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Perched on the edge of my parents’ bed, I watched as my mum Angela, then 34, picked up a suitcase and stuffed it with clothes. ‘Why are you crying?’ I asked, as tears rolled down her cheeks. ‘Don’t worry, love,’ Mum said, wiping her face with the bac

My mate, Helen Hobbs, 74, has been helping save toads, newts and frogs in our local area for over 20 years. Despite being a busy mum and grandmother, she works as a volunteer patrol manager for Frog life’s Toads on Roads campaign. Helen manages a lar

The fastest speed recorded by a lawnmower was achieved by Antony Edwards in 2021. What speed did he reach in metres per hour? Fit these numbers into the grid. One number doesn’t fit. This is the prize answer. WIN €200 Puzzle 1 39461886 Your answer: ■

Pogonip, brume and haar are all colloquial terms for extreme forms of what kind of phenomenon? To find out, solve the puzzle… The three answers in this puzzle read the same across and down. The clues are given, but not in the right order. Read down t

Tapping my fingers to the beat of the music, I stood up and walked over to the bar. It was August 2019 and I’d gone with a friend to a reggae night at a local pub. Loved swaying to the tunes and downing a few drinks. As I waited, elbows propped on th

Have you ever run out of paper with only one gift left to wrap? I decided to use the cardboard sheet from the inside of the roll - now all my gifts are wrapped, and I’ve saved on waste! Stacey Greenwood Bullock, Wakefield, West Yorkshire To stop all

WIN 10x £20 Puzzle 5 Look closely at these two pics - there’s a difference in five squares. The five grid references (eg, 1A, 2B, 2C, 3C, 4D) are your prize answer. Your answer: TO ENTER Turn to page 56 for details ■

What do actor Sean Bean and director Martin Scorsese have in common? To find out, solve the crossword, then read down the shaded squares to find the threeword prize answer. WIN £1,001 Puzzle 4 Your answer: TO ENTER Turn to page 56 for details or visi

True-life PATIENT CASEBOOK Watching the snow falling on the pavement outside, tears snaked down my red-raw cheeks. It was December 2017 and unlike everyone else I wasn’t overjoyed at the thought of a white Christmas. ‘Please not now,’ I begged the we

It was 1987 and Klaus Schelkle and his girlfriend Bettina Taxis were embarking on the adventure of a lifetime. The pair, both from West Germany, had met in a nightclub in winter 1986. After falling in love, they spent the following spring and summer

Q I lost the sight in one eye for about five minutes. I’m fine now, but my GP says that I need tests! Peg, Alloa A Sounds like amaurosis fugax, sudden temporary blindness often like a curtain coming down over your vision. Usually it affects one eye f

Q why are my summer holidays always ruined by cold sores and how can I stop them? Rhianna, Dagenham A Cold sores are caused by the herpes virus and usually start with a warning tingle on or around your lip. Within a day or two blisters appear that bu

Rarely ever minted and nowadays only commonly used in evaluating property tax, what name is applied to a 1,000th of a US dollar? Cross out a letter in each square to get a grid filled with words. The uncrossed out letters in the shaded squares give t

Cracked heels can be painful when left untreated. The repeated motion of certain footwear causes the skin to thicken and it can crack, as well as provide an entry for bacteria or infection, warns Natalie Gooding, podiatrist and founder of The Organic

The state of New Jersey and the county of Kent both have nicknames featuring which word? To find out, solve the puzzle… Enter the answers to the clues in the grid. Every word is an anagram of its neighbours, plus or minus a letter. Read the shaded sq

Popping bowls of cereal onto the table, I grabbed milk from the fridge. ‘Breakfast!’ I called to my son Bohdan, then 9, and daughter Elizabeth, 7. Thirty minutes later I ushered the kids to the car for the school run before going to my teaching job i

EUROOISION SONG CONTEST The UK hosts the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 on behalf of Ukraine on 13 May at the Liverpool Arena. Cheer on our act Mae Muller live on BBC1! ■

Which modern meditative practice derives from the Buddhist ‘sati’? To find out, solve the puzzle… Add a letter anywhere in each of the boxed-off words to fit the clue, eg, Injures = AIMS + M = MAIMS. Write the added letter in the space provided. Read

To solve the puzzle, each 3x3 box, each row and each column must contain the numbers 1 to 9. Solve the puzzle, and the numbers in the highlighted squares will give you the prize puzzle answer. WIN 2x £30 Puzzle 11 Your answer: ■

