As a social worker and lecturer at Goldsmiths College (now known as Goldsmiths, University of London) in south-east London, she counselled survivors and families affected by the 1981 New Cross fire
In 1975 she became one of the first family and school liaison officers
Determined to bridge divides and empower the communities she served
she was part of the group that guided the then Prince Charles on a tour of Brixton following the 1981 riots
And as the aunt of Doreen Lawrence, she provided advice and support for the family following the racially motivated murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993
for whom she had campaigned tirelessly when he was imprisoned by the apartheid regime
She then attended Miss Walker’s sewing school in Kingston
View image in fullscreenLillian Bickley with her husband
in the late 1960sDuring this period Lillian met Roy Wilson
and while Lillian wanted to raise Grace herself
in 1960 she was persuaded to leave her in the care of her paternal grandmother
so that she could travel to the UK to find work
Lillian moved in with her sister Ruby in Brockley
and got a job at the HS Whiteside chocolate factory in Camberwell
then in the merchant navy and later a building contractor
they formed a trailblazing mixed-race couple at a time when interracial relationships faced considerable societal challenges
Lillian soon carved out a career in the vibrant fashion scene of London in the 1960s and 70s
working for designers such as Ossie Clark and Barbara Hulanicki of Biba
she worked on costumes for Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones
In 1973 she studied social work at Goldsmiths College
Following graduation she became a family and school liaison officer
before returning to Goldsmiths to lecture on the social and community work course (1979-84)
Lillian was also known for running the popular international food fair
Lillian’s commitment to community service defined much of her life
She was involved in the early days of the Notting Hill carnival
and held fundraisers for the striking miners and their families
Lillian found employment at the Florida Institute of Technology University Library
working her way up to head librarian before her retirement in 2008
Situated about 35 minutes east of Perth and nestled in the Darling Ranges the beautiful Bickley Valley is Western Australia’s best-kept secret
Vistas of vineyards and orchards in the valleys make motoring a delight and driving into the region to sample the vigneron’s wares is a magical way to spend a day
The signature cool mornings and picturesque hills and valleys of the Perth Hills in Autumn set the scene for Bickley Valley producers to celebrate their annual harvest season. This weekend on May 3 and 4
the 26th annual Bickley Harvest Festival will unite more than 20 venues that highlight the region’s best food
with activities continuing throughout the month.This festival is not just an event; it’s an experiential showcase of the finest local wine
and produce set amongst rolling green hills
vines and orchards of the humbly enchanting Bickley Valley
The festival celebrates local craftsmanship at its finest offering weekend adventurers
wine connoisseurs and industry professionals the chance to sample the newest and finest offerings of the valley.It’s never been easier to celebrate the wonders of their bumper harvest season with a free shuttle bus between venues this Saturday and Sunday
Stopping approximately every 30 minutes at venues including The Packing Shed Distilling Co.
with the timetable available on the festival website.
Pre-plan your trail with the self-guiding festival map available to download at www.bickleyharvestfestival.com. Please note bookings are required at some venues.
The Bickley Valley punches above its weight, receiving statewide and national critical acclaim for food, wine, spirits, and tourism. Touted as WA’s “best kept secret” and more recently,” the Tuscany of Australia”, the growing list of prestigious accolades has shined the spotlight on this Perth Hills region.
When customers visit the Bickley Valley and experience first-hand the personality, originality, creativity, family experience, passion and modesty of the local producers, coupled with the picturesque scenery, they are won over – fans for life.
NUTEC Bickley specialist shuttle kilnNUTEC BickleyAgainst strong international competition, NUTEC Bickley has won the contract to supply a four-car shuttle kiln to one of the world’s foremost energy technology companies
This kiln will be installed at the customer’s investment casting facility and will be used to sinter the ceramic cores
Depending on the exact nature of the cores
the firing cycle will be anything from 20 up to 80 hours
“Our expertise is widely respected by this customer
with our having previously worked with another of its subsidiaries
supplying 15 furnaces and ovens in the last 10 years," NUTEC Bickley’s VP of Ceramics Alberto Cantú said
"Advanced technologies and cutting-edge manufacturing are at the heart of this global corporation’s strategy
and we are proud to have been selected to assist in expanding and improving ceramic core production.”
The gas-fired shuttle kiln will typically operate up to 2010°F (1100°C) and employs a twin-deck kiln car setting
Setting dimensions for each car are 47-inch long x 63-inch wide x 34-inch high (1.19 x 1.59 x 0.87 meters) and the kiln’s effective load volume across the four cars is 230 cubic feet (6.55 cubic meters) – with an average total product weight of 970 pounds (440 kilograms)
Sintering is achieved via 12 high-velocity nozzle-mix burners
each individually controlled with its own automatic ignition and safety system
firing above and below the load in a staggered sequence
provide optimum levels of turbulence and heat transfer
which in turn promotes excellent temperature distribution and uniformity throughout the load
This kiln will benefit from integration of NUTEC Bickley’s proprietary IMPS combustion control system
configured to deliver pulse control across eight multi-temperature zones
alternating between high and low fire with variable excess air
this means adjustable and programmable levels of excess air throughout the sintering cycle
The system introduces excess air only when it is required
thereby enhancing both process control and fuel efficiency
the IMPS cooling mode is initiated and is available for multi-zone temperature control
Cooling air is supplied to the kiln through the burners
as well as through automatic air-cooling nozzles for shorter cycle times
The cooling nozzles pulse together with the burners’ control zones according to the input required by the cycle and load
Considering all kiln zones and sintering modes
IMPS offers a number of important benefits to the customer
Sintering of ceramic cores is further optimized by the integration of NUTEC Bickley’s chamber pressure control system that guarantees process stability by using a linear flow-controlled exhaust damper
This is fabricated with a cordierite multi-louver with silicon carbide shafts
The system provides precise control of the exhaust gases and chamber pressure
All kilns for advanced manufacturing rely on the very highest quality insulation
The kiln walls are fully lined using NUTEC’s US patented high thermal efficiency Jointless ceramic fiber system for excellent insulation and long life coupled with low maintenance
The fiber lining is rated at 2600°F (1425°C)
The kiln side wall to kiln car seals are constructed using a combination of refractory and insulation brick with a double-labyrinth seal to prevent heat loss and radiation leakage from the kiln chamber
as well as preventing the infiltration of cold air
A sand seal is incorporated to aid in this system
the kiln door is opened at the end of the sintering cycle to permit the four kiln cars to be removed
A second set of cars with unfired product is then moved into the kiln so that a new firing cycle can begin
NUTEC Bickley will supply eight cars as part of this contract
Kiln car movement is via a semi-automatic transfer car system that will move the cars from the kiln and to two different stations
each of which includes sensors to position the cars in loading/unloading positions
Former Beyond Rights and Hat Trick International executive Sarah Bickley has been appointed to the newly created role of head of distribution at US unscripted specialist Lucky 8
The hire was announced by co-presidents Greg Henry and Kim Woodard
who said it reflects the Stamford-based prodco’s expanded focus on the global market
Bickley joins from Banijay-owned Beyond Rights
There she managed coproductions and helped secure commissions and pre-sales for titles such as Charles: Our New King
Prior to that she was a distribution manager at Tin Roof Media and was also a senior sales executive at Hat Trick International
where Lucky 8 is shopping a slate of 10 projects
The prodco is perhaps best known for making Netflix’s Unlocked: A Jail Experiment and A&E’s long-running docuseries 60 Days In
Henry and Woodard said in a joint statement: “The business is evolving in a way that’s opened up a lot of new opportunities for our company on the global stage
we’re placing increasing emphasis on international sales and coproductions
and it’s a tremendous lift to have an executive with Sarah’s expertise and experience leading that charge.”
