The striker, who left Tonbridge last season to join Dartford, was loaned back to the Angels last week and started in the two recent draws against Kingstonian and Wealdstone.
Rook admitted he was surprised at the speed of the move back to Longmead, having been told last Tuesday by Dartford boss Tony Burman that he needed to go out on loan and get some games.
Conference Premier side Eastbourne Borough had expressed an interest, as had Carshalton Athletic, but when Angels boss Tommy Warrilow came calling, there was only one place the former Horsham man was going.
“Tony Burman told me I was going out on loan on the Tuesday and by Thursday I was back at Tonbridge,” Rook said. “It was quite a surprise to me if I’m honest, but there are three strikers at Dartford fighting for one place and I’ve been in and out of the side. The manager said that I needed to get out and get some games and I agreed. I made the decision to go back to Tonbridge, which was an easy one really; they’re pushing for promotion so hopefully I can score some goals to get us there.”
The 28-year-old scaffolder admitted the prospect of playing in the Conference Premier with Eastbourne Borough had appealed, but having looked at away trips to Wrexham, Gateshead and Southport in the next few weeks, work commitments ruled that out.
Having experienced the agony of missing out in the play-offs with the Angels in his first spell, Rook is confident Tonbridge have the squad to go one better this time around. Warrilow has also set him a goal target for the remaining games of the season, and the striker says promotion for Tonbridge to the Conference South next season may come into the equation when it comes to sorting out his future this summer.
He said: “It’s a shame if it has not worked out at Dartford, whether the manager sees something in me he does not like I don’t know.
“I’d love to be able to help Tonbridge go up and Tommy has set me a target of 10 goals in the last 12 games and hopefully I can achieve that. This is the best squad he has had at the club, and he’s had some good players in the last few years but not many would get in this side.
“I’m out of contract in the summer, but it’s up to other people with what happens. I’ve been in and out of the team at Dartford, but then you get an offer from Eastbourne Borough in the Conference Premier and it makes you think that someone sees something in you to play that level. I also really enjoy playing at Tonbridge and I enjoyed my time at Dartford, so there’s a lot to weigh up at the end of the season.”
Via: www.kentnews.co.uk U.K. Edition
The 21-year-old scaffolder has been put forward to the British Boxing Board of Control for a professional licence by his manager Trevor Frater.
Frater’s professional boxing partner Mike Shinfield – who manages several leading boxers in the country – has already seen McSpadden spar with other professional boxers, and said he has what it takes to make the step up.
He now has to face board members before being told whether he will be given his licence.
He said: “This is what I always wanted to do since I can remember.
“I will put in the training, time and effort that it will take for me to succeed in my ambitions to put Louth on the boxing map.”
McSpadden is a member of T&J Pro-Am School of Boxing on Louth Trading Estate, which Mr Frater owns.
He would become Louth’s only current professional boxer.
“That is why this is not just big for me but it is also big for the town, and can only be good for Louth,” said McSpadden.
“There isn’t another pro boxer who is from Louth so it would be a great moment for me.
“This is an opportunity of a lifetime and I really want to take it.
“I have always been encouraged by my family to do it. My dad had his own gym and boxing has always been in the family.”
At amateur level he has boxed at light-middleweight but says as a professional he would prefer to fight at welterweight or light-welterweight.
McSpadden was bought his first pair of gloves by his father before he could walk.
The youngest of seven siblings, McSpadden joined Fabien Boxing Academy, aged five.
He lost contact with the sport in his later primary school years, before taking it back up as a teenager and joining the armed forces where he went 12 competitions undefeated.
After a spell in the army, he left to move back to Louth with his family, joining T&J.
His first ABA competition was at Sheffield Working Men’s Club and he stopped a fighter with vastly superior experience inside 50 seconds of the first round.
After 17 fights in a year, he remained undefeated.
Mr Frater said: “I helped him with his fitness levels and his boxing skills and he showed mass improvement immediately.
“I noticed that, in-line with new ABA rules, I was going to have to completely change Sam’s boxing style.
“I don’t see the point doing that and after speaking with Mike we came to the same conclusion about Sam’s boxing career and are going to put him forward for a professional licence.”
McSpadden has undergone a medical and a brain scan in preparation. He will go around the country sparring with other professionals.
T&J Pro-Am are looking for sponsors for McSpadden. Call Trevor Frater on 07854081736.
Via: Grimsby Telegraph 
A leaked letter from the HSE outlines plans to withdraw inspections from entire sectors of industry, including some where “significant risk” remains.
The organisation is facing a 35% cut in its government grant, leading to concerns for workplace safety.
The HSE said no final decision had been made.
HSE inspectors and their counterparts in local authority environmental health departments carry out thousands of visits to business premises each year.
The unannounced “knock on the door” has traditionally formed a key aspect of the HSE’s approach to regulation, and is credited with helping to prevent accidents and reduce the number of workplace deaths, which currently stand at an all-time low.
But in February, chief executive Geoffrey Podger proposed a reduction in what the HSE calls “proactive inspections”. In a letter obtained by the BBC’s File on 4 programme, he outlines plans to reduce HSE inspections by a third.
The HSE’s job is to make the workplace safe, but now it’s being explicitly instructed not to do that job right”
Professor Rory O’Neill Editor, Hazards magazine said The letter is a blueprint of proposed wide-ranging changes to HSE operations in the light of a 35% cut to its government grant. It recommends a departure from face-to-face contact in favour of web-based and other initiatives.
The letter identifies three high hazard sectors including the nuclear, offshore and chemical industries which will be ring-fenced from the proposed cuts.
It also states that some other industries will still remain subject to unannounced visits, but these are not identified. But the letter also outlines two categories where proactive inspections will be entirely withdrawn from future HSE operations.
In one case this is put down to the “relative cost-effectivenes” of the procedure.
For another, inspections are deemed not “necessary or useful” despite the HSE acknowledging the “significant risk'” posed by the industries under consideration.
The move has caused concern among health and safety campaigners.
Professor Rory O’Neill, editor of the safety magazine Hazards, believes it signals a fundamental departure from the HSE’s role as safety watchdog.
“The HSE’s job is to make the workplace safe, but now it’s being explicitly instructed not to do that job right,” he said.
“The implication for health and safety is that workplaces will become deregulated.”
Dr Courtney Davis of Sussex University reviewed the worldwide evidence for the value of proactive inspections, and believes any reduction is likely to have a detrimental impact on worker safety.
“The most robust studies show that inspection plus enforcement are associated with a decline in injury rates of 22% for the following three years,” she said.
“The evidence relating to new, soft interventions is much weaker, and almost non-existent.
“It doesn’t appear to be the case that these alternatives are effective in improving compliance with health and safety law or injury rates.”
An HSE spokesperson said: “We regularly consult with partner organisations on future ways of working. Discussions do not constitute a final decision so it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time.
“The emphasis should be on outcomes – the incidence of accidents and ill-health – rather than the number of particular types of inputs by the regulator.
“The estimated number of working days lost due to workplace injuries and ill-health is now the lowest it has ever been in Britain.”
File on 4 is on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday 8 March at 2000 GMT and Sunday 13 March at 1700 GMT. Listen again via the BBC iPlayer or download the podcast.
Via: the BBC