Issue 78
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Mayor plants tree to launch Colchester’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations The Mayor of Colchester, Cllr Robert Davidson, signalled the start of the borough’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations at a special ceremony in Castle Park on Sunday, 6 February 2022. Marking the 70th anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne, the Mayor planted a commemorative tree in the presence of councillors, local dignitaries, Friends of Castle Park, and members of the public. A prime spot in Lower Castle Park, close to Putt in the Park and the bowling green, was chosen to plant the Quercus Robur 'Fastigiata’, a deeply lobed, glossy green leafed tree with foliage that turns golden brown in the autumn and is adorned with acorns, which are a welcome addition for wildlife. The ceremony was the first of many civic and public events to be held across the borough in celebration of Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee – and in this case the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative, which invites people to ‘Plant a Tree for the Jubilee’. The Mayor of Colchester, Cllr Robert Davidson, said: “The Platinum Jubilee celebrations are certain to be memorable and leave a lasting legacy in Colchester. The pandemic has been a very challenging time for us all and Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee is the perfect opportunity for people to come together and celebrate this extraordinary milestone in our nation’s history. “I was very honoured to plant a special oak tree as an enduring tribute to the Queen and in celebration of Her Majesty’s remarkable reign. It will be enjoyed by many people for many years to come and will stand proudly in our beautiful and award-winning Castle Park.”
L to R: Members of the Town Watch; Sir Bob Russell; Paul Lind, Town Serjeant; Brigadier Nick Cowley OBE, Commander 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team; The Right Reverend Roger Morris, Area Bishop of Colchester; Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Toler MBE DL; the Mayor of Colchester, Cllr Robert Davidson; Mayoress, Mrs Liz Davidson.
A varied programme of Platinum Jubilee events has been planned across the borough, which will culminate in a national bank holiday weekend in June. These include flags in High Street, a Gun Salute in Castle Park, lighting of Castle Park Beacon, virtual museum displays, refurbishment of the bandstand and street parties. Further details will be released over the coming months on the council’s website and social media platforms.
Issue 75
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A Good Read
expertise in fixing radios makes him a valuable asset to the Nazis as they track down the resistance. Doerr deftly interweaves the lives of these two youngsters, and along the way shows us how against all the odds, people mostly do try to be good to one another.
All the Light We Cannot See - By Anthony Doerr Marie-Laure is blind. She lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris forcing father and daughter to flee to the home of Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle, carrying what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel. Werner Pfennig, is an orphan, growing up in a mining town with his younger sister, learning about the world through a crude radio they find. Werner's
This book is built on beautiful imagery. Both in the literal sense - vividly evoking 1940s Paris and Germany - and the metaphorical as it's woven through with scientific and philosophical references to light, to seeing and not seeing, and the differences between the two. It's the beautiful and harrowing story of two childhoods torn apart by war. We learn how Mari-Laure and Werner are both forced along paths they did not choose due to their desperate personal circumstances. There is a running theme of interconnectedness, of invisible lives running parallel to one another yet sometimes coming together in the strangest of ways. Marie-Laure and Werner are from different worlds, yet each influences the other. All the Light We Cannot See is a
haunting novel. The elegant prose and engaging, heart-breaking stories will remain with you long after you've reached the final page. The title hints at the fact that just as we only see a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum, so we are only ever aware of a fraction of the spectrum of history. But if we could look deeper, we'd see the untold stories and they would be beautiful and strangely luminescent in their own right. The Invisible - By Tom Percival This is another book about untold stories and human connections. Tom Percival has blended gorgeous illustrations with his simple, clear prose in this picture book which is perfect for bedtime reading. Isabel is a happy child whose parents love her and each other but the family is struggling financially. They slip through society's cracks and descend into poverty. Isabel discovers that poverty brings a cloak of invisibility. Noone seems to see her, though she can see more than ever before. She begins to notice the other invisible members of society, and she begins to understand that alongside invisibility poverty brings something else...loneliness. Isabel decides that she will do something to
Today we use the Gregorian Calendar, a solar calendar used in the international standard for Representation of dates and times. In Roman times though the calendar had a quite different structure. It originally consisted of 10 months rather than 12. There were 304 days in the year; six months had 30 days each and four months had 31 days each. Then the Roman king Numa Pompilius decided to bring the calendar in line with the lunar year and added January and February to the original 10 months. The king did not want months with even numbers of days though, because the Romans believed even numbers were unlucky. To this end he subtracted a day from each of the 30-day months to make them all 29. The lunar year consists of 354.367 days, but he didn’t want to round the number down to 354 because that
