Get stuck in with British Mud Week

Tomorrow sees the start of something new- the first ever British mud week. Sponsored by Nomad Direct, suppliers of the world’s first cordless pressure washer (which you may need if you decide to get involved!), the general idea of the week is to encourage the British public to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors. Although we have our fingers crossed for good weather this June, we all know you can never be too sure when it comes to the British weather, and so the chances are there'll be plenty of mud around to get involved with!

People are being encouraged to complete mud-themed challenges for charity and get their families involved in the great outdoors, and schools are also being encouraged to take part, with downloadable packs, full of ideas, being available on their website. 

The website also lists a number of ideas of ways you could get involved with mud week, if you work with or have young children, I can only imagine the idea of a week spent rolling in the mud will go down a treat! 

International waffle day

Happy international waffle day! Waffles are a great invention, most commonly eaten as desserts here in the UK, but also popular for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks... you name it, the waffle is a pretty versatile food!

Waffle day began in Sweden. The day historically (apparently) marks the beginning of spring and is celebrated by eating (lots of) waffles. I'm not entirely sure how these two are linked, but like many of these national, or international, days, the reasoning often seems irrelevant- it's just an excuse to eat waffles isn't it!

So why not make or buy some waffles this evening, try them savoury for dinner or do what I'll be doing as a dessert with some maple syrup and maybe a bit of banana... my stomach's rumbling, time to get home I think! Enjoy!

Bletchley artwork unveiling

Artist David Appleyard is well-known for producing artwork to be displayed in the public realm. Tomorrow, a piece of his work is being unveiled by the mayor of Milton Keynes, Brian White, at the roundabout at the entrance of Bletchley station. The piece of art is titled: "NURP 40 TW 194" and takes it's name from a carrier pigeon found in the area during WW2, believed to be on it's way to Bletchley Park... a title which appears to fit well with the code-breaking themes surrounding Bletchley Park!

The artwork takes the form of a hut, which is in reference to Bletchley Park. It has been commissioned by Milton Keynes and West Bletchley councils, and was initiated in 2012 following extensive community research into the West Bletchley area.

Head to the roundabout outside Bletchley station, tomorrow (26th March) at 2pm, to see the unveiling.

Sport Relief

It's that time of year again, and today marks the official start of Sport Relief! Although you've probably seen merchandise in the shops and adverts on the TV and radio for the last month or so, today actually kicks off the Sport Relief weekend.

Events are taking place across the country, with the Sainsbury's Sport Relief games; the swimathon, the mile and the cycle, which are taking place in a number of locations, allowing for everyone who wants to get involved to do so. Sponsorship raised through these events goes towards the work Sport Relief are doing, which helps people both at home in the UK and abroad, helping create safer lives, stronger communities, healthier finances, better futures and a fairer society. In the UK, Sport Relief provide young people with shelter and protection for those living on the streets and suffering domestic abuse, and further afield providing communities with clean water and life-saving vaccinations.

As well as the big three Sainsbury's games, there will be numerous other events and activities taking place across the country today and over the weekend. Today will be a big one for schools and workplaces I reckon, with various sponsored events taking place all in aid of Sport Relief. There's a song that's been written with the idea of getting it sung in school assemblies, some schools will be holding Sport themed events which the children have been fundraising for, as well as fundraising sales, mufti days and more!

How do you feel about the event? It's clearly a great way of raising money and helping loads of great causes, but is it a bit too hyped up or do you think that's just the necessary way of getting the message across to thousands of people at the same time? We'd love to hear your thoughts on Sport Relief, let us know if you're doing anything for the weekend in order to raise money. Or maybe you're the less sporty type and are planning on watching the night of Sport Relief TV tonight (7pm)… I know which I'll be doing!

