A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization. Building societies offer banking and related financial services savings and mortgage lending. Building societies exist in the United Kingdom and Australia, used to exist in Ireland and several Commonwealth countries, they are similar to credit unions in organisation. However, rather than promoting thrift and offering unsecured and business loans, the purpose of a building society is to provide home mortgages to members. Borrowers and depositors are society members, setting policy and appointing directors on a one-member, one-vote basis. Building societies provide other retail banking services, such as current accounts, credit cards and personal loans; the term "building society" first arose in the 19th century in Great Britain from cooperative savings groups. In the United Kingdom, building societies compete with banks for most consumer banking services mortgage lending and savings accounts, regulations permit up to half of their lending to be funded by debt to non-members, allowing societies to access wholesale bond and money markets to fund mortgages.

The world's largest building society is Britain's Nationwide Building Society. Further, in Australia, building societies compete with retail banks and offer the full range of banking services to consumers. Building societies as an institution began in late-18th century Birmingham - a town, undergoing rapid economic and physical expansion driven by a multiplicity of small metalworking firms, whose many skilled and prosperous owners invested in property. Many of the early building societies were based in taverns or coffeehouses, which had become the focus for a network of clubs and societies for co-operation and the exchange of ideas among Birmingham's active citizenry as part of the movement known as the Midlands Enlightenment; the first building society to be established was Ketley's Building Society, founded by Richard Ketley, the landlord of the Golden Cross inn, in 1775. Members of Ketley's society paid a monthly subscription to a central pool of funds, used to finance the building of houses for members, which in turn acted as collateral to attract further funding to the society, enabling further construction.

By 1781 three more societies had been established in Birmingham, with a fourth in the nearby town of Dudley. The first outside the English Midlands was established in Leeds in 1785. Most of the original societies were terminating, where they would be dissolved when all members had a house: the last of them, First Salisbury and District Perfect Thrift Building Society, was wound up in March 1980. In the 1830s and 1840s a new development took place with the permanent building society, where the society continued on a rolling basis, continually taking in new members as earlier ones completed purchases, such as Leek United Building Society; the main legislative framework for the building society was the Building Societies Act 1874, with subsequent amending legislation in 1894, 1939, 1960. In their heyday, there were hundreds of building societies: just about every town in the country had a building society named after that town. Over succeeding decades the number of societies has decreased, as various societies merged to form larger ones renaming in the process, other societies opted for demutualisation followed by – in the great majority of cases – eventual takeover by a listed bank.

Most of the existing larger building societies are the end result of the mergers of many smaller societies. All building societies in the UK are members of the Building Societies Association. At the start of 2008, there were 59 building societies in the UK, with total assets exceeding £360 billion; the number of societies in the UK fell by four during 2008 due to a series of mergers brought about, to a large extent, by the consequences of the financial crisis of 2007–2008. With three further mergers in each of 2009 and 2010, a demutualisation and a merger in 2011, there are now 44 building societies. In the 1980s, changes to British banking laws allowed building societies to offer banking services equivalent to normal banks; the management of a number of societies still felt that they were unable to compete with the banks, a new Building Societies Act was passed in 1986 in response to their concerns. This permitted societies to'demutualise'. If more than 75% of members voted in favour, the building society would become a limited company like any other.

Members' mutual rights were exchanged for shares in this new company. A number of the larger societies made such proposals to their members and all were accepted; some listed on the London Stock Exchange. The process began with the demutualisation of the Abbey National Building Society in 1989. From 1995 to late 1999, eight societies demutualised accounting for two-thirds of building societies assets as at 1994. Five of these societies became joint stock banks, one merged with another and the other four were taken over by plcs; as Tayler mentions, demutualisation moves succeeded because neither Conservative nor Labour party UK governments created a framework which put obstacles in the way of demutualisation. Political acquiescence in demutualisation was clearest in the case of the position on'carpet baggers', those who joined societies by lodging minimum amounts of £100 or so in the hope of profiting from a distribution of surplus after demutualisation; the deregulating Building Societies Act 1986 contained an anti-carpet bagg

Brescia University is a coeducational Catholic university in Owensboro, United States. Founded as a junior college for women, it is now a coeducational university offering undergraduate and master's programs. Brescia University traces its roots to Mount Saint Joseph Junior College for Women founded in 1925 by the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph at Maple Mount, a rural area outside Owensboro. Coeducational extension courses were started at Owensboro and grew into its own campus. After World War II the two campuses were consolidated, thus becoming co-educational. In 1951, it was renamed Brescia College, after the Italian city of Brescia where Saint Angela Merici founded the original order, it attained university status in 1998 with the addition of Master's degree programs in Management, Curriculum and Instruction. Brescia University boasts a number of on campus clubs and organizations, most notably the Student Activities Program Board. SAPB sends members annually to the NACA Mid America Regional conference that brings in Activities Programming Board members from colleges across Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Illinois.

