Rhos parkrun as part of their regular monthly meeting. The first four finishers at Rhos were all visitors, and they were amongst about fifty newcomers to this exc...
Read more

UPDATE: Temporary team managers appointed for Welsh Masters Athletics T&F men's team

By Don Hale
Image
New team manager's plan for Welsh Masters Athletics donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025 Following an appeal on this blog last week from Rod Davies at Welsh Masters Athletics Ltd, Joe Horner and his colleague Adrian have agreed to try and put a team together asap for the forthcoming T&F events. This is Joe's appeal below: - www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk Hi everyone, As you may have heard from Rod Davies at WMAL, the 2026 inter-regional is at Lee Valley on 14th March and Adrian and I have agreed to stand in for Brett in getting a team together. We're new to this, don't know the membership as well as Brett, and there's a fairly short deadline to get the initial team submitted. So, to help us along, it'd be greatly appreciated if you could reply to this letting us know whether or not you're available/ interested. "Not available" and "possibly available" replies, are as useful as "available" at this point while we find our feet! Als...
Read more

Please support SPORT in Conwy...John Hatton appeals for urgent support for top sports event

By Don Hale
Image
*John Hatton above - with Dame Laura Kenny at last year's awards. Please support SPORT in Conwy...  John Hatton appeals for urgent support for top sports event... special report by Don Hale. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025 The well-known, award-winning athletics coach and charity fundraiser John Hatton is appealing for urgent  help and new ideas to both  save and support Sport Conwy. With all the current cost of living problems to contend with, and a succession of funding reductions, especially in relation to sport, he has come up with an innovative idea that might appeal to local businesses, support groups, and community organisations to help keep Sport Conwy going! John explained: “I am on the committee for Sport Conwy, and we have been supporting local sports for 30 years, this year. However, financial cutbacks and grants that we usually apply for have been dramatically cut,  I have come up with a new scheme to fill our void in finances, and  to help main...
Read more

NEW USEFUL TOOLS PAGE - by Welsh Masters Athletics - to check some interesting facts and to record your own results from T&F events

By Don Hale
Image
New USEFUL TOOLS PAGE by Welsh Masters Athletics. Introduction by Don Hale.  donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025 *This is the link to the additions and to the main website:   https://www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk/useful-tools Welsh Masters Athletics Ltd have just updated their website and Facebook page to include details about a brand new USEFUL TOOLS PAGE. Created by the organisation's webmaster expert and award winning sprinter Juliet Sidney . This now includes some very interesting facts and links about AGE GRADING, BAF LAWS & RULES, A WIND CORRECTION CALCULATOR, RACE PREDICTOR FOR 3K PLUS, AND SPRINT CONVERSION TIMES. Juliet confirmed this week: "Hi all this page is now live after setting up a useful tools page.  It's very simple, but let us know if you use any better tools for the same thing, or if you have any other additional tools that you would like to see." www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk *This is the link to the additions and to the main website:   https:/...
Read more

North Wales duo on top form at South Liverpool 10k

By Don Hale
Image
*NWRRC members  Steve Bozier (*above left) with Kevin Higgins. Steve records his best ever 10k time at South Liverpool Report by Don Hale.    donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025 Two North Wales Road Runners travelled to compete in the South Liverpool 10k last Sunday, and both members recorded very good results. The event was held at the Wavertree Park and Stadium and the course included laps of the athletic track and the park, but Steve Bozier  claimed his best ever 10k time of 39.31 to finish in 27th place overall, and his club colleague  Kevin Higgins  was also on song, and he too was pleased with his finishing time of 57.49. However, at the time of writing the age cat results had not been confirmed. After the race Steve confirmed:  “I am really made up with my fastest ever 10k and thanks to @assent_performance for the last 4 months, coaching, and keeping me injury free and fast! Onwards and upwards, Thanks too, to my understanding wife Clare for bein...
Read more

Urgent search for a Team Manager for the Welsh Masters Athletics Men’s squad...plus a new initiative for promoting individual T&F results.

By Don Hale
Image
Urgent search for a Team Manager for the Welsh Masters Athletics Men’s squad...plus a new initiative for promoting  individual T&F results. Report by Rod Davies from WMAL.  donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025   The Indoor Championships last weekend seem to have been enjoyed by those present, especially the winners (*see revised and updated attached list below).   Next up are the BMAF Championships at Lee Valley on 21-22 February.   Entries via BMAF Opentrack close on 8 February.   That leaves the Inter-Area match, also at Lee Valley, on 14 March. Here we have a problem.  While the women's team will be managed by the usual excellent management team, we are in the awkward position of NOT actually having a men's team manager for this event. Without one, we can have no team! The job involves selecting a team from among our membership and communicating with them before the match. On the day, the manager has to submit the declaration sheet, and alterations as ...
Read more

Special author spotlight about Eileen McCourt from Northern Ireland.

By Don Hale
Image
  *Pictured above - prolific Northern Ireland  author  Eileen McCourt S pecial Coast and Country Author Spotlight Feature Welcome to a new author feature about  Eileen McCourt.   Report by Don Hale:  https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com   Eileen McCourt is a retired schoolteacher of English and History with a master’s degree in history from University College Dublin.  She is a prolific author, writer, and researcher, and she has now  completed  over 50 varied books which have all been published by the popular North Wales based company . Eileen lives in Northern Ireland, and her very first book ‘Living the Magic - Connecting the physical and spiritual worlds’ was published in 2014. It received much praise and numerous 5-star reviews.  Her books have also been featured by Amazon in America. This was the catalyst for her career as a spiritual author, with many books published to date. Her life is now devoted to healing and helping others a...
Read more

Welsh Masters Indoor Championship results from Cardiff - and news about Newport Harriers athletes.

By Don Hale
Image
The Welsh Masters Indoor Championship results from last weekend's events at Cardiff...and some additional news from Newport Harriers athletes in action. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025 www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk Rod Davies from Welsh Masters Athletics has kindly compiled a list of the times and age category winners from last weekend’s – Welsh Masters Indoor Championships at Cardiff on 24/25/26th  January 2026. *The 400 & 1500m events were held on Jan 25th.  *Also details of individual results from Newport Harriers members: Newport Harriers Athletic Club   is with  Welsh Masters   and  Cardiff Met Athletics . Well done to our amazing Master athletes who competed this weekend - they all did fab  BMAF Indoor Pentathlon, 3k champs and open, at Cardiff on 24th January 2026. W70 Nicky B Pentathlon W55 Lou K 5th Pentathlon M60 Paul Y 6th Pentathlon and  400m W55 Juliet S 60m 200m400m M50 Jim M 200m400m LJ M40 Samson C...
Read more

Entries now open for the Deganwy 5 mile Dash - see full details - 29th May 2026.

By Don Hale
Image
Time to enter the famous Deganwy 5-mile Dash - entries limited to just 350 places for this unique charity race. Report by Don Hale. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025 Entries for the famous Deganwy 5-mile Dash are now open, and runners are advised to enter early as numbers will be limited to just 350 due to the popularity of this essential fundraising event for Children’s Cancer charities. *This is the important link for Deganwy Dash entries:   https://in.tdlentries.co.uk/2026-deganwy-dash The event on Friday 29th May 2026 starts and finishes on Deganwy Promenade close to the revamped shelter and follows a picturesque course along the river estuary and around Conwy Cob to the RSPB Nature Reserve, where it turns and returns back along the same route to the finish. Run director John Hatton confirmed this week: “The Deganwy Dash is now live now for entries. The aim of the race is to still raise money for Cancer in Children. Joshua Tree is our main recipient for money plus as before Young ...
Read more