PHOENIX SUNS
BY DAN BICKLEY
Mat Ishbia promised something new and exciting
He’s delivering something self-serving and stale
He’s pulling a page from the Jerry Jones/Robert Sarver playbook
It’s a movie we’ve seen far too often in Phoenix
Ishbia has promoted Brian Gregory as the team’s new GM
Gregory is a college basketball lifer who never had much success as a head coach
where last season he served as the Suns’ VP of player programming
What he possesses is a deep connection to the owner
as he was a former assistant coach at Michigan State under Tom Izzo when Ishbia was a walk-on bench player
Ishbia promised the next iteration of his Suns would operate in complete alignment
and that’s certainly the case with him and Gregory
They both revere Izzo and swear fealty to the basketball culture at Michigan State
1: When your organization is in a state of steep decline
You do not reward anyone in the front office associated with an NBA franchise that went from Western Conference contenders to an ill-fitting team that lost 46 games and missed the playoffs
Even worse, former Warriors executive Bob Myers was reportedly interested in the job
a decorated name that would bring instant respect and credibility back to the Suns
Maybe Ishbia pushed hard for Myers. Maybe there were too many hurdles to overcome. NBA insider Marc Stein reported the pursuit of Myers might’ve consumed too much time when the Suns are still dealing with a head coaching vacancy
2: Accountability cannot be a one-way street
Ishbia has fired three coaches in 23 months while espousing to be like the Steelers
Yet there is no accountability for a front office that has stacked failure upon failure
with enough hubris to act like Bradley Beal’s no-trade contract is no big deal
You make many enemies when you’re a newbie owner and act like you’re smarter than everyone else in the league
who thought he could reinvent college football with Herm Edwards and a pro-style operation at Arizona State
I will extend grace to Gregory and the space to prove me wrong
But Suns fans know better than anyone how this works: an underqualified candidate accepts a really big promotion with extreme gratitude and loyalty to the man who made it happen
The new hire does not care or dare to ask for autonomy
He does not object when the owner is ultimately in charge of the really big decisions
The Cardinals finally turned a significant corner when Michael Bidwill looked outside the organization for a new general manager
Which means the Suns haven’t hit rock bottom just yet
Reach Bickley at dbickley@arizonasports.com
Listen to Bickley & Marotta weekdays from 6 a.m
THE MIKE BROOMHEAD SHOW
4:30 AM | Updated: May 1
BY MIKE BROOMHEAD
No one knows more about Arizona sports than Dan
His dedication to the truth and the written word has made him an Arizona icon
He’s an accomplished author and broadcaster as well. On this episode of Amazing Arizonans
you’ll learn about his early days as a reporter
who his mentors were and how he developed his unique style
Dan has a gift for capturing the emotion of the moment and make us feel like we are right there with him
I think you’re going to love this conversation
The Amazing Arizonans podcast debuted in June 2023 and is in its third season
with dozens of episodes spotlighting some of the best and brightest to come out of the Grand Canyon State
Amazing Arizonans is presented by Resolution Copper. Hear and watch the latest episode every Wednesday on KTAR.com, the KTAR News YouTube channel or wherever you get your podcasts
Have a story idea or tip? Pass it along to the KTAR News team here
Looking to mix up your weekend routine with a day trip that the whole crew will enjoy
is an underrated gem right on our doorstep
outdoor activities and the chillest of vibes
and while you’re there enjoy a few of the things below
Stock up on fruit and veg for the week at Bickley Valley Fresh
you’ll find fresh produce alongside jams and preserves
Myattsfield embodies the Bickley Valley wine region – it’s a no-frills vineyard and cellar door where the wines taste great
the grounds are picturesque and everyone’s welcome
Kids can run amok on the grass while you sample some of their wines
Be sure to check their website for special events like tank tastings and disgorging classes
Big and bold, Core Cider Co draws a crowd every weekend with their tasting flights of craft ciders and not one but two playgrounds
They host live music on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and often pull out all the stops on school holidays with tractor tours and fruit picking
A trip to the Bickley Valley is not complete without sampling the wines at Tonon
The small producer has won a swag of awards
When you start feeling peckish, don’t miss the sharp turn into The Packing Shed @ Lawnbrook
Their lunch offerings are delish and the kids’ snack plate will please even the fussiest eaters: laden with a sausage roll
kids can descend to the vast grassed area while you watch on from the alfresco dining
Their wines are great but if that’s not your jam they also produce limoncello and gin
Run by a family of Sicilian heritage, La Fattoria is all about food
filled with specialties from the motherland like arancini
Or make a day of it and book their set course lunch
they recommend allowing 3-4 hours and include complimentary wine tasting before the meal
Amidst quaint, French style gardens at Masonmill you can enjoy breakfast or lunch
or order ahead a picnic basket to unpack on the lawn
They also have an 18 hole mini golf course that’s fully licensed
Stretch your legs with a tree-lined trek. Carmel Walk Trail is a moderately easy 5km loop that’s ideal for families and is particularly charming from September to November when the wildflowers are in bloom
Once darkness descends on the valley there’s one thing left on the itinerary, and that’s heading to the Perth Observatory
Their night sky tours are fascinating for the space curious and seasoned stargazers alike
And we might have found an absolute cracker for you to visit
The Bickley Arms was the only Kent pub to make it onto Design My Night's prestigious list of the UK's best pub gardens
It was picked out as being "beautiful inside and out" and as being the ideal venue for a 'perfect Sunday' formula
Located a short walk from Chislehurst station, The Bickley offers a stunning outdoor space that showcases the best of British pub culture. This gem stands out among the 56 pubs featured nationwide
proving that Kent can hold its own when it comes to al fresco drinking and dining
Read More: The Kent seaside towns named among UK's cheapest for parking for your next beach day out
Read More: Stunning park in Kent seaside town named one of the country's best
Located a few minutes walk from Chislehurst train station
it's the perfect pub garden to snuggle up in during the chillier months with a jammy red
or catch some rays in with an Aperol Spritz (or two) over the summer months."
But The Bickley isn't just about drinks – it's a food lover's paradise too
The pub takes pride in serving seasonal British dishes bursting with flavour
You can even get a "Roast Trio" of Chicken
beef and pork for £28 with all the trimmings
There is also a vegan wellington for £16.50
The Bickley's impressive setup for major events is also worth noting
The Bickley boasts "the best pub garden I've been to"
They added: "This was our second visit to The Bickley and again it didn't disappoint!
A massive and I do mean massive screen out on the garden
The place was packed and had an amazing atmosphere."
Another person added: "We had the perfect Sunday!
ice cold beer and great company." Dog owners will be pleased to know that The Bickley welcomes four-legged friends
making it an ideal spot for the whole family to enjoy
Find out more about things to do in Kent with our free What’s On email HERE.