Notable acts brought out of NACA include Cary Judd. Joey Goebel, author Brescia University teams are known as the Bearcats; the university is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics competing in the River States Conference. Men's sports include baseball, cross country, soccer and track & field. Official website Official athletics website

Andrew Philip Mehrtens is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer. He was regarded as a top Fly-half, having played first for Canterbury in 1993, before being selected for the All Blacks in 1995 when he played in the 1995 World Cup. Since his move to England, to France, he helped his first three clubs to promotion into their country's top flight, he first joined Harlequins in England, where in his first season he played a major factor in leading the freshly relegated club to an immediate return to the top-level Guinness Premiership. After seeing Harlequins through their first season back in the Premiership, he went to the ambitious Pro D2 club Toulon for the 2007–08 season. After Toulon won the title to secure an immediate return to the Top 14, he remained in Pro D2, moving to another ambitious side, Racing Métro. For the second straight season, his team won the Pro D2 crown and a spot in the Top 14. Mehrtens' parents lived in South Africa for four years from 1970 and returned to New Zealand when he was still a young child.

Mehrtens grew up in Christchurch, attended Christchurch Boys' High School, played Junior Grade Rugby for Kaiapoi. He represented New Zealand at under-19 and under-21 levels. Like many players in New Zealand, Mehrtens comes from a family with a long involvement in rugby, his grandfather, George Mehrtens, played for Canterbury in the 1920s as a fullback and was an All Black in unofficial internationals against New South Wales in 1928. His father, Terry a first five, represented Canterbury between 1964 and 1976, he was a New Zealand under-23 player in 1965 against the Springboks and again in 1967, while in South Africa played as a fullback for Natal against the 1970 All Blacks. New Zealand rugby has had few players who have won such wide popularity and affection as Andrew Mehrtens, who in a 12-year career at first class level became a national figure rather than an icon of his Canterbury province. However, there was never total agreement on his ranking in the pecking order of All Black first five-eighths.

Some headed by Colin Meads believed that Mehrtens was the best in his position produced by New Zealand. Others believed that despite his immense skills, vision and ability to throw long cut out passes to his outsides he had limitations in the way rugby developed in the professional era, he was seen as lacking the physique or inclination to mix it physically, either taking the ball up or committing himself to the tackle. Outside the playing field, Mehrtens proved to be a favourite with fans and a large section of the media because of his pleasant manner, his intelligence, his wit and sense of humour. Despite his family background Mehrtens only emerged as a rare prospect in his late teens because he was a slower developer physically. In his teens Mehrtens showed as much promise in tennis, where in various age groups he was nationally ranked, his first significant rugby selection was in 1992 when he played in the national under 19s against Australia in a side which included Crusaders or All Blacks teammates Adrian Cashmore, Norman Berryman, Milton Going, Tabai Matson, Justin Marshall and Taine Randell.

He was first chosen for Canterbury in 1993–94 and in each of those seasons he was in the New Zealand Colts, making his first major impact nationally in the Canterbury side which in 1994 took the Ranfurly Shield from Waikato. His performance that day and in Shield defences that season against Counties and Otago marked him as a clear All Black prospect. Though left out of the initial training squads, Mehrtens developed so much that he forced his way into the 1995 World Cup squad, having made his All Black debut in the early season test against Canada when he scored 28 points. In the World Cup tournament he was a success, one of three youngsters with Jonah Lomu and Josh Kronfeld who gave the All Blacks a dimension, lacking for much of the 1994 season; the only quibble about Mehrtens at the World Cup was missing a dropped goal attempt in the extra time of the final. Over the next six or seven seasons Mehrtens was a virtual automatic selection for the All Black squad, though he was not always assured of a starting position.

