Hundreds celebrate Ethel’s 100th birthday
JD SPORTS has said it is ‘not suspicious’ for one of its bosses to meet his counterpart at a rival sportswear firm in a car park.
The Sunday Times reported that the competition regulator will launch an investigation into a potential breach of its rules, after publishing footage of the company’s executive chairman meeting the boss of Footasylum.
Responding to the publication of the footage, JD Sports, which operates a large warehouse in at the Kingsway Business Park in Rochdale, said it “totally refuted” claims the meeting – in a car park near Bury – breached corporate governance rules.
It comes after lengthy attempts by JD Sports to finally merge fully with Footasylum, the high street rival it bought in 2019.
However, last week regulators told JD it must sell the chain due to competition concerns.
The Sunday Times revealed that Peter Cowgill, JD Sports’ executive chairman and founder, met Barry Brown, the executive chairman of Footasylum, and were briefly joined by JD’S general counsel Siobhan Mawdsley.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been investigating the £90 million merger deal between the firms since 2019, during which time JD had been halted from integrating Footasylum or hindering competition between the businesses.
Under the CMA’S enforcement order, meetings between the two businesses are permitted but the companies are forbidden from sharing confidential or commercially sensitive information.
In a statement, JD highlighted that the two bosses have known one another on a business and personal basis for more than 25 years and said it “is not unusual, or in any way suspicious or illegitimate, for them to meet from time to time, including in relation to the ongoing review by the CMA”.
It added: “The CMA has already been fully apprised of the content of the meeting on July 5 and the reasons for it and JD firmly believes that its actions in participating in this meeting do not amount to wrongdoing or a breach of the order and does not see how it would be reasonable to accuse JD of such.
“It is disappointing that the Sunday Times has not reported in a more balanced way on the highly irregular and potentially illegal covert surveillance undertaken by a third party for their own interests.
“Any suggestions with regard to corporate governance breaches are totally refuted.”
JD Sports also confirmed that it is progressing with plans to divide the roles of chairman and chief executive before its next annual general meeting.
HUNDREDS of well-wishers from across the globe – including Coronation Street quads Aled, Bryn, Cleo and Carys – have flooded a retirement home with gifts and cards in honour of ex-world War II land girl Ethel Appleton who celebrates her 100th birthday on Sunday.
A post on Meavy View home, Rochdale Facebook post has prompted at least 600 random messages and cards so far from the farflung corners of the world, including Japan, the Falklands, France, Switzerland, the Channel Islands, the Netherlands and Ireland, and they are still coming at the rate of 50 a day.
Carers at the Milkstone Road home were aiming for 100 cards for each of Ethels 100 years when they posted an appeal on the Meavy View page six weeks ago.
Deputy manager Frances Shore told the Observer: “We’ve been literally inundated with well-wishers.
“The card from the Coronation Street quads (in the soap, the children of Gemma and Chesney) came completely out of the blue.
“We’re having a big party here on Sunday, and someone has offered to do her hair and someone else has offered to make her a birthday cake.
“We can’t believe the random kindness there is all around. They should all become carers, then there wouldn’t be a world shortage.”
The staff put the effort in because Ethel’s only has two relatives.
One is her sister-in-law Muriel Stott, 92, who can’t make to the party on Sunday because she had a fall recently, although her niece Carol Stott will be there.
Ethel was born and grew up in Rochdale, attending Greenbank School before leaving at the age 14.
At the outbreak of World War II she volunteered to become part of the ‘land army’ of women working in the fields to grow food for the war effort and moved to the south of England.
It was in the Hampshire village of Liphook that she met her late husband George. They married in 1952.
The couple travelled all over the country throughout their married life, working in the poultry sector.
Ethel and George eventually returned to Rochdale and lived in Elliott Street until they both moved into Meavy View in 2017. George passed away two years ago.
Frances added: “Ethel is so popular in the home. Everyone loves her.
“Her skin is perfect. She loves doing jigsaws and is a mean dominos player.”