Sarah

Money money money

Quite a talking point in the news over the last week or so has been the figures put forward by Oxfam regarding the shockingly brutal differences between the rich and poor divide in the UK. Oxfam found that Britian's five richest families are worth more than the poorest 20%, and even more stark is the fact that just one family are richer than the bottom 10%. I find it quite shocking when looked at like this, and considering that the richest family in the UK own £7.9billion, it's hard to almost comprehend what that money could do! I very much respect working hard for a living, and these people clearly have done to get to such a place, but the worrying part is that bottom 20%. That's approximately 12.64 million people all living on the same amount as just those richest five families.

It's hard when you hear about something like this, with no idea or physical way of changing things or making things 'fairer', but I suppose it's just being aware of what's going on in our own country. Sometimes we can see poverty as something faced by those in third world countries, when actually it's right here on our doorsteps, so being aware of that and doing what we can in the smallest of ways is probably the best way to respond to facts like these, donating to a local food bank, for example, is just one way to help in a small but effective way.

Sarah

Happy Pancake Day!

It's that time of year again- the day where it's OK eat as many pancakes as we can manage! Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, initially came about as a way of using up all of the sweet and fatty foods before people had to give them up for Lent. Today, while some people do still give up foods for Lent, pancake day has become more of a tradition than anything else, and you can as ever expect to find your corner shop lacking in pancake mix on this day of the year!

Here in Olney, pancake day is that little bit more special, with the world-famous pancake race taking place on the high street. This is said to be the first ever pancake race, and has been going since 1445, when an Olney lady apparently heard the bells ringing for church while she was in the middle of making pancakes. She rushed out of the house with her frying pan and wearing her apron, ran down the street to the church. Thus began the tradition which has been continued to this day, with the pancake race, where contestants must wear and apron and scarf, and carry a frying pan and pancake. They have to toss their pancake at the start, once while running and at the end of the race, and run 415 yards to the finish line.

This year the question is whether the winner of the last two races, Devon Byrne, will win for a third time in a row. If so, she would be making a record for the first person to win three times in a row, as well as being the daughter of a three-time winner. Last year, she set a race record of 56 seconds, which also beat the then world record, held by the ladies of Liberal, Kansas in the transatlantic rivalry which takes place each year. This year all eyes will be on the racers to see if anyone can beat the time!

Get yourself down to Olney to see their most famous event of the year, and get into the spirit of pancake day! The race starts at 11.45am, and children's races begin at 10.30am.
Have a fun pancake day- try not to get them stuck to the ceiling while you're tossing them!

Sarah

World Compliment day

This is a nice one!  World compliment day seems to be pretty much just the reminder to be nice and share the love a bit! Imagine if everyone shared a compliment today, a genuine one that isn't just any old comment for the sake of it, people would undoubtedly be so much happier.

Strangers passing each other could say something nice for a change, or even just smile, when on any other day they might feel like they can't… which is kind of sad if that is the case. It's all too true that if someone were to randomly come up to you in the street and compliment your hair you may be a little weirded out, probably depending on the person, place etc., but still, we wouldn't find it normal would we? It just doesn't happen often enough. So here's your challenge- give a stranger a compliment today! You don't have to be weird about it, just act like it's the most normal thing in the world, and then maybe it will become so… what harm could it do?! You could even be really subtle about it, like try leaving a post-it note with a compliment on it on someone's desk, or tweet something positive to your followers, let's get involved!

Spring?!

Are we beginning to see a glimmer of Spring? I know it officially isn't springtime until the end of March (at least) but the evenings and mornings are beginning to get lighter and this is very good news indeed! The past few days I've been woken up by the sun shining in on my face, which as much as I love my sleep and don't like to be interrupted, definitely makes a welcome change from trying to get up in the dark! I even saw a bit of blue sky today…shocking I know!

It really does have an effect on your mood though, doesn't it?! Leaving work in the sunshine rather than the dark makes you feel like you've still got a few hours left to enjoy the day, rather than feeling the need to crawl inside by the fire with a duvet! The worry in the back of my mind is the reminder that we have often had snow as late as April… I'm hoping we've missed out on that weather this year but maybe that's being a little too hopeful! It looks for now that it's just rain, rain and more rain in store, fingers crossed this sun stays about, we sure need it to dry up all this flooding!