A knee injury curtailed his 1995 tour of France and in the next few seasons injury and competition from the likes of Carlos Spencer and Tony Brown saw him miss a number of tests. But he reasserted himself during the 1999 season, both in kicking a record nine penalties in a trans-Tasman test against Australia at Eden Park and at the World Cup. However, an injury in the quarter-final against Scotland affected him in the latter rounds. Besides his importance to the All Blacks, Mehrtens from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s fashioned an outstanding record for the Crusaders at Super 12 level, he had key roles in their three title wins in 1998–2000, either through his tactical command of games or, as in the 2000 final against the Brumbies, with a penalty goal under severe pressure. He played in the Crusaders sides which won the Super 12 titles of 2002 and 2005 though in the final season he was now playing second fiddle to his protege Daniel Carter. Mehrtens was a huge contributor to Canterbury at National Provincial Championship levels, with his inside back partnership with half-back Justin Marshall becoming celebrated.

As well as 1994 against Waikato he played in Shield winning sides in 2000 and in 2004 against Bay of Plenty. He played in three NPC winning sides in 1997, 2001 and 2004. Over the latter stages in 2003, Mehrtens was beset by personal problems which in turn affected his fitness and form, he battled to make the Crusaders and in 2004 and was left out of the All Blacks for the 2

Dehipitiyage Don Somasiri, popularly as Somasiri Dehipitiya, was a popular Sri Lankan character actor. He is best known for performances in Dharmasena Vasantha Obeysekera films. Dehipitiya attended Galahitiyawe Madhya Maha Vidyalaya. After completing his primary education, he began work as a civil servant reaching a position at the Vehicles Department - Colombo in the engineer division, he died of alcoholism in 1982. He started to act in stage plays such as Mati Karaththaya produced by P. Welikala, he joined Ediriweera Sarachchandra for his numerous stage plays such as Pabawathi, Elowa Gihin Melowa Awa and Kundala Keshi. He acted in Dayananda Gunawardena's Ibi Katta, Neil Wijesinghe's Ane Massine. Dehipitiya made his acting debut in Siri Gunasinghe's landmark Sath Samudura in 1967. Throughout the 1970s and early-1980s, he was a mainstay in alternative cinema with roles in such critically acclaimed works as Thun Man Handiya, Ves Gatho, Hara Lakshaya, Ahas Gauwa, Walmath Wuvo, Deviyani Oba Koheda, Eya Dan Loku Lamayek, Bambaru Awith, Sarungale, Podi Malli, Siribo Aiyya, Para Dige, Soldadu Unnahe, Sagarayak Meda and Ridi Nimnaya.

Dehipitiya dabbled as an assistant director with Ves Gatho in 1970 and as a playback singer in Walmath Wuvo with Cyril Wickramage. In 1980, Dehipitiya won the award for the Best Supporting Actor for his role in Siribo Ayya in Presidential Award Ceremony. Sri Lanka Sinhala Films Database - Somasiri Dehipitiya Somasiri Deihipitiya on IMDb

David Byrne in Dublin is an Irish footballer who last played for Kildare County as a central midfielder. Byrne started his career with Shelbourne before a move to Scottish Premier League side Dundee United. During his season with United he made just one appearance, playing at Parkhead in a 4-1 defeat to Celtic. Byrne moved back to Shelbourne. Spells at St Pat's and Derry City followed, before his move to Longford in January 2006. Byrne moved to Athlone at the start of the 2007 season. Following his departure from Athlone Town in July 2008 Byrne had a short spell back in Premier Division football with Finn Harps. Byrne most joined First Division strugglers Kildare County in May 2009. League of Ireland: 1 Shelbourne - 2001-02 David Byrne at Soccerbase

Westinghouse Playhouse is an American sitcom that aired from January to July 1961 on NBC. Starring Nanette Fabray, the series was known as The Nanette Fabray Show, Westinghouse Playhouse Starring Nanette Fabray and Wendell Corey, ran under the title Yes, Yes Nanette in syndication; the series stars Nanette Fabray, who plays Nan, a successful Broadway star who marries Dan McGovern, a widower. She would learn that her new husband has not informed his two children that he was getting married. Nan is confronted with his two rude children and Nancy; the following episodes would deal with her troubles and tribulations of dealing with the kids and the housekeeper. The series was canceled after one season. Westinghouse Playhouse on IMDb Westinghouse Playhouse at TV.com