The pub garden is huge with lots of different seating options
CommentsIt's a pretty space to kick back and enjoy a drink with friends or a meal
CommentsCustomers are spoilt for choice
CommentsThe Bickley Arms is a short walk from Chislehurst station
CommentsYou can just stop by for coffee
CommentsThe menu includes brunch served between 12-4pm Monday to Friday
CommentsCustomers are spoilt for choice indoors too
CommentsComfy sofas where you can sit back and relax
CommentsThey serve seasonal British dishes bursting with flavour
CommentsIt's a great spot for a quick bite to eat
CommentsAnd a popular choice with customers and their pets
CommentsThe outside space is the biggest in the area
« Back
DAN BICKLEY
The Kevin and Devin Show was a smash hit in Paris
The results will astound and confound for years to come: How could two of the top six American players at the 2024 Olympics co-pilot their NBA franchise to 46 losses
including Booker’s ongoing two-year regression as a basketball player
Booker consistently evolved into something better
putting in serious work when few others would
Booker looked a step slow for a good chunk of the season
He shot 33.2 percent from beyond the three-point line
He was still very capable of stringing together huge offensive performances
The firing and the language surrounding Mike Budenholzer offer something of an alibi
a former head coach who might’ve sucked the joy out of everybody
Just imagine Booker trying to exert the verbal oomph and vocal leadership the team so badly needed
only to be told to pipe down by Budenholzer
What kind of head coach tells the franchise player to shut up
No matter how bad Budenholzer might’ve been at his job
Head coaches can only inflict as much damage as the team’s star players will allow
especially for an NBA city that expected so much more
Longtime Suns fans might remember “Backcourt 2000,” when former Suns owner Jerry Colangelo paired Jason Kidd with Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway and imaginations ran wild
It was a short lived and ill-fated experiment cratered by injuries and off-court issues
and yet nowhere near as disappointing as the past two seasons
His replica jersey sales have dropped to No
His ranking as an elite player now falls somewhere between 15-25
He is trending away from the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame
it was taking Jayson Tatum’s playing time and serving a key role for Team USA
it will be a two-year contract extension worth nearly $150 million
elevating him to the top of the NBA earnings list
He is about to receive the financial commitment and loyalty that the Mavericks wouldn’t give Luka Doncic
Good enough to pull a fallen team out of the ditch and great enough to push the Suns back into relevancy overnight
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Get ready for some action-packed days full of exciting water
land and roping activities at the Bickley Outdoor Recreation Camp in Orange Grove
Our activities are conducted in a fun and safe environment and are supervised by qualified and experienced instructors
The Government of Western Australia acknowledges the traditional custodians of this land
We pay tribute and our respects to Elders past and present
Help us improve our service or tell us what is working really well
Kate: So nice to chat with Claire Bickley with Stratford Film Festival; this weekend they’re hosting another monthly screening with “Riceboy Sleeps”
also Claire gives us a sneak peek into the future with SFF:
The Arizona Cardinals are no longer on the clock
No gray area here: The Cardinals are expected to make the playoffs in 2025
from the moment they hired Monti Ossenfort
A man who raised eyebrows at his debut press conference by saying “ego will not be tolerated in this organization.”
we weren’t sure where this new regime was taking us
Ossenfort soon landed the team in hot water for tampering with Jonathan Gannon while he was defensive coordinator with the Eagles and preparing for a Super Bowl appearance in Glendale
The violation was revealed on draft night in 2023
forcing the team to swap third-round picks with the Eagles
It was a sloppy and costly error for an anonymous candidate
especially since every other NFL franchise had already filled its coaching vacancy
Ossenfort publicly apologized to Michael Bidwill and his staff and didn’t run from his mistake
especially after a series of messy incidents under former GM Steve Keim
It was one of those moments that made an Arizona football fan feel cursed
Gannon is trending in a good direction and nowhere near a hot seat
He just received an ‘A’ grade from his team in the NFLPA report card
a staggering accomplishment for a head coach with 12 victories in two seasons
Players really seem to appreciate his sincerity
he assembled a triumvirate full of promise and inexperience
offensive coordinator Drew Petzing and defensive coordinator Nick Rallis were more than impossibly young
None of them had ever done the jobs they suddenly occupied
They could’ve been exposed and embarrassed
The 2025 NFL draft was also a gift from Ossenfort to Rallis, a 31-year-old zealot about to enter his third season as defensive coordinator. His son’s middle name is Kyzir
He once practiced defensive calls in a hospital room with his wife
He has bravely schemed through an underfunded defense for two years
and it seems that he now has a real toolbox to play with
He spent a good chunk of money to acquire good players in free agency
delivering a Super Bowl hero (Josh Sweat) and a former fan favorite (Calais Campbell)
Meanwhile, Pro Football Focus lavished him with an A+ for the 2025 draft
It all seems to be working out for the Cardinals
the last thing standing between the Cardinals and the playoffs:
then pop the balloon: Bickley's issue with the mediaBy Connor Scanlon
Adelaide Crows champion Mark Bickley has urged the media to stop overhyping young AFL talent
warning that the same pundits who praise players like Max Michalanney could just as quickly turn on them
Speaking on SEN SA Breakfast with Jarrod Walsh
Bickley criticised the growing voice declaring Michalanney’s first 50 games among the best ever
“I saw something on social media where there was the suggestion that Max Michalanney
his 51 games had gone really under the radar and could be up there with the best first 50 games of anyone,” Walsh said
That message was loudened on The Agenda Setters
where Kane Cornes labelled Michalanney a “1-on-1 defensive beast”
this guy is 21 years of age and we should be speaking about him so much more than what we already are,” Cornes said
“Only four players in the competition have been involved in eight contests and not lost a single one
“Is anyone else underwhelmed by that stat?” he asked
but we’ve played six games and he’s been in eight 1-on-1 contests
Bickley made it clear he rated the young defender highly
“Crows fans have known about Max Michalanney
“(He’s) been unbelievably good for the last three years.”
But he warned the hype was getting out of control
“People want to go from not knowing what he looks like if you walked past him in the street
to now wanting to make him the All-Australian defender,” Bickley said
“This stuff around the best 51 games you’ve ever seen
“Tony Modra kicked 129 goals in his first 30 games.”
Walsh stepped in on Bickley’s criticism and asked
but I hate this whole thing,” Bickley responded
“Then the minute he has a bad game and loses two 1-on-1 contests in a game
we’ll get the big pin out and burst the balloon
it bursts and say ‘Oh Michalanney’s terrible today!’”
Bickley’s message to the AFL media was loud and clear
“I just don’t think we need to go over the top… (We need) a little bit of balance,” Bickley said
he’s a first-round draft pick that’s been amazing for Adelaide
“But to say his first 50 games have been as good as anyone in the history of the game’s first 51 games
Crafted by Project Diamond
has been appointed Minor Canon and Chaplain of Westminster Abbey
The Minor Canons are responsible for all worship and liturgy in the Abbey and in St Margaret's Church
This includes the celebration of the Eucharist and the provision of Sunday worship
as well as many special and annual services
Helena will also have particular responsibility for providing pastoral care to staff and volunteers
and to the regular congregation of the Abbey
The Reverend Helena Bickley-Percival said:
Helena grew up in London and studied music before discerning a call to the priesthood and returning to London to work as a Pastoral Assistant in the Parish of Old St Pancras
Having been made a deacon by the Bishop of London in 2020
she served her curacy nearby in the Parish of St Stephen with St John
Patrons lend their support to the St Margaret’s Choristers
Westminster Abbey marks the 200th anniversary of the RNLI
the light falling in the Abbey will light up something that you have walked past a million times and never seen before
the moment desperate players pour all their remaining energy into a dying cause
Whatever their inspiration for a heartbreaking loss Tuesday night in Memphis
it must be repeated on a nightly basis until no games remain on the schedule
They must play with great pace and great passion
They must care more about the outcome than we do
something that has been frequently questioned over their first 58 games
The Suns are not winning an NBA championship in June
But if they can hang 148 points on the Grizzlies in an overtime loss on the road
they can stage some upsets and make a late run at a play-in berth
they can restore a chunk of dignity to basketball fans in Phoenix
For all the torment and divisiveness on Planet Orange
With all due respect to the future Hall of Famer, it’s a shame he wouldn’t sign off on a proposed trade to Golden State at the deadline
Jonathan Kuminga and draft picks would’ve saved the current season and the future in Phoenix
Nobody wants to see our homegrown hero leave the Valley
But he is eligible for a very pricey extension (over $70 million annually) and is no longer playing like an insatiable first-team All-NBA player
And while spending money is never an issue for owner Mat Ishbia
primarily with assets gained from a trade of Durant
You are not beating Oklahoma City anytime soon
The current state of the Western Conference strongly suggests the Suns won’t be a title contender for at least five years
thereby best suited to demolish the house and start from scratch
The architect needed for such a painful rebuild is a story for another day
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Congratulations to Canterbury and Bickley Park
who have both been promoted to the Premier Division
We welcome Nottinghamshire to The Spitfire Ground in one of three first-class fixtures in September:
With just one round of matches left to be played in the Kent Cricket League season
captained by former Scottish international Calum MacLeod
They have an eight point lead at the top of the Premier Division
who are away to St Lawrence and Highland Court
who will need to win and hope Lordswood falter to snatch the title
which Blackheath currently occupy on 160 points
Just above Blackheath are Sevenoaks Vine with 167 points
and the two sides meet at the Rectory Field
The weather could also intervene into the mix
after the visitors needing 144 to win from 28 overs
Tunbridge Wells gained an impressive 86 run victory
for relegated Holmesdale in their 295 for 9
some excellent bowling from Tanweer Sikanda 4 for 5
The visitors were set 76 to win from 31 overs under D/L and reached the winning total in 22.5 overs with four wickets down
after the visitors had reached 134 for 8 from 30 overs
who have both been promoted to the top Division out of the Championship
back in the top flight at the first attempt
Ekansh Singh then scored 39 as the visitors reached their winning target 100 for 5
as the visitors cruised to victory 137 for 2
There were two century makers for Whitstable
but the home side were unable to start their innings
Relegated OD CUACO went down by eight wickets
A century for Eknoor Singh 103 ,for the home side with two sixes
There was another abandoned match between Beckenham and Bromley
the home side facing eight deliveries and scoring one run
All-action T20 cricket is back in Canterbury this June & July
Get the best seats in the house and enjoy exclusive access and benefits with a Kent Cricket Membership for 2025
The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, Canterbury
Download all upcoming fixtures and add them to your calendar
Download a PDF of all upcoming Men’s & Women’s fixtures
Site by: TILT
Adelaide two-time Premiership Captain and Port Pirie product Mark Bickley is returning to his hometown to commentate the Crows’ internal trial
alongside AFLW Co-Captain Ebony Marinoff on Friday afternoon
The match forms part of the Crows’ pre-season preparations ahead of their 2025 campaign starting next month
Bickley has spoken to AFC Media on the players he believes are ones to watch
He only played seven games last year due to an injury
but there were glimpses against Geelong and St Kilda where he was really dominant
“I’d love to see him do that consistently in games and take those contested marks and be a real target up-forward.”
