Pick Me Up! 14-Feb-2019

Running around my Auntie Enid’s garden playing hide-and-seek with my big sister Louise, is one of my favourite memories. We’d go to stay with her sometimes for the weekend and we’d run her ragged! But she was full of smiles and twinkling eyes and would always spoil us with treats! She even taught me how to play the keyboard. It all started with a toy piano but then, on my 11th birthday, I unwrapped my pressie to find a large Yamaha keyboard! ‘Here let me show you,’ she smiled popping it on our laps. We tinkered with the keys as I got to grips and, before long, I’d mastered my very first song, Simon & Garfunkel’s The Sound of Silence. I don’t play the keyboard any more but my daughter…

How cute does Ruby-Jane, 5 months, look in her little pink bonnet? She’s all wrapped up for winter! Rachel Harrison, Bradford I saw this gate on one of my walks. I have to say I was a bit rebellious and ignored the slightly bonkers ‘Strictly No Access’ sign. Lucy Neville, West Bromwich My friends and I had the best time in Seward, Alaska – dog sledding! Must say that I will remember this day forever. Mellissa Soper, Torquay I think Bella, 6 months, was a bit perplexed when I asked to play with one of her toys… Paige Barclay-Knight, Telford Jasmine, 4, was making the most of the snow we’ve had this year. She’s a cute little angel! Stacey Hill, Torquay My daughter Abby and her boyfriend Josh loving their…

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Parking up my taxi on the side of the road in 1999, I waited outside a house in a Liverpool street. Thinking about my night ahead, I wondered who my next customer would be. The door swung open and a glowing smile lit up my taxi. ‘Hello! How are you? Can you take me to a friend’s?’ said a woman with bright-blue eyes. ‘Of course, climb in,’ I said. Over the next 15 minutes, I discovered this stranger was called Lisa. She was 26, worked in a bank, loved a night out and singing to Dolly Parton. ‘I love singing, too,’ I told her. Lisa was chatty and bubbly and I realised pretty quickly this wasn’t any old journey. This wouldn’t and couldn’t be the last time I saw her.…

Brushing my blonde hair and slicking on pink lipstick, I smiled at myself in my bedroom mirror. It was January 2017 and I’d just got back from a holiday of a lifetime - five weeks in India with my youngest daughter Summer, 11. I’d spent ages saving money from my hairdresser’s salary to pay for it, but it’d been worth every penny. Happiness, as well as a golden tan, glowed on my face. Single, I wasn’t vain, but I took pride in my appearance. I liked wearing nice clothes, spent time doing my make-up each morning. My late mum always used to say, ‘Put your war paint on and go out there like you haven’t got a care in the world.’ It was a motto I’d stuck to, especially in…

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