Pick Me Up! 13-May-2021

Writing up a chalkboard, I popped the menu in my living room window. Back in 2013, I ran a monthly supper club in my front room, and it was a hit with the locals. So much so, that in 2017, I opened my own café in the local YMCA building. I wanted the Purple Spoon Café to be a place where people came to connect. However, I also wanted it to be a place where those less fortunate could come to have a meal and a warm place to sit. Introducing a popular Italian initiative known as ‘caffé sospeso’, customers were able to pledge money which could be redeemed for food and drink by those who need it. The initiative went down so well with the locals, and the Purple…

Good deed of the week Christine McGuinness, mum, TV star and autism advocate, has teamed up with McCain and Family Fund to support new ‘Mealtimes for All’ research – to explore some of the barriers that are experienced by families raising disabled and seriously ill children. Almost nine in 10 families raising disabled or seriously ill children reported that the pandemic has negatively impacted their mealtimes. 42% of these parents have skipped or cut down the size of their meals, while 31% have had to turn to a food bank and 47% have delayed paying household bills in order to afford food. McCain has pledged £1 million that will help Family Fund to provide 150,000 grants and services to families raising disabled or seriously ill children. Through the partnership, McCain wants…

If your letter makes Star Letter of the week, you will receive some beautiful blooms from Flying Flowers. With over 30 years’ experience of helping celebrate life’s special moments and FREE delivery by post, a gorgeous bouquet by Flying Flowers is a lovely way to celebrate sharing smiles and happiness. See flyingflowers.co.uk for more details.…

Strolling through the park, a huge smile spread across my face. It was May last year, and I was spending the bank holiday with my family, best friend Shareen, 30, and her kids. A sunny day, we’d travelled to Rosemead Park in Hull to meet up. As we walked across the grass, my husband Paddy, 32, and I were hurrying along our four kids – Max, nine, Mason eight, Molly, six, and Matilda, three – as they were cartwheeling around us. All active, this was the norm. Our gymnast Max in particular was always showing off a new move he’d learnt. Finally, we reached Shareen who was taking photos of her two girls – Macie, 10, and Mia, nine – next to a rusty flyover. The girls all danced together,…

Be inspired with tips from Marcus Eyles, Horticultural Director at Dobbies Garden Centres Regrow vegetables from kitchen scraps You can reduce kitchen waste and help the environment by regrowing some of your veg from the scraps you might usually throw away! ● Spring onions and celery are two kitchen staples that are easy to regrow from their root base with a couple of inches of stem attached. Slice across the stems, then stand them root down in a shallow glass of water. When new roots appear, plant them out in the garden. ● Vegetables such as pak-choi can be re-grown in a shallow dish of water, by keeping the young inner leaves intact with the root base. ● Pot up left-over knobbly sections of ginger root for an exotic pot…

Tucking into my dinner one evening in January this year, I smiled over at my boyfriend, Daniel Morgan, 19. ‘Stop staring at each other you pair of lovebirds and eat up,’ his mum, Lisa, 49, laughed. And as we cleared away our plates, I could see Daniel was itching to go and play video games with his friends. ‘Go on,’ I nudged him, and watched as he bounded over to his Playstation and put his headphones on. Daniel and I had met on Tinder in February 2020, both trying out the dating app for the first time. Swiping right onto his profile, I was instantly attracted to him. His face was kind and he’d listed all his favourite things, from Minecraft to watching movies late into the night – all…