“Sid will be one to watch in terms of what he can provide
I don’t think we are expecting Sid to dominate the competition… but you want to see glimpses of what he can do
"Everyone is keen to see what sort of impact he can have.”
“I think James Peatling is someone everyone is interested in having a look at - his training form looks to have been really strong
“I reckon with his last six games (for GWS) last year and his finals performances
it looked like he was ready to take the next step and become a really good AFL player
“Adding him to the midfield gives us a little bit of grunt around the ball.”
but he’s such an important player with his ball use and his evasion and what he can bring to the team
“He’s just had such a wretched run with injuries
so everyone has their fingers crossed that he can have an uninterrupted season and we can see him reach his full potential.”
I’ve seen some really nice highlights of Dan from some of the training sessions
“There’s some intrigue to see where he plays - does he play down back
does he play through the middle of the ground
so I am interested to see what plans Nicksy and the Adelaide Footy Club have for Dan this year."
Adelaide’s players will travel to Port Pirie on Thursday
as part of the AFL’s 2025 Community Camp program
The Crows’ 2025 Community Camp will culminate with an internal trial game at Memorial Oval from 4.30pm and a post-match signing session from approximately 6.50pm
you don’t get the opportunity to see your heroes up close,’ Bickley said
That accessibility is just awesome and it inspires young kids to hopefully replicate their heroes.”
The internal trial game will be livestreamed on the Club’s website
An update on our injured players ahead of Showdown 57
The pair joined Roo, Ditts and Loz on Triple M Adelaide Breakfast
Adelaide concluded its off-season trial match series at the weekend
The 25-year-old has been rewarded for a career-best season in 2024
Crows High Performance Manager Darren Burgess gives the weekly injury update ahead of round 9.
We sit down with Murray Davis and see how the team is tracking so far.
Jordan Dawson and Connor Rozee speak to the media ahead of Showdown 57.
Re-watch Crows Live after our win against Carlton.
The forward was recognised for his first quarter grab
The Adelaide Football Club acknowledges the Kaurna people as the Traditional Custodians of the Adelaide Plains Region. We also acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples throughout Australia as the Traditional Custodians of their country and their ongoing connection to the land, sea and waters.
The Inspiration for Pub Success Since 1794
23-Nov-2017 Last updated on 09-Feb-2018 at 09:39 GMT
Redcomb Pubs purchased the site in 2013, and there was a major refurb then of around £3.5m.
The site was constructed in 1870, when they were building the railway and it was called the Station Master and used to be a hotel.
The name changed in 1892 to the Bickley Arms, then years later to the Bickley, and is now the Bickley Pub & Steakhouse.
Since 2013, the company has invested twice, the latest being an investment of £200,000 in May, when the steakhouse concept came in.
We also offer more premium products on our menus, which is slightly different from the rest of the Redcomb outlets.
We have 50 covers upstairs, 55 downstairs, a bar that holds up to 100, and a function room with 70 standing and 30 sitting down.
The Bickley is metro-chic, I suppose, but is still very much a pub – that’s really important.
We not only work for our Chislehurst guests, but the rest of our guests throughout Bromley.
We are very versatile. We are not just a dining room, or just a steakhouse. We wanted to be a community pub with lots of different things on offer all the time.
I have been with Redcomb two years, and came here a year and a half ago. Redcomb as a company started in 2009 with two best friends Dan Shotton and Mark Draper, who wanted to have local pubs with a passion around excellent food, fantastic hospitality, with great drinks at affordable prices.
I am a foodie, I love proper hospitality, and I like being on the floor with my guests. I am not an office person. So what I have brought to the pub is me, and my mad character about being here all the time.
It needs good old hospitality. And, if it is going to be premium, it has to be premium. Nice glasses, tablecloths, wine, it’s really important.
I have 52 members of staff, six of those are chefs. My management team have worked for me before. One of whom has gone on to the Coach & Horses [in Greenwich Market (another Redcomb branch)] to run that pub. I have two assistant managers, who are very hands on. My chef comes from a very fine-dining background and that is why I brought him here along with the other team.
We have a training scheme we do within Redcomb, but we also outsource training. For instance, we have our beer quality ABCQ course that is done at Fuller’s brewery for our entire senior bar staff. And, they can do the online training when they come into the business.
The Bickley has a very big and strong regular following. Monday through to Wednesday/Thursday daytime will mainly be locals and mums. We host a baby group on a Wednesday that has about 40 to 60 mothers with their children, who have a class booked upstairs. Then in the evening time, it switches to people coming home from the station, popping in for dinner and drinks.
The age group on a Friday is between 21 and 30, who come out to drink, while Saturday has an older clientele. They are very discerning guests who don’t mind spending good money on wine and food, and will spend all evening here.
Sundays are massive at the Bickley – you need to book at least two weeks in advance. It’s very much families and big groups – tables of eights, 10s, 12s, rather than tables of twos or fours.
We are primarily a steakhouse. This happened after we used to do a steak night, which some of the other Redcomb businesses still do, on a Wednesday night.
That worked tremendously well, we were always booked on that Wednesday. When we were brainstorming about what concept we were going to have, we all then thought ‘why don’t we do something around our steak?’
That led nicely on to what we do currently, and the reaction has been very good.
All our food here is freshly prepared on site, barring chips. We have really looked into provenance of the food, we see suppliers very frequently. Fish is also a big focus here on our menu, including on our Sunday menu and specials over the weekends. We tend to go for more premium fish, such as monkfish, turbot, halibut and lobster in the summer. We have a lot of influence around our menu, and we really spend a lot of time with our suppliers to make sure it’s right, especially with our steaks.
My favourite item on the menu in terms of starters has to be the squid, we use fresh squid and our own tempura batter. That and chowder are our best-sellers currently. On the mains, I have to say the fillet steak. We were all shocked as a company that we put on all these steaks, and we thought the fillet steak would be the one that people least went for, but in actual fact its proved the opposite. The more expensive the cuts, more expensive steaks, the premium products, have had more uplift.
We also have a lunch menu that incorporates small plates that start at £5.95, such as fish pie, sausage and mash, which have been popular mainly with the mums or people who pop out for a quick lunch.