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The book has modern social themes, but rather than being unremittingly grim, or alternatively, ridiculously upbeat and positive, Percival uses his light touch to show us the humanity and love that exist between people everywhere in society, and how we can all make a difference, whoever we are. The beautiful, heart-warming ending doesn't rely on a lottery win, or a fairy godmother but on Isabel herself showing the way. The author has drawn on his own experiences growing up in poverty to create a gentle and thoughtprovoking window into a world that for many of us goes entirely unnoticed. This is another book that will stay with you and one which children will delight in hearing again because it has the magic of a fairy tale with none of the schmaltz.
Word Search
30 Days hath September…
“I wonder why February is the only month that has 28 days…” my teenage son mused one day. It got me thinking.
tackle the problem.
would make the entire year unlucky, so he rounded up to 355 instead. Now he had six months with 29 days and 4 months with 31 days, giving 298 days, and leaving 57 extra days to be divided between the two new months. Mathematics dictated that one of the months would have to have an even number of days because the sum of any even amount (12 months in this case) of odd numbers will always equal an even number - and he needed the total to be odd. So, the king chose February as the unlucky month. Over the following centuries the calendar has been altered several times. February has been shortened at some points, and sometimes a leap month was included, but eventually February has settled at 28 days, with the addition of a leap day every four years. And the answer to my son’s question? February has 28 days because of superstitious Romans!
Aristotle
Crick
Feynman
Hahn
Maxwell Rutherford
Bell
Curie
Fleming
Hawking
Newton Tesla
Bohr
Darwin
Franklin
Hubble
Nobel
Boyle
Edison
Galileo
Kepler
Pasteur
Copernicus
Faraday
Goodall
Linnaeus
Planck
Answers on page 8
The Story of The Devil's Footprints
In February 1855 one of the UK’s greatest unexplained mysteries occurred. Yet few people outside of Devon have ever heard about the mystery of the Devil’s footprints. On the evening of February 8th, a heavy snowfall blanketed the entire South Devon countryside. The last snow fell around midnight, and the following morning early risers were shocked to see a mysterious trail of footprints stretching for hundreds of miles in a straight line. Reports came in from Dawlish, Exmouth, Lympstone, Teignmouth and Topsham and everyone reported the same phenomenon. It was as though some creature had raced through the countryside leaving behind them tracks that no-one could identify. The tracks were exactly 8 inches apart, and approximately 2-3 inches long. Although they were shaped like a hoofprint they appeared to have been made by a two-legged rather than a four-legged animal. Bizarrely they passed over rooftops, along windowsills and through solid walls. In one place they reached a river and reappeared on the opposite side, two miles away! A rumour started that it was the devil roaming the countryside in search of sinners. Clergymen were keen to suggest this was indeed the case, and parishioners became scared to go out after dark. The footprints were reported in the national press at the time, which sparked some lively correspondence including plenty of theories; that the footprints were made by an escaped kangaroo, a badger (because their hind footprints fall exactly into their front footprints so give the appearance of a two-legged animal), and even a large balloon trailing a rope or a chain. Yet none of the theories could explain away everything the Devon residents
reported that night, so the myth of the Devil’s footprints persisted. It even inspired the 2014 film; Dark was the Night. Modern day psychologists have mooted a possible explanation for the events in the concept of ‘social contagion’ or ‘social epidemic,’ when an idea spreads by suggestion.. Journalist and author Malcolm Gladwell proposes three rules of social epidemics. First is ‘the law of the few,’ which involves influential people helping to tip an idea into widespread popularity. The clergy in 19th Century England would certainly have been influential in this regard. Secondly is ‘the stickiness factor’ which suggests that some ideas are more contagious than others. The idea of the Devil racing through the countryside would have been both exciting and terrifying. Finally, there is ‘…the importance of the cultural environment contributing to the spread of an idea.’ In 19th Century culture people were certainly more God-fearing and so more likely to be influenced by the Church. A more modern example of social contagion occurred in Holland, in 1978. A panda was reported in the press to have escaped from Rotterdam Zoo, which resulted in 100 sightings of the animal all over Holland, in spite of the fact the poor beast had been killed by train just a few yards from the zoo! In this case the authority of the press placed the idea in people’s minds, while excitement and anticipation caused them to perceive dogs and native wild animals as the panda and each ‘sighting’ triggered another… contagion in action. This phenomenon is also frequently observed with UFO sightings and other paranormal events.