Sarah

'Tell a fairy tale day'

For adults and children alike, fairytales have a special place in many of our hearts, and some of them are even aimed at the adults- a little bit too scary for the kids! Today is tell a fairy tale day, whether or not this tends to be implemented in schools or libraries I don't know, but I can imagine these would be the places to celebrate the day! For those of you with kids it might be the opportunity to get out some of the old-school fairytales or opt for the more modern day film versions of one of them!

Fairytales go back for centuries, originating as tales which were dramatically told or enacted rather than written into books, and the idea of telling such stories has carried on through the ages. The Brothers Grimm were the first to actually put the fairytales down into book form, in a way of trying to preserve the plot and characters of the stories. They initially collected German fairy tales, and later went on to re-write many of them to change them more into stories than folk tales.

Called fairy tales because of their inclusion of fantasy creatures, the term is perhaps a bit looser today than it was, but the stories typically include fairies, trolls, goblins, elves, dwarves, giants, witches etc. So it should be easy to find a tale with one of them in, have a read and enjoy tell a fairy tale day, or why not use your imagination and invent your own! (or get the kids to!)

Chocolate covered peanuts day

Possibly one of the stranger food-themed days, chocolate covered peanuts day is here! I'm not sure if I've even tasted chocolate covered peanuts, let alone celebrated their 'day', but getting into the spirit of these days until we find one we recognise (come on pancake day!) let's go with it!

Apparently these snacks are pretty easy to make, melt some chocolate and chuck in some peanuts, and I guess depending on the type of peanuts you decide to buy you could quite nicely come up with some different flavours. For example, mixing salted peanuts with milk chocolate would give you that classic salted chocolate taste, or even honey roasted peanuts and milk or dark chocolate for more of a salted caramel flavour. I'm not too sure I like the sound of peanuts covered in white chocolate, but each to their own, it's probably worth a try! As I'm sure you can imagine, this day is believed to have originated in the US, with the first chocolate-covered nuts being sold commercially in America back in 1925, so it's probably about time you tried some if you haven't yet! Enjoy!

Cherry Pie Day

Well these so called 'days' more often than not appear to be related to food… what a shame! Today is cherry pie day, an excuse to make (or buy) a nice cherry pie! Originating from North America, cherry pie has now spread across the globe and it is now popular in many countries!

A nice change to all of those apple pies you may have been eating as they've been falling from the trees, cherry pie has that lovely sweet taste to it, great with cream or ice cream or custard…mmm! Apparently, the ability to make a good cherry pie was once the test of an American girl's suitability as a wife, so I'm guessing it must taste pretty good if done right! Don't worry if you're not the baking type though, no one here is analysing your American wife abilities, most supermarkets will take that job off your hands and sell a pretty good cherry pie!

International tug-of-war day

This is a different yet interesting day, international tug-of-war day! The tug-of-war dates back to centuries ago, a simple sport and a way of resolving ownership disputes over food and clothing, with imagery of people pulling in opposite directions being found on stone carvings, and in ancient texts and legends. The sport appears to have been practiced in Egypt, Greece and China, coming out of a legend that the sun and moon played tug-of-war over light and darkness. The Vikings even used animal skins stretched over a fire pit… lovely! 

What's next?!...

Post Valentines day, what’s the next occasion our shops will be trying to sell us? Easter eggs will be in the stores within the next few days, if not already, and then there’s Mothers day, for which cards have already been seen on the shelves. They’re obviously nice things to be advertising, but why oh why do they feel the need to pounce on us so early?! It feels like the day of one event, the next is being advertised. It's like the classic 'back to school' adverts, which are always up in the shops before the school holidays have even started, making all children seeing it feel like their holiday is over before it's even begun!