I feel strongly that, although we do premium wines and spirits, we do a lot of real ales. We have five handpulls on. We are tied here, but one of our pumps is free of tie, which we rotate weekly. We have a real-ale following here and are Cask Marque-accredited.
Our wine list has some of the more premium products on compared to other pubs in the company but, at the moment, we are focusing on our gins and whiskies.
Gin over the summer proved phenomenal, we had a huge uplift compared to last year. Across the company, it was excellent.
We decided to continue with that and incorporate whiskies and our winter cocktails to the menu, which are proving very popular. The girls are liking them a lot. They are very sweet, but really nice and indulgent. They’re lovely either pre or after dinner.
There’s always investment – Mark and Dan are always wanting to put money in their pubs. They are passionate about being the best in their area and category, so we are having further investment in the next financial year. More so towards the garden. There was a huge investment out there in the first major refurb, but we now need to make the garden usable in winter. So, it will be an outdoor space project for us.
Going forward, there are many exciting things going on at the moment, and Redcomb is always looking for new places to buy.
What makes it special for me is that I have had so much involvement, and I get so much autonomy on how I can run and achieve our budgeted goals.
I also feel I have really got into the community. I love being here. I go shooting with the guys sometimes, and I am very involved with charitable organisations around the area. So for me, I treat this like my own pub, it’s like my home. I love it.
What makes it special to my guests is they come in and feel like they are in their home away from home. It’s vital for me that it has comfortable surroundings. We have done a lot more for our female market and we are now finding they are a lot more comfortable in here. The pub will be full of women on a Friday night, a year ago it would be the opposite. It’s all about the great environment here.
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Announcing Mark Higgs as the organisation’s Licensee of the Year in the summer, BII chairman Anthony Pender described his Castle at Edgehill as “more than just a pub”. The gothic setting enjoys spectacular views over the Warwickshire countryside – and a...
Quench your Thirst with Beers from the European UnionPaid for and content provided by European Union
Nick Sirianni outcoached Andy Reid on the biggest stage in football
Patrick Mahomes will be forever haunted for playing his worst game on the biggest stage at the worst time
for failing to become the NFL’s first three-peat champion
Both Mahomes and Reid are currently pursuing GOAT status at their respective positions
They know they will never get that opportunity again
I once believed Philadelphia sports fans already had their championship for the ages, a Super Bowl victory over Tom Brady’s Patriots that could never be topped. Now, I’m sure I don’t know. It’s one thing to beat an aging dynasty on a trick pass to quarterback Nick Foles. It’s even better to beat your vaunted opponent bloody
a dental hygienist claimed her allegiance to the Eagles while working on my teeth
one of her wedding presents included a bet on her behalf — a $100 preseason wager on the Eagles to win the Super Bowl
Her $1,400 payout was a near guarantee before halftime
I can attest there is nothing better for civic morale than winning a Super Bowl in dominant fashion
– There were 1,387 touchdowns scored in the regular season. None of them were better than Saquan Barkley’s reverse hurdle
– Jayden Daniels was the breakout star in 2024
– The Lions proved you can peak too early in a 17-game schedule; that offense doesn’t win championships in football; and no culture is strong enough to survive a never-ending rash of injuries
To wit: Aidan Hutchinson had 4.5 sacks in a game against the Buccaneers in September
He had 7.5 when he broke his leg in mid-October
the Lions couldn’t replace him when it mattered most
– This is now a tenuous time for the legacy of Detroit head coach Dan Campbell
He’s lost both of his top-flight coordinators
He went 0-1 in the playoffs after a 15-win regular season
the Lions might rank among Steve Nash’s Suns as the greatest eras that led to zero championships
– Super Bowl 58 was the longest in history
featuring 74 minutes and 57 seconds of playing time
Sunday’s encore was over at the 29:50 mark
when the Eagles went up 24-0 with 10 seconds left in the first half
– Cardinals’ owner Michael Bidwill earned heavy praise for staging an emergency game in Glendale to aid the rival Rams during catastrophic fires in Los Angeles. And then he was hit with another lawsuit from a former employee — a personal assistant who claims he treated her like garbage
The Cardinals strongly deny the allegations and Bidwill seems to be in very good standing with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell
– The Top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL are now: 1
– The Diamondbacks have a gem of a GM in Mike Hazen
so competent that the owner is happily granting near autonomy and unprecedented amounts of money to build a World Series title
The Cardinals need Monti Ossenfort to do the same right here and now
signing high-end talent in free agency and drafting immediate impact players
Ossenfort needs to make himself irreplaceable in the coming months
terms and conditions he needs to win a championship in Arizona
ARIZONA CARDINALS
Kyler Murray #1 of the Arizona Cardinals runs the ball against D.J
Wonnum #98 of the Carolina Panthers during the second quarter at Bank of America Stadium on December 22
Eliminated in Carolina
No fan base deserves to hear such hideous words in 2024
But that’s what the Cardinals coughed up on Sunday
they lost to a three-win team and one of the worst franchises in sports
The Cardinals coaching staff harped all week about playing meaningful games in December
They stressed how they could not overlook the three-win Panthers
a team that was performing better than its record indicated
They talked about avoiding a trap and walked headfirst into one
Their first-quarter focus was an abomination
a botched handoff and numerous mental errors
helping squander great field position to start the game
The first quarter spoke very poorly to the team leadership
particularly a coaching staff that could not command the room’s attention
which failed to prevent the second lackluster performance in the span of three weeks
there will be talk and much propaganda about how much the 2024 Cardinals improved in Year Two under Jonathan Gannon
Even if the Cardinals win their final two games and finish with a 9-8 record
That’s because the Cardinals were 6-4 entering the bye week
Their unconscionable loss to the Panthers robs the Valley of an impending showdown against the Rams in Los Angeles
a game that would’ve given the Cardinals a real crack at a division title and a home playoff game
A game that was slotted for primetime on Saturday night
providing Arizona spots fans with another shot at glory
Finally, the quarterback. Kyler Murray already has size issues. He cannot afford to shrivel anymore on a football field. But he’s done that consistently since the bye week
and spoiling solid overall performances with inexplicable moments and decisions
Murray is capable of being an MVP candidate
and one of the most compelling players in the NFL
And that’s all in the span of one possession
and so is an offense built on checkdowns and bubble screens
most of the sharp observers assume that Murray will be back for another go in 2025
But it will be really tough to peddle hope along with a significant hike in ticket prices when so much of the Valley has turned on our diminutive quarterback
It’s not a rarity for the Cardinals to be eliminated in Carolina
It happened twice in the playoffs during the Bruce Arians era
Except those were great Panthers teams that blocked our path to the Super Bowl
Robbing the fan base of a giant stage and a defining moment in LA
Listen to Bickley & Marotta mornings from 6 a.m
BBC Unscripted further strengthens its commitment to outstanding contributor welfare and support
BBC Unscripted has further strengthened its commitment to outstanding contributor welfare and support with a number of new initiatives and events alongside the introduction of a Duty of Care Executive role
says: “The BBC takes its duty of care responsibilities incredibly seriously and we are always looking at ways to further strengthen our commitment to ensuring the health
I’m thrilled that Sam is joining the Unscripted team
to share her considerable experience and knowledge with the department
alongside increasing the availability of resources
training and events will help support best-in-class duty of care for those who produce or contribute to BBC programmes”
Sam Bickley will work closely with commissioners
to support our increased focus on Duty of Care across our Unscripted programmes
Sam will provide an additional welfare perspective on programmes
particularly on content with high levels of contributor involvement
training and materials to help suppliers with their duty of care responsibilities
In the first of these events held on 27 February
hosted a Contributor Care at BBC Unscripted for over 80 delegates which featured sessions on Delivery Duty of Care within BBC Unscripted and Diversity and Duty of Care
BBC Unscripted is hosting a webinar: TV Welfare: Looking after contributors
The BBC is also consolidating resources for producers and teams
including guidance and links to available resources on subjects such as the use of psychologists
Ofcom code and risk matrix and TV Production Protocol Guidance Templates
in a central TV welfare page on the BBC Commissioning website
These plans build on the success of last year’s collaboration with ITV to recruit more registered psychologists with the development of a programme of continuing professional development. More information here
Sam Bickley says: “This is an exciting opportunity to support the work that the BBC and our suppliers already do around Duty of Care drawing on my experience as an Executive Producer
Commissioning Editor and Creative Director.”