Across 1 Spectacles (7) 5 Foot joint (5) 8 Apologise, redeem (5) 9 Die (7) 10 Surveying method used to calculate distance (13) 11 Sound reflections (6) 12 Petrified prehistoric remains (6) 15 Sweets and chocolates (13) 18 Heathrow or Gatwick (7) 19 Common blood pressure medication (5) 20 Layers (5) 21 Captures, seduces (7)
Down 1 Enormous, colossal (5) 2 Eradicate, prohibit (7) 3 American name for canine guides for the blind (6, 3, 4) 4 Element with symbol Na (6) 5 Person who excavates historic remains (13) 6 Brownish-olive (5) 7 Without pause, endless (7) 11 Bewitch, enthral (7) 13 Rainbow (7) 14 Effigy, figure (6) 16 Courage, fortitude (5) 17 Slang name for US citizens (5)
Quick Crossword
Whether a myth or just a trick of the mind, the Devil’s footprints remain an intriguing event and we’ll probably never know what really happened!
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To Reverse Ageing, Think Blue What are Blue Zones and what can they teach us about ageing?
As a nation we’re obsessed with ageing. We try to turn the clock back with lotions, potions and sometimes Botox and fillers. Yet some nations seem to have solved this issue without resorting to cosmetics or surgery. These people live in the world’s so-called Blue Zones. The term ‘Blue Zones’ refers to geographic areas in which people have low rates of chronic disease including heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and several types of cancer, and enjoy life spans more than a decade longer than people elsewhere in the world. The concept of Blue Zones grew out of the work done by researchers Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain. The five Blue Zones are: Ikaria in Greece, Okinawa in Japan, The Ogliastra Region in Sardinia, Loma Linda in California (which boasts the highest concentration of Seventh Day Adventists in the US), and the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica.
Dan Buettner, who is an author, explorer, educator, and endurance cyclist, studied these regions intensively and concluded that the inhabitants all shared certain characteristics. They exercise – but not at the gym, and they don’t run. Instead, they live in environments that encourage movement. They walk, garden, and tend to use manual tools rather than electric ones, when working in the house and garden. They live with purpose - The Okinawans call it ikigai and the Nicoyans call it plan de vida; both roughly translate to "why I wake up in the morning." A sense of purpose adds several years to your life span. They take time out – Everyone, even those living in Blue Zones experience stress. Stress is the leading cause of chronic inflammation
and is associated with every major age-related disease. The Blue Zone populations understand how to deal with and diffuse that stress. Okinawans take a few moments each day to remember their ancestors, Adventists pray, Ikarians take a nap, and Sardinians do happy hour! They follow the 80% rule - The Okinawan’s have a 2,500-year-old Confucian mantra, ‘Hara hachi bu’, which they recite before meals. It reminds them to stop eating when their stomachs are 80% full. The 20% gap between not being hungry and feeling full could be the difference between losing weight and gaining it. People in the Blue Zones eat their smallest meal in the early evening, and then they don't eat any more for the rest of the day. They eat a plant-based diet -The people of the Blue Zones eat mainly plants and beans, limiting meat to
small portions a few times per month. They drink moderately – Apart from the Adventists, all the people living in the Blue Zones drink alcohol regularly. Moderate drinkers actually outlive non-drinkers. So, keep to one to two glasses a day, preferably drunk with a meal and with friends or family They have a community - The world's longest-lived people chose - or were born into - social circles that support healthy behaviours. For example, Okinawans created moais - groups of five friends that committed to each other for life. Research shows that smoking, obesity, happiness, and even loneliness are contagious, so healthy social networks are essential for long life. So, if you are interested in living a longer, and healthier life…think blue!
