Pick Me Up! 02-Jul-2020

At just six-years-old, my wonderful daughter Isabelle, now 13, became dangerously unwell. For four years she was misdiagnosed, but then doctors at Birmingham Children’s Hospital diagnosed her with Crohns disease. Now on the right medication, Isabelle went into remission, but she would live with this for the rest of her life. That means a lifetime of doctor and hospital appointments. And it didn’t take me long to realise that she would say whatever the doctors wanted her to, just so she could leave. It was because she was scared, and as I looked around hospital rooms, I noticed other children were doing it, too. And that’s when I decided to create a children’s book–Rodney Meadow-Hopper, The Hare Who Didn’t Care. The book tells the story of a hare called Rodney…

Who would have thought? The launch of Disney+ has reignited our love for Disney films and of course, our favourite Disney princesses. But have you ever considered which Disney princess is the most eco-friendly? Neither have we! Saveonenergy.com has analysed popular princesses to see which eco-friendly actions they took. For each action, they were awarded two points. And the awards go to… Aurora (20 points) has the crown of being the eco-friendliest Disney princess. While she may be a sleeping beauty, she is certainly awake when it comes to looking after the environment. She chooses electricity-free actions such as using candles instead of lamps and sewing clothes by hand as opposed to using a sewing machine. Snow White (18 points) and Cinderella (18 points) share second place–taking common steps like using…

Watching the little girls in my class running around in their dresses, their long hair flowing behind them, I knew that was supposed to be me. But I was sat there in my shorts, my hair cut short–and I was a little boy instead. Just five years old at the time, born Rothmoony Sdeung, I already knew I was in the wrong body. At eight years old, my dad left, leaving me and my mum Nathloun, now 50, on our own. Life was hard already, but growing up feeling I was in the wrong body made it even harder for me. Whenever someone referred to me as ‘boy’, ‘he’ or ‘him’, it stung because I knew that wasn’t who I was. It caused great confusion and eventually depression for me…

Floristry Zanussi has teamed up with Ciara Attwell (AKA My Fussy Eater) to create family friendly recipes that can be made in a few simple steps. For more inspiration visit myfussyeater.com Apple berry crumble □ 500g mixed frozen berries□ 4 small apples, peeled, cored and chopped into bite sized pieces□ Juice of 1 clementine□ 5 tbsps caster sugar□ 100g plain flour□ 60g cold butter, cut into cubes□ 50g jumbo oats□ 2 tbsp sugar 1 Preheat the oven to 180°c. Add the frozen berries, chopped apples, clementine juice and 2tbsp of the sugar to a baking dish and mix with a spoon. (A slightly wider dish works well so the juices can bubble off and the crumble gets nicely golden). 2 In a large bowl mix together the flour and butter…

National Trust has suffered a sharp drop in their income. It threatens their conservation work at a time when people’s access to nature, beauty and green spaces matters more than ever. Support them by visiting nationaltrust.org.uk…

Gliding effortlessly into the air, a flurry of sequins whipped around in a flash before landing gracefully on the ice in one swift motion. It was a precise move that had taken months of practice. Perfecting your first double axel, you had a huge grin on your face as you coasted to a halt. ‘You did it!’ I beamed from the sidelines. It was July 2017, you were just 10 years old and in your element at our local ice rink. You’d got into figure skating just two years before when I’d taken you and your older siblings–Kerri, now 22, and Declan, 20–to the rink during the school holidays. While other kids your age were grappling onto their plastic penguins for balance, you were a natural, doing laps around the…