Sam Bickley has been working as a freelance Executive Producer and Welfare Executive
recently working on series like BBC Three's I Kissed a Boy series
She has previously worked as a BBC commissioning editor and creative director
She was Head of BBC Three’s Docs and Features department and was also Acting Channel Exec of BBC Three in 2014
Along with her Freelance TV work she has qualified as an Integrative Therapeutic Counsellor
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How one game can make you feel the importance of personal relationships while the other 161 are background noise
nostalgia is even more powerful than Shohei
So, what will Diamondbacks fans feel on Thursday night
On the Valley’s very first Opening Day in 1998
I noticed workers scrambling to tighten bolts and complete stadium installations
Bob Brenly brought the World Series trophy on the field during pre-game ceremonies
And then Randy Johnson shut out the Padres while throwing 130 pitches … in his first start of the season
The Diamondbacks have special bragging rights in Arizona
They remain the Valley’s only major professional franchise to win a championship
Their triumph over the Yankees post-9/11 was a historic and euphoric accomplishment
one of the greatest title bouts in baseball history
The Diamondbacks ended the reign of a dynasty that had won the previous three World Series championships
They also ushered in a new era of parity in Major League Baseball where there hasn’t been a repeat champion since
The Diamondbacks are also coming off their most dominant Opening Day performance in history
when they scored 14 runs in the third inning of a 16-1 victory
they have also had many lean years and last-place finishes
enduring many embarrassing moments on Opening Day
Starting pitcher Javier Vazquez once allowed 10 hits to the first 15 Cubs he faced in 2005
Zack Greinke’s debut in 2016 drew a thunderous clapback from motivated Rockies hitters
who were clearly triggered by the celebrated unveiling of Arizona’s $206 million offseason acquisition
which included Greinke batting eighth in the lineup
Today, the Diamondbacks are enjoying a renaissance. They have a generous owner, an elite GM and a manager who wears his heart on his sleeve. They have a team that could win the World Series, a pair of MVP candidates and a potentially thunderous pitching staff. But many things can go wrong
this is a very important season for a team on the rebound
The Diamondbacks have given us four different eras of truly compelling baseball
They’ve given us golden playoff moments like Archie Bradley’s triple; four home runs in one inning against the Dodgers; two giant road victories in crucible of Philadelphia; and a Game 7 rally against Mariano Rivera
the greatest closer in the history of the sport
We will feel all of it when the Diamondbacks take the field on Thursday night
Mat Ishbia press conferences are so predictable they should come with bingo cards
He’ll claim full accountability for failures while speaking in tones of defensive defiance
He’ll give numerous shoutouts to the Phoenix Mercury
his WNBA franchise that has nothing to do with the occasion
his energy and bombast will be endearing and exhausting
But there was something a bit different on Thursday
Ishbia was clearly stung by recent criticism from ESPN personality Stephen A
who said the Suns owner is on pace to become the worst owner in NBA history
He called Smith “disrespectful.” Ishbia said he is fully expecting an apology in the near future
Ishbia also thinks most Suns fans view him as a great owner
For ignoring profit margins and putting his team on free TV
For spending more on luxury tax than the sixth-seeded Pistons spent on payroll
on a Suns team that embarrassed him and everyone else in the Valley
For building new headquarters and bringing back a G-league team
For succeeding everywhere Robert Sarver failed
He deserves massive amounts of credit for his willingness to overspend in pursuit of a championship
a trait that is very uncommon in professional sports
Comparing him to the real dregs of NBA ownership (Donald Sterling
Ishbia has fired three coaches in two years, but two of them (Monty Williams, Mike Budenholzer) deserved it
His blockbuster trade for Kevin Durant went bust but was hardly derelict
and most media agreed with the transaction in real time
We also marveled at the roster upgrades following a 49-win season under Frank Vogel
And would anyone be complaining about Ishbia if the previous regime had the sense to draft Luka Doncic and not Deandre Ayton
Ishbia’s unforgivable sin is the hubris displayed in trading for Bradley Beal and the worst contract in the NBA
a player also represented by the father of Josh Bartelstein
You can imagine how lines might get blurred
Ishbia deserves the same patience he himself struggles to show
doing everything well except for producing compelling
Ishbia met with the media by himself on Thursday
Bartelstein and GM James Jones followed as a combo platter
and it’s a good bet at least one loses their job in the coming purge
Ishbia also countered charges of his own meddling by saying he’s getting even more involved in the future
vowing to better serve Planet Orange by making his standards extremely clear
he wants the Suns to project an unmistakable identity
He wants you to feel proud of their effort at all times
even if they lose more than 46 games in the regular season
it’s a long way back to the highway and even longer to the NBA’s fast lane
And yet another journey back begins with baby steps
A $300,000 statue of Jerry Colangelo has been completed
It’s bought and paid for by some of the biggest names in basketball
the fate of the statue appears to be stuck in a state of political limbo
It’s threatening to derail a grand gesture to one of the founding fathers of Phoenix
And this column is a heartfelt plea for current city leaders to rally around a very important monument
Posthumous gestures are the worst form of tribute
The Suns family has already lost Al McCoy and Walter Davis in the past 12 months
He brought Major League Baseball to Phoenix
winning a World Series in their fourth year of existence
He opened doors for the Coyotes to move here in 1996
His name is on the court at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
the Valley is a sprawling boomtown metropolis shaped by a number of billionaires
power brokers and very important visionaries
But there was a time when Colangelo stood above everyone
he turned downtown Phoenix from a dusty desert outpost to Major League city
Longtime readers know this is a cause near to my heart
Great sports towns commemorate their true heroes with statues
I’ve seen fans gravitate to the statue park outside the Cardinals’ stadium in St
Same with the dazzling array of statues outside the Lakers’ arena in Los Angeles
Statues are civic landmarks and pieces of communal art
How proud do you feel when you see the Pat Tillman statue outside State Farm Stadium
Or when football star Cam Skattebo holds the hand of the Tillman statue at ASU before taking the field for the Sun Devils
Charles Barkley and Steve Nash in the plaza outside Footprint Center
There should be statues of Randy Johnson and Luis Gonzalez outside of Chase Field
fuel the imagination and feed the soul of undernourished sports towns
even though renovation plans currently prevent any statue park outside of Footprint Center
The team even worked with local businessman Jimmy Walker
They landed on what appears to be the perfect site — on the steps of the old convention center at the corner of Jefferson and 3rd streets
It features Colangelo holding a basketball and a baseball bat
standing in between the franchises and stadiums he built from the ground floor
and certainly not a time for pettiness or politics
This is a time to see the forest and the sweep of history
Mayor Kate Gallego dropped by the Van Buren Theater to honor a local rock band made good
proclaiming it Jimmy Eat World Day in the Phoenix
She even credited the band with having “built this city.”