puzzle solutions:
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FREE WheelPower Sports Festival is coming to Essex this March The WheelPower Sports Festival will welcome disabled people of all ages to the Northern Gateway Sports Park, Colchester on Thursday 10 March for a day of sporting fun and activity. Organised by the national charity for wheelchair sport and supported by the Rotary Club of Colchester, this upcoming event provides a fantastic new opportunity for anyone with a physical disability over the age of 5 to play sport,
meet new people and be more active. During the all-day event at the Northern Gateway Sports Park (Colchester) participants will have the opportunity to try a variety of different sports, whilst being supported throughout by qualified and experienced coaches. The confirmed sports so far will include wheelchair tennis, sitting volleyball, boccia, cricket, and hand cycling, so there will be a wide variety of different activities to enjoy from beginning to end. “We are really looking forward to
bringing our Sports Festival to Essex and transforming the lives of more disabled people through sport and activity. The most important thing about the day is for everyone to have fun and to go away with new skills and knowledge to help you to continue playing sport and be more active in the future.” Emily Weller, Head of Sport WheelPower. The WheelPower Sports Festivals support disabled people of all ages to discover sport in a safe and welcoming environment. People such as Nicki from Kent, “I have attended many WheelPower Sports Festivals before
and they are really well organised. I tried several new sports and I would recommend the event to others. You don’t need to worry about being too young or too old, it’s about self-belief, so come along and give it a try.” The WheelPower Sports Festival is open to both groups and individuals, and booking forms are available to download via the charity’s website www.wheelpower.org.uk/sport-events For more information about this event please email sport@wheelpower.org.uk or call the WheelPower sports team on 01296 395995.
Colchester Borough Council’s annual tree giveaway returns for its 15th year! The annual ‘Trees for Years’ giveaway, where Colchester Borough Council gives away trees for free, returns this month for its 15th year with a brandnew way for residents to get their hands on free native trees. Residents are being offered a big helping hand to green-up their gardens, with 15,000 free native trees, shrubs and fruit bushes chosen for their ability to promote wildlife in gardens and value to our local bee population available to residents. The annual event was postponed in 2021 due to Covid restrictions but returns with a new click and collect system this year. Designed to make it easier for residents to collect from a location suitable to them, this new system will also minimise crowds as there will be five venues available across the borough, all with a different collection date. An online form is now available on the website at www.colchester.gov.uk/ trees-for-years/ where residents can
select up to three trees at one of five venues across the borough, and then select a time slot for collection on the date relevant to that venue. The five venues are: •
Highwoods Country Park Thursday 17 February
•
Highwoods Country Park - Sunday 20 February
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Marks Tey Village Hall - Wednesday 23 February
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Hythe Community Centre Thursday 24 February
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St Anne’s Community Centre Friday 25 February
•
Tiptree Leisure World - Saturday 26 February
Trees available include: silver birch; holly; hazel; beech, red stem dogwood, yellow stem dogwood, and for residents with less garden space, there will be a variety of shrubs including blackcurrant
and raspberries. All trees are bare-root and range in height from 50cm to 1.2m. Residents can also access a free planting guide online. The trees are only available to borough residents, who will be asked to provide a valid postcode when filling in the form and email confirmation when collecting. Residents should also bring their own bags. Now in its 15th year, the scheme has been made possible thanks to £2,000 sponsorship from idVerde, which works in partnership with the council to maintain the borough’s green spaces, and through the Colchester Woodland and Biodiversity project. Rob Wilson, of idVerde, said: “We are extremely pleased to support Trees for Years once again. Not only is this a great scheme to help residents and community groups to green up their gardens for free, but the day is always a great opportunity for our team to meet and get to know Colchester’s residents.” Cllr Simon Crow, Portfolio Holder for
