Pick Me Up! 19-Sep-2019

I’ve always been passionate about social care. My stepsister Eve, 18, has cerebral palsy and my brother, Michael, 11, was diagnosed with autism. So I’ve always helped to look after them. My mum is a mental health nurse, so I suppose a mixture of that, and watching my siblings, has meant I was destined for social care. I was working part-time in a local supermarket, but it just wasn’t giving me any joy. So, I handed in my notice and started applying for jobs in in the care sector. That’s when Dimensions offered me an interview. I couldn’t believe it, and within an hour they’d offered me a job. ‘You’ll be looking after a lady called Wendy,’ I was told. I was a bit nervous on my first day in…

WHO KNEW? According to research conducted by eBay, us Brits read on average 696 books in our lifetime. That’s a whole lot of reading! With over half of us using it as a way to relax, it’s no wonder we read so many. But what do we all love the most? According to eBay, the three most read books in the country include The Lion, The Witch and e Wardrobe, The Da Vinci Code, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone. We all love a good crime documentary, and according to the study, that influences our book choice too with 42% of us opting for a good crime novel, and 38% of us choosing to get lost in a thriller. This study shows us that the printed word is still…

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My wife Andrea and I were very privileged to meet a Canadian Mountie in British Columbia on Canada Day. He looked so smart in his uniform and it made our day when he agreed to have a photo. Stephen Richardson, Essex My little beaut just turned five. She is mad about princesses, so we threw a princess party. She is Rapunzel and so is her cake! Mary Hadley, Cradley Heath I love taking my girl Mia out in the sun, where kids should be. Bless her having fun climbing. Richard Adams, West Midlands Having a laugh with my daughter Alexandra. S P Clarke, Middlesbrough My sister Kirsten and I with our favourite man. Please help us bring our dad home, he’s trapped in his own body. To donate go to…

Sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea, I was ready to settle in for the evening. Just then, my phone pinged. Hey beautiful, how are you? the message read. Even in my 60s, those words sent butterflies fluttering through my stomach. It was October 2016, and I’d been chatting online to someone called Kevin Churchill for a few weeks. When my marriage broke down back in 2001, I’d moved to the UK from my home in South Africa, taking my two kids, Sarah*, now 34, and Peter*, 32, with me. But moving to a new country meant I was really lonely. He was a breath of fresh air The only people I knew were my kids and the people I worked with, and the older I got, the…

Sarah called the police, and they came over right away. ‘You’re all wrong about this,’ I cried. Still, officers confiscated my phone and iPad. For the next few weeks, I was not allowed to have any contact with Kevin. I was a wreck, wondering where he was. He’ll be worried about me, I thought, becoming anxious. I was then called to the station to give a statement. I'd handed over nearly £200,000 of my money It turns out, Kevin had been worried - but not for long. Where are you? Are you OK? his messages read. But then they’d fizzled out. Kevin had disappeared. ‘I want you to tell me everything that happened,’ an officer told me. Determined to prove everyone wrong, I told her everything that happened. But the…