Colangelo is the one deserving those words
And his statue deserves a home as soon as possible
Leonard Williams #99 of the Seattle Seahawks knocks away a pass Kyler Murray #1 of the Arizona Cardinals tries to make during the first quarter at Lumen Field on November 24
The Arizona Cardinals turned their bye week into a buh-bye week
farewell to their 28-day stranglehold on first place in the NFC West
They were smothered by the Seahawks defense in a 16-6 loss in Seattle
Their offensive line was demolished at the point of attack
creating no room for James Conner (a meager eight yards on seven carries) and no protection for Kyler Murray (five sacks)
Outcomes rarely come less complicated in the NFL
The loss raises plenty of questions. Did the Cardinals lose rhythm and momentum during their bye week, which came after consecutive blowouts of the Bears and the Jets? How did the offensive line get worse with the return of Jonah Williams, who had been injured since the first quarter of Week 1? And what is going on with rookie Darius Robinson, who was inactive once again
the Cardinals ceded first place to the Seahawks based on tiebreaker criteria
It also raised the stakes for their rematch at State Farm Stadium in two weeks
which now appears to be a must-win game for Arizona if they want to contend for a division title
Their epic struggles with Seattle’s mediocre defense won’t inspire confidence moving forward
The loss was an anticlimactic ending to one of the biggest weekends of football we’ve seen in the Valley. It came 24 hours after ASU’s field-storming victory against BYU in Tempe
when Kenny Dillingham’s clock management traumatized a fan base he is furiously activating
the Cardinals have feasted on dysfunctional programs
well-coached team that knows how to lock into a road game and a game plan
But Seattle was a different kind of opponent
bullying the Cardinals with a swarming defense
when Leonard Williams looked like the division’s newest version of the retired Aaron Donald
Murray had some good moments. He played courageously. He passed for 285 yards, including 12 completions to star tight end Trey McBride. But he was under duress for the entirety of the game
And his worst moment of the day was extremely costly
realizing he was not going to beat Seattle’s Devon Witherspoon to the edge
Murray floated a desperation pass well over Michael Wilson’s head
It was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Coby Bryant
The quarterback has been stellar at protecting the football and not throwing reckless interceptions
where he has just 16 picks in his past 30 games
Arizona lost a great opportunity to carve out a two-game lead in the NFC West
They watched Seattle win its sixth consecutive game in a rivalry gone wrong
holding the Cardinals to just 49 rushing yards
They were the better team with the better quarterback
They were more physical and far more desperate
They kept the Cardinals out of the end zone during a goal-to-go situation
the Seahawks were reeling entering their bye week
having lost five games in the span of six weeks
They responded with huge wins against San Francisco and Arizona
It was clear they wanted it more because all cliches are grounded in truth
And the offensive performance on Sunday is exactly what we feared when the Cardinals temporarily unplugged their season
Listen to Bickley & Marotta mornings from 6 a.m
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Longreads and photographic journeys documenting our ongoing worldwide adventures in beer
The Southern Expressway once boasted the dubious honor of being the world’s longest reversible one-way road
sweeping stretch of asphalt that rolls through the suburbs of Adelaide toward the crumbling sandstone cliffs and golden beaches of the Fleurieu Peninsula
At the end of the Expressway lies McLaren Vale
one of the Southern Hemisphere’s premier wine regions
known for prestigious estates and for the dominance of Shiraz
with the first wisps of seasonal haze hanging high over the gulf and the roadside wattle in full bloom
I’m among the many travelers making the pilgrimage south
Most are likely anticipating a day spent teetering between wineries framed by vines in budburst
lips and teeth taking on darker shades of crimson as the day progresses
But I’m not going as far as the Vale today
My destination is a utilitarian warehouse that exists in a different register from the manicured lawns
and postcard-ready vistas of the cellar doors 20 minutes down the road
but it’s where Lone Gum Farmhouse—only the second dedicated mixed-fermentation brewery in South Australia
after the Barossa Valley’s Ministry of Beer—calls home.
As we step over the threshold he greets us warmly
Bickley has a natural propensity for hospitality
Though his formal training is in engineering
his secondary education was born of the countless hours spent in local pubs that have been championing good
A well-timed trip in his early 20s to Brussels and the Senne Valley
cemented his interest in wild fermentation
At institutions like the Wheatsheaf Hotel and The Earl of Leicester (where Rodenbach Grand Cru had a permanent tapline for many years)
and was invited to brew days hosted by a backyard homebrew collective across the road from the Earl
“Some of the best brew days we had were when Ryan was there,” says Nathan Carter
the beer buyer at the Earl of Leicester during the early aughts and now in the same role at the Stirling Cellars bottle shop.
When I asked how he sees Bickley’s work in the context of the local beer scene and local tastes
“Adelaide has a close craft beer drinking community and there’s a lot of them that just drink Sours
[Lone Gum Farmhouse] will blow people’s minds
The future tense is necessary because Lone Gum Farmhouse has yet to see an official retail release
despite bottles having been around for nearly a decade now
“My solera project is eight years old,” says Bickley
a wry smile on his face; he’s well aware of the absurdity of having a brewing project turning no profit for this long
When I began brewing on my own I bought a 100L brew kit and started triple
and would go through up to 150 to 200 trials at a time
then was filling the odd barrel when I was happy.”
using the facilities of local success story Little Bang Brewing in exchange for working on the canning line
he began to draw up his plans for the future
Carter recently convinced Bickley to make some bottles available at Stirling Cellars
the only way the beer has made its way into the hands of drinkers is via Bickley himself or through his local pub
the Gilbert Street Hotel in central Adelaide
When I mention the online discourse to Bickley—the local response has been effusive—he is evasive in his humility
“Where have they been finding them?” he laughs
I first became aware of Lone Gum when a panel selected it as the Breakthrough South Australian Brewery of the Year on popular Australian beer podcast Step Brewers
This was despite the fact that the vast majority of listeners—even those for whom the brewery was local—were unlikely to try any of its beers in the near future.
Samuel Mahoney is a local designer and photographer who chaired the panel
and spoke with me about his own initial encounters
“My first encounter with [Lone Gum] was on the Unico Zelo [winery’s] YouTube channel
“They brought out an unlabeled bottle from a brewery I had never heard of before.” From there
and was able to highlight some of the issues he was facing getting the brewery started up on Graild
the South Australia-focused drinks publication he was running at the time
so the interest was obviously there,” he says.
The decision to give Lone Gum the award seemed a radical one at the time
“Lone Gum just felt like the most exciting development in the South Australia beer scene at the time—it just so happens that some obstacles have meant that [most] are still yet to try Ryan’s stuff.”
you get the sense that sharing his beers with the world is not necessarily even the first consideration for Bickley
“The [first] Sours that I liked were outside of my uni student budget
and the local ones were not that enjoyable for me
but I had a few from over the ditch [in New Zealand] that changed my mind a bit,” he recalls
“There weren’t many available when I started out
So I set about making them as well as I could.”
closing in on a vision of the beer he wants to produce and the quality he aspires to
the space we enter is hardly what he had in mind when he started his journey.
Lone Gum Farmhouse was to be just that—a farmhouse brewery
along with longtime friends and collaborators Brad Cameron and Beau Linn
paints a vivid picture of their intentions for the Bickley family property
situated on the southern border of McLaren Vale: row upon row of fruit trees; bushes laden with berries; root crops; herb gardens; rustling thatches of wheat
These varied crops and projects would all make use of the region’s incomparable terroir to produce beer evocative of its surroundings.
While the orchards and plantings came along easily enough
Lone Gum was quickly enveloped in thick swathes of red tape
The majority of McLaren Vale sits within the Onkaparinga Council region
part of the Bickley property extended 400 meters into the neighboring Alexandrina District Council
Brewing is treated as an industrial practice
and the council had concerns about its waste output
though Bickley is quick to point out that the resultant refuse is similar to that of winemaking
Although Bickley received several initial approvals
as well as the property’s proximity to a small cluster of residences
meant that there was no flexibility to establish the kind of venue he wanted
He went as far as drafting proposals for modifications to planning boundaries before deciding to throw in the towel on his dream of a rural taproom
The Onkaparinga Council advised him to look to the more industrial Lonsdale to establish his business
the South Australian wine industry has cultivated a perception of exclusivity
This is bolstered by its claim to some of the world’s oldest vine plantings
with stringent quarantine measures insulating them from diseases that have plagued Old World vineyards
while 60% of high-end Australian wine exports come from South Australia
the majority of locals looking to relax at the end of a hard day’s labor will likely still reach for a pint rather than a wine glass
reactions to Lone Gum among local winemakers and industry professionals have been mostly positive
Bickley attributes this to a function of McLaren Vale itself
The region is known for having some of the greatest diversity of terroir of any wine region in the world
and the vintners and viticulturists operating locally have learned to work with what they have; perhaps as a result
they seem to be open-minded about new products and new ideas
He positions this in stark contrast to the tight-laced Barossa Valley north of Adelaide
which he characterizes as more homogenous of character and parochial of attitude
Bickley’s difficulty in establishing himself locally feels like an indictment of the lack of progressive attitudes in Australian local councils—fellow Wild Ale specialists Dollar Bill Brewing in Ballarat
Victoria underwent similar difficulties—but also a seeming missed opportunity for the McLaren Vale gastro-tourism industry
While there’s a handful of breweries operating out of the region
the most cost-effective approach for breweries is to lean into the Instagram-friendly cellar door blueprint
with taplists that do not do much to raise eyebrows or ruffle feathers.