Environment and Sustainability, added: “A big thank you to idVerde for their continued support and sponsorship of this inspiring initiative, which gives residents a chance to help create a greener borough. “We’re delighted to be able to run the event this year, after last year’s event had to be postponed due to Covid restrictions. We hope the new way of registering for and collecting trees will make this initiative even more accessible to residents across the borough.” To find out more about the event and access the online form visit https:// www.colchester.gov.uk/trees-for-years/. If you need additional help to book online, don’t forget about the Digital Access Support Team (DAST) who can work with local people to use any online services they need: 01206 282452. Alternatively, if you are unable to access the internet and need help completing the online form, please call 01206 282266 Option 1.
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Garden View This month - Contain your excitement
become really established and give me a running a start.
For me February marks the real beginning of the gardener’s year. Seed sowing starts in earnest, and we can begin to plan to bring the patio pots alive. As a gardener I do raise a lot of my plants from seeds in cold frames and greenhouses. But there is no right way to approach this. If you’re super busy and time in the garden is short, wait until late February and purchase fresh, well grown young plants from the garden centre. Yes its more expensive but it might be worth it in time and energy saved.
I use containers of all sizes but generally the large ones provide more impact. If they are to large and heavy to move easily, plant them with hardy bulbs or permanent shrubs or trees. You can then add seasonal geraniums and pansies etc around the core planting. Small, moveable containers can be planted with bright bulbs and specimen plants that can be brought to the front as they reach their peak with flowers or foliage. If you have a sheltered frost-free area for a cold frame or poly cover you can plant early, keep safe from the worst of the winter weather, and then bring them out when the frosts have finished.
The patio is a great place to indulge your creativity. Do you want a brilliant chaotic colour palate or a cool tranquil colour scheme, or maybe even monochrome calming greens in many textures of foliage. I think of patio pots like soft furnishings in the house… changing things up can transform the mood. While containers are conventionally planted in autumn and late spring, they can actually be planted at any time of year, and I like to get a couple planted up in February so they can
Good trees for larger containers are conifers. There is such a huge variety of shapes and colours to choose from. For patios its best to choose more compact, well-groomed shapes in bright greens or yellows. Groups of three or five pots containing contrasting shapes and colours work very well together. Alternatively go for similar shapes in a variety of sizes and colours.
Because February tends to be quite wet drainage can be an issue. As a guide, patio and decking surfaces should be dry, or only wet if it’s rained recently. If a patio or decking is constantly wet it’s likely that algae and moss will start to grow which can look unsightly and make the surface dangerously slippery to walk on. Use a strong yard brush and approved
detergent to keep hard surfaces clean and safe. As anticipation in gardening provides much of the pleasure take the garden furniture out of storage this month and clean it up…then you can enjoy a cup of tea on sunny days and watch your patio begin to wake up.
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Community groups invited to get involved in Covid commemoration evening People from the emergency and frontline services as well as representatives from voluntary groups who played a key role in supporting Colchester residents through the pandemic are also being invited to attend the evening being staged at the Mercury.