Past vs. Present: Has Valentines Day lost its appeal?

Valentines day has been around for centuries, so I've taken a look at the history behind it, finding out where on earth the idea started! 

Stories about the origins of the day go back to around AD 250, with tales of ‘Saint Valentine’, of which there is little known. We know that he was a holy priest in Rome, and was executed on the 14th February, which was how Valentines day came about. The actual idea of sending Valentines Day cards seems to have begun in around 1400. The oldest known valentine in existence was from Charles, Duke of Orleans, written to his wife in 1415, whilst he was imprisoned in the Tower of London; possibly not the happiest of messages, but romantic nonetheless.

Love is in the air: Some of our top Brit couples

Tis the season for celebrating love, and so we’ve racked our brains to give you a selection of couples Britain can be proud to boast of…

First and foremost, Kate and Wills. Their wedding was arguably the wedding of the century, and now with baby in tow, they continue to present a relationship of bliss. Of course, the royals aren’t going to be airing their spats and disagreements into the public domain, but just looking at this couple it is clear they are truly loved up and taking their role in the spotlight seriously. They seem to be the perfect match for one another.

'Flappy Birds' game gone flappy!

Today's top news? 'Flappy Birds'. You might be wondering what on earth it is, especially if iPhones and apps are somewhat unchartered territory to you, but this phenomenon has taken phone gaming to a new level. The game consist of tapping the phone screen to get a bird to fly between tubes…and that is it. The simplicity of the game may have led to it's addictiveness, and it quickly became 'the game to play'. Among kids and adults alike, high scores were being compared, with people sharing their excitement over high scores on other social networking sites.

But yesterday, the creator of 'Flappy Birds', Doug Nguyen, removed the game from the app stores, saying that the game had ruined his life and that he'd been receiving death threats via Twitter as a result of the app.

Olney Pancake Race

We're counting down to the big event in March, the Olney Pancake race. One month to go as of yesterday, excitement is building as advertising gets out and people start practicing for the big race… I assume they'll be practicing anyway, with such great prizes on offer! Prizes this year range from Six Nations rugby tickets, to football tickets and vouchers. With such a limited number of spaces available, 25 to be precise, we're guessing most of them have already been snatched up by the Olney ladies wanting to compete and catch a moment of fame. The highly famous event attracts numerous reporters and onlookers every year, and so this year is set to be no different. We're looking forward to it!

Find out more here

Top City Breaks

We're on the approach to 'V-day' and whether you want to sweep a loved one off their feet this Valentines weekend, or just want to escape away with friends, we've come up with a selection of weekend city breaks that should do the job. You've just got enough time to get planning, but don't leave it too much longer!

Mannequins, keeping up with the size of Britain?

You may have come across them in ‘plus size’ stores in the past, but mannequins larger than a size 10 are now to be found in more high street stores. Debenhams in particular has decided to move away from only having size 10 mannequins to introducing some at size 16.

Research has shown that customers are more likely to buy clothes when they see them modelled in their size, and with the average UK woman today being a size 16, it seems to make sense. The hope is that being able to see the clothing presented on a figure they feel they can relate to will make women shoppers feel better about themselves, and they will consequently be more comfortable shopping.

It is a true point that seeing mannequins modelling size 10 clothes or sometimes even smaller can be difficult if you're shopping for a larger size. Different styles often suit different body shapes, and so seeing the clothes at a size 10 doesn't always help those looking at size 16 to imagine how the item will look on them.

What do you think? Does it make a difference to you what size mannequins you see in the stores? Do you see them as a representation of the human body or just as something to hold up the clothes on promotion?

Sarah

National Carrot Cake Day

I'm never sure how many of these 'National days' to believe… but this is one I'm happy to go with. National carrot cake day- an excuse to eat cake, does it get any better?!

I've dug out a carrot cake recipe from the BBC Good Food website so you can have a shot at making your own and really get involved with National carrot cake day!