The kind of beer that Bickley is producing—the kind that takes great care
and years of experience to make—is arguably far more akin to wine in process and accessibility
this does even more to alienate customers of both stripes
as a product normally taken at face value demands the attention traditionally reserved only for the “boutique.”
The change of scenery has brought some of its own unique challenges in this vein
Bickley is quick to acknowledge that the average local customers
and laborers in Lonsdale are unlikely to seek out challenging wild-fermented beer
he intends to establish an offshoot brand of no-nonsense
easy-drinking Lager as a taproom staple.
He gestures to the front half of the expansive space
where a makeshift bar holds court before a sleek line of tap fittings
“The front is going to be a 100-person-capacity venue
but we’ve got the licensing to expand to 300,” he says
“And this will all have to be storage,” he gestures to the rear
which is crowded with stacks of reclaimed timber
The space formerly operated as a homebrew store and brew-it-yourself facility
and the prior signage still sits at the front of the building
There was little to salvage from the previous operation
and while an 8.5-barrel brewhouse and hand-crafted coolship are expected to arrive in a few weeks
for now the site feels like standing in a bizarrely brewing-oriented estate sale.
I arrive the day before drainage is due to be installed
and a deep concrete trench scores the center of the space
mismatched couches sit alongside handbuilt tables and benches
A tower of speakers fills the room with light mood music
though this is apparently frequently interspersed with heavy drum-and-bass to help with the long brew days
Houseplants form a thicket in front of the barrels
and we spend most of our time speaking in a loft space—endearingly dubbed “the executive lounge”—that’s only accessible via an ancient
The vision is to establish a family-friendly taproom with a sense of bringing the outdoors in to make up for what they have had to leave behind
Bickley’s formative years spent working closely with locals in the industry has meant that even though the space is still nascent
the community is already starting to gather
A steady stream of visitors drop in during our conversation: contractors talking business who stay to sample the wares; brewers who are sharing the space (fellow ex-itinerants Beer No Evil); family and friends who evidently feel very much at home
This comfortable camaraderie is part of the equation
the other part being the electric energy with which Bickley speaks about his craft and his relationship with mixed- and wild-fermented beer
a passion he is sharing with all who will pause and listen.
“I’d argue that many of my mixed-ferm beers are more traditional than the modern Lager
“Every now and then something really excites me—whether it’s an ingredient or a process or an entirely new thing—so I go away
I read about it and I try and produce something to do it justice.”
generally using whatever piece of industrial paraphernalia happens to be close at hand
Three different iterations of his staple Saison
the closest he plans on ever coming to a core range for Lone Gum
a rustling jar of potpourri in an antique bookshop
conditioned with a touch of lime juice and ginger
full of lemon meringue pie character with the root spiciness of the ginger providing the biscuit crust backing
bottle-conditioned with local Riverland orange blossom honey
finishes clean and almost obscenely drinkable.
I probe a little about Bickley’s approach to yeasts and culture
but he dismisses the notion of uniformity implicit in the question
He has a deep library of wild captures and cultivated blends from the better part of a decade of unrelenting experimentation
These wild captures are a labor-intensive process without a coolship
“We would literally just use the stainless pots from the trial system
same surface area per unit volume,” he says
“But they were 20-hour brew days with some prayer involved.”
letting his intention and the evolution of the beer itself guide his decisions in this space
he seems to have a laser-like focus on monitoring each beer as it develops
A vibrantly pink fruited Berliner Weisse opened next hints at his penchant for perfectionism
Everyone present seems unanimous in their approval
but to Bickley the acid character is too pronounced
and overwhelms the subtleties of the fruit
and while we’re not technically in McLaren Vale
here you’re never far from its cultural reach
A Golden Sour aged for a year on pressed Viognier skins demonstrates this—the grapes come from Cameron’s family vineyard
a resource that Cameron and Bickley have been leveraging for their enterprise.
but before me no one ever considered making wine,” Cameron says
a name emblazoned across a number of barrels that currently contain Lone Gum beers
Their plans for the future include further explorations into the gray area between beer and wine
“We haven’t made as many as we would have liked due to the delays in setting up the brewery
but I have access to some awesome vineyards and varieties,” says Cameron
“Basically every single wine I make we will try and use skins or juice [in the] beers.”
where the two exchange not only raw materials
Despite the difference in the day-to-day labors
winemaking and mixed-fermentation brewing can show surprising similarities
but Bickley has been able to bring something unique to the table
“It’s been very helpful coming from the beer background and moving into wine and spirits later
as beer has been very process-driven to make clean and consistent products for so long that looking at a lot of what happens in those fields is weird,” he says
“So much is ‘left to the vintage,’ and not so much to cleanliness and consistency.”
refermentation with Brett will fix it easily
Bickley champions a holistic approach to fermentation
much of modern winemaking is reliant on heavy-handed chemical adjustments to address faults and create a false uniformity
he’s more interested in what’s going on on the wilder side of things
trying new things—it’s hard to have time to try the same thing twice,” he says
look at the processes and techniques and see what I’d do differently.” Cameron takes Bickley’s lead on this
and we [Camwell Wines] focus on farming the best possible grapes we can first,” Cameron says
Lone Gum has a couple of wines in progress under its own label
The Viognier beer is a gorgeously textural affair
I assumed it was ready for public consumption
but Bickley asserts that it still needs another couple of months
While the beers are allowed the grace of resting on their laurels
Racks of barrels are full of beers and wines of varying ages and styles
as well as experimental ciders and spirits
awaiting judgment as to where they will eventually sit in the Lone Gum pantheon
The office in the back has bookshelves filled with gin trials and homemade bitters
A dram of “whiskey” handed to me is only three months old but already well-hued
Produced from the second runnings of an Imperial Stout
but the draw is smooth and leaves little burn
the spirits were just part of a waste stream process
I started experimenting a bit more,” Bickley says
The “Stout Whisky” is followed quickly by the Stout itself
poured directly from a tank where it is currently conditioning on hazelnuts and cacao
separated from a portion that was aged in a bourbon barrel
Well-weighted and as easy-drinking as you will find in a double-digit ABV beer
and the nose has Frangelico and nougat in equal measure
While we’re at the taps a Barleywine is also produced
young and rich with notes of golden syrup and some pleasantly earthy esters on the nose.
and I have to pull him up short on crafting a decadent half-and-half out of equal measures of the two
as I still have to maintain a semblance of productivity for the afternoon
I smile at his acknowledgement that he can get carried away—this is the perfect setting to do it in
with good company and some of the finest liquids the region can produce
the Southern Expressway was rife with incidents of people blithely ignoring all signage and driving the wrong direction at the wrong time of day
Some people are simply compelled to go against the flow
It’s clear that Bickley is fiercely devoted to progress in the face of adversity
banking on his beer to speak for itself even in unlikely and less-than-ideal surroundings
Once his dream of a farmhouse brewery had finally been recognized as an exercise in futility
Bickley and his family decided it was too much of a struggle to maintain their property
While that particular plot of land may not be in his future
I’ll work and save and try and find a place that can support the vision
and Publications that’ll drive you to drink