Community groups across the borough are being invited to organise ‘watch along’ events to enable local residents to come together for a special Covid commemoration event being staged on Saturday 26 March. The event, Commemoration – Remembering and Celebrating the Loves, Lives and Losses of the Last Two Years, is being developed by the Mercury Theatre in partnership with Colchester Borough Council. It will be staged between 7.30pm and 9.30pm, including a short interval.
However, the event is also going to be live streamed via Colchester Borough Council’s YouTube channel, Youtube. co.uk/ColchesterCBC, so as many people as possible can watch it. The show will also be live captioned for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
The evening of songs, music, readings, poetry and special performances is being staged free of charge by the Mercury Theatre. There will also be performances from local groups and professionals.
The council has written to a range of community groups and parish councils to encourage them to stage their own events in keeping with the commemoration feel and invite people from their local area to come together, get involved and watch it live.
It is designed to give people the chance to remember any loved ones they may have lost during the pandemic, as well as thanking those who helped support those suffering from Covid and the families of those who have been bereaved.
For example, Colchester Borough Homes are already planning an event at Greenstead Community Centre for local residents to come together and watch the show. More information on this will
follow shortly. Events could either be planned to watch the show live or on another date as it will be available on the YouTube channel following the live performance. If people don’t want to attend any of the locally organised events, they can watch the show from their own homes on the council’s YouTube channel. Other special events are also being planned throughout the day around the Mercury Theatre to support the evening, which is being developed together with the High Steward of Colchester, Sir Bob Russell, The Bishop of Colchester Roger Morris, Hunnaball Funeral Directors, and the Colchester Garrison. The Mayor of Colchester, Cllr Robert Davidson, said: “The last two years have been a very difficult and a trying period for all of us and it is right that we have time to remember those we have lost and thank those key services and our communities who have unselfishly helped support us through the pandemic.
“This performance promises to be a poignant and uplifting reminder of how we all came together to support each other and that, while we are still living with Covid, Colchester can look forward to a better future. “We want as many people as possible to be able to watch the event when it is being staged and we encourage community groups and others to look at staging events where it can be streamed live. “We hope many take this opportunity to do just that, so that we can all come together to remember and look forward.” People can register an interest in acquiring the limited tickets to the show at the Mercury through the theatre’s website or by visiting the Theatre’s box office. More information about the events being planned on 26 March and the schedule for the event in the evening in the Mercury Theatre will be announced in due course.
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To Valentine or Not to Valentine? February 14th is Valentine’s Day. My husband and I don't celebrate Valentine's Day. There, I said it. Before you dismiss us as a couple of old cheapskate cynics, whose relationship is on the rocks, we're both in our late thirties, have been married for twelve years, we rarely argue, and we laugh a lot. We just don't feel the need to celebrate Valentine's Day. Five years into our marriage we realised that fancy restaurants, or weekends away mean less when everyone else is there doing exactly the same thing at the same time just because its February 14th. So, we stopped. We do like to do something romantic during February, but to be honest we like to do something romantic at least once in every other month too. Here are our favourite ideas, not restricted to February. We cook a meal. Not just a run of the mill, any night of the week meal. We each choose something from one of our cookbooks (main course and dessert) and we set aside an evening to create it. We arrange it around the kids’ sleepovers with grandparents or friends. It's our night and we buy good wine, dress up and enjoy each other's
company and the process of creating (and eating) a delicious meal. Write a poem…or a song. My husband writes bad poetry...I'm not joking, it’s terrible and stems from him insisting that poetry is not poetry unless it rhymes! I love poetry and once joked that if he loved me he'd write me an ode. So, he did, and it was awful...but it did rhyme. Periodically he repeats the process, and the results are always hilariously bad. I stick them in a scrap book because as dire as they are, they hold a great deal of meaning for me. Movie marathon - The Die-Hard films might not be everyone's idea of romantic film fodder, but we love them and every so often we have a day where we watch all of them backto-back and buy in lunch and supper. Sometimes we do the Star Wars Trilogy (four, five and six...were there any others?), or the Lord of the Rings series (extended version), or the Bourne films. The point is, it's an event. We set aside time to do it. Recreate a date - One of my favourite dates from before we were married was when my husband took me stargazing on a clear night. He was an amateur astronomer in his teens
and knew his way around the night sky. We lay on top of his car, covered in blankets clutching binoculars while he told me stories about the constellations and encouraged me to look for shooting stars and the International Space Station (ISS)! Sometimes we recreate that, and I still get a buzz when I see the ISS moving
swiftly across the sky. What favourite date could you recreate? If you love Valentine’s Day then you do you. But ask yourself, do you make Valentine plans with your partner just because that’s the thing to do? If so, perhaps it’s time to make a change.