WIN £40 Puzzle 12 Launched in 1845 and able to sail from New York to China and back in 6-7 months, what was the name of the first ‘extreme clipper’ ship? The answer is the one missing from the grid. Your answer: TO ENTER Turn to page 56 for details o

BUDGET BUY SIT BACK & RELAX RAIN OR SHINE COMPILED BY: ESME CLEMO. PRICES CORRECT AT TIME OF WRITING ■

Standing in the cemetery grounds, the sun beating down as mourners filed out of the crematorium, I felt a surge of happiness ‘Never thought we’d get more than a handful to attend,’ Martin, the celebrant exclaimed. ‘The power of community,’ I smiled.

Which cartoon character’s surname was first given as ‘McPoodle’ in the 1946 short film Northwest Hounded Police? Fit the words into the grid, then read down the letters in the shaded circles. WIN £100 Puzzle 15 Your answer: TO ENTER Turn to page 56 f

WIN 2x £250 Puzzle 16 How would photographer Mary McCartney describe her childhood? To find out, solve the puzzle… Fill in the grid. Each letter of the alphabet has been replaced by a number from 1 to 26. When you’ve completed the grid, the shaded sq

Mousquetaires, kote and selbuvotter are all examples of what type of clothing? Unscramble each group of letters to discover six items of clothing. Now fit them across the grid and you’ll spell out the answer to the question. WIN £75 Puzzle 17 Your an

Walking through dimly lit streets, I put the vodka bottle to my lips and chugged. As it burnt my throat I closed my eyes, waiting for the buzz. Much better, I thought. It was January 2012, but even in the winter chill, I felt wrapped in a warm blanke

Strapping her son Sincere’Cordae into his high chair, Destiny potters around the kitchen getting him breakfast. ‘Sincere, we’re going to have waffles and fruit,’ she smiles, opening the fridge and reaching for a punnet of strawberries. ‘Yummy,’ she s

Sweet peas and salty prawns take this simple pesto pasta to the next level. SERVES 2 PREP 10 MINS COOK 15 MINS 1 Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta shells according to pack instructions. Toss in the prawns 5 mins before

BBC1 • Get ready for more Eurovision fun and mayhem as Graham Norton, singer Alesha Dixon, Ted Lasso actress Hannah Waddingham and Ukrainian singer-songwriter Julia Sanina present the grand final live in Liverpool. The 20 countries who have made it t

Between 1978 and 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer lured 17 men and boys from gay bars, shopping centres and bus stops, promising money or sex. Once they were home, he laced their drinks with drugs, strangled them and had sex with their corpses, taking gruesome p

When Kevin Bacon, 25, failed to show up for his family’s Christmas Day breakfast in 2019, they raised the alarm. It wasn’t like Kevin - a hairdresser and student - to miss the special day. Police found his car five miles away. Inside, a mobile phone

Q My hair always gets so frizzy in the summer! Can anything help? Sandra O’Neil, Birmingham A A Weather can cause havoc with your hair, especially as it gets warmer and more humid. Help protect it against the elements with some small product changes

WIN £500 Puzzle 18 The answers to all but one of these quiz questions can be found hidden in this wordsearch grid, reading forwards, backwards, up, down or diagonally. To help you, we’ll tell you that the answers are in alphabetical order in each sec

One of the best things about Corfu is that it’s compact. You can explore during the day yet be by the sea, cocktail in hand, in time for sunset. In fact, Corfu’s airport is only a 20-minute walk from the main city centre, so you can start sightseeing

BEHIND THE BIG CRIME Like most teenagers, Cynthia Hoffman just wanted to fit in. CeeCee, as she was known, had never found it easy to make friends. With learning difficulties, developmentally she was behind other kids. So she was thrilled when someon

Dear Mum, If you could see me now, planning my 83rd marathon, your face would be a picture. ‘But you hated PE at school,’ you’d say. And you’d be right. I was more at home on a horse, and becoming an equine vet had been my dream since I was 3. ‘Or a

We pay €25 for any photo that we use Chat To Us! EMAIL chat_magazine@futurenet.com POST Chat, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR Find us online at facebook.com/ChatMagazine LOCAL HERO WORDS: VERONIQUE HAWKSWORTH. PHOTOS MUST NOT HAVE BEEN SENT