Sudoku
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Irish Coffee Chocolate Cheesecake A Declaration of Love
A history of the Valentine card to, ‘I am already sick of love, My very gentle Valentine.’
Treat your loved one to a luxurious dessert Serves: 8 Preparation time: 30 minutes plus cooling and chilling time Cooking time: 10 minutes Ingredients Base Vegetable oil, for oiling 175g chocolate chip cookies 55g unsalted butter Filling 225g plain chocolate (at least 70%), broken into pieces. 225g good quality milk chocolate (at least 45%) broken into pieces 55g golden caster sugar 350g cream cheese 425ml double cream, lightly whipped (this means that it’s no longer liquid, has increased in volume and just holds its shape when the whisk is removed).
3tbsp coffee cream liqueur Method Line the base of a 20cm springform round cake tin with greaseproof paper and brush the sides with oil. Place the chocolate chip cookies in a polythene bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat then add the crushed cookies. Press the resulting mixture into the base of the prepared tin, and chill in the fridge for 1 hour. Place the broken plain and milk chocolate into a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water until the chocolate melts. Set aside to cool. Place the sugar and cream cheese into a mixing bowl and beat together until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream, then the melted chocolate, and finally the coffee cream liqueur. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin on top of the biscuit base. Smooth the surface and place in the fridge to chill for two hours. When it’s firm transfer to a serving plate and drizzle with more melted dark chocolate if required,
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At the primary school I attended, a decorated post box (i.e., a paper-covered cardboard box with a slit cut in it) would appear in the entrance in February and we were encouraged to post Valentine cards to our friends. I don’t know if this dubious ‘popularity contest’ was repeated in other schools but I do remember the thrill when I finally received a card! The earliest surviving Valentine missive was written by a French man Charles, Duke of Orleans during his imprisonment in the Tower of London, following his capture during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. It was a tender poem to his wife, Bonne of Armagnac, which uses the phrase, ‘Je suis desja d'amour tanné, Ma tres doulce Valentinée,’ (old French) which translates
The oldest printed Valentine’s Day card in existence can be viewed in York Castle Museum. It was printed in London in 1797 and features elaborate floral patterns, cupids and doves. It was hand-coloured because colour printing was not available in the 18th century, and the verse reads, ‘Since on this ever Happy day, All Nature's full of Love and Play. Yet harmless still if my design, 'Tis but to be your Valentine.’
basic alterations and repairs can save money. You see the perfect jacket or dress in a charity shop but it’s slightly too large. No problem if you know how to make a couple of nips and tucks. And when your child has to dress up as a superhero / Roman / vegetable for school, you’ll never be stumped for a costume.
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Express your individuality - You can make one-of-a-kind accessories, such bags or scarves in your favourite colours or patterns. Fancy a polka dot headband or a tartan waistcoat? No problem if you know your way around a sewing machine.
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WHAT’S INCLUDED WITH EVERY DOOR: FREE EXPERT MEASURING & FITTING TWO REMOTE CONTROLS
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ACOUSTIC & THERMAL INSULATION $9$,/$%/( ,1 &2/2856 FREE DISPOSAL OF YOUR OLD DOOR
Garolla garage doors are strong and solidly built. They’re made to measure in our own UK factories. The electric Garolla door rolls up vertically taking up only 8 inches inside your garage. Our expert installers will fit your new door and take away the old one so there’s no mess.
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With the popularity of the Great British Sewing Bee, more of us are dusting off our sewing machines and having another go. I was put off learning sewing at school. If sewing machine dyslexia was a thing, I had it. I could not sew a straight seam to save my life and everything I made fell apart within minutes. So, I gave up until a friend suggested we go to a night class. ‘It’ll be fun,’ he said, ignoring my horrified expression. He was right though and now I love to sew. Here are three reasons why you might enjoy it too. Save money – Learning how to make
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Something akin to a modern greeting card for Valentine’s Day appeared in the 1700s. These cards were handmade, and usually hand-delivered by slipping them under a door. Romantics who found it difficult to commit their feelings to paper could actually buy booklets of verse suggestions.
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The earliest example of an English Valentine dates to 1477 and was a love letter was written by Margery Brews to her fiancé John Paston. Margery refers to John as her ‘right well-beloved Valentine’ and implores him to marry her despite the fact she can’t convince her father to increase her dowry. Marriage had little to do with romance in the 15th century, but apparently they did eventually tie the knot!
Make clothes to fit and flatter you – It took me several months to learn the basics of sewing, but now I can create almost anything I like, from runway looks through to items from my favourite boutique. Sewing is an especially useful skill if (like me) you have a hard to shop for figure. It was liberating the first time I created a dress which fit my measurements exactly. I felt like a catwalk model and received ‘sew’ many compliments from friends (see what I did there?). If you’re looking for a fun hobby that’s also useful, check out local classes, or ask a friend to teach you.
The Winter Olympics The modern Olympics first took place in 1868. Five years later Sweden decided to stage the first international competition for winter sports. It was called the Nordic Game, and only Scandinavian countries competed. Like the Olympics, it was staged every four years, but it always took place in Sweden. Then in 1908 figure skating was featured at the summer Olympics… sort of. It was actually showcased three months after the main event! In 1911 the international Olympic Committee (IOC) proposed a separate winter competition but initially the Swedes were not keen, then the First World War forced the cancellation of all Olympic events. In 1920, figure skating featured in the summer Olympic schedule again, and was joined by ice hockey, which proved very popular. Soon after, the Scandinavians agreed to stage an IOCsanctioned International Winter Sports Week in Chamonix, in the French Alps. 16 nations took part, and it was so successful that in 1925, the Winter Olympics were formally recognised as a separate international event, effectively making the competition at Chamonix the first ever Winter Olympics.
The original nine sporting events were: bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and skating (both figure skating and speed skating). More events have been added over the years and today there are fifteen: Alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, Nordic combined, short track speed skating, speed skating, skeleton, ski jumping, and snowboarding. An event that never made the final cut was Scandinavian skijoring. This event appeared as a demonstration in the St Moritz Winter Olympics in 1928 and involved competitors on skis clutching reins attached to a wooden harness, fitted to a horse. Then in 1932 at the Lake Placid Winter Games, sled dog racing was showcased. I rather wish they’d kept that one in, don’t you? Of course, a Winter Olympics relies heavily on snow. In 1964 in Innsbruck, Austria, there wasn’t enough of it and the games nearly didn’t go ahead! Fortunately, the Austrian army came to the rescue, transporting 20,000 blocks of ice from the mountains to the bobsled and luge track, and 40,000 cubic meters of snow to the
Alpine skiing courses. Then as soon as the Winter Olympics ended (of course) Innsbruck received one of its heaviest snowfalls for years!
125 silver, and 111 bronze) – way ahead of their nearest rivals, the United States, who have 305 medals and a population of 329 million!
Norway is the country that really punches above its weight at the Winter Olympics. It only has a population of five million (London alone has nearly nine million!) but to date has won 368 medals (132 gold,
Whether skiing, bobsleighing or the figure skating is your winter sport of choice, pour a hot chocolate or a gluhwein and curl up under a blanket and enjoy all the action.
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