Table of contents for 21-Apr-2016 in Chat

I often think about him saying he'd watched me for years… Back home, I locked the doors, too frightened to go out… I couldn’t stop shaking, my nerves were shredded. This January, Kenneth Ellis, 44, appeared at High Court in Glasgow. He admitted detaining me against my will, threatening to shoot me and placing a gun against my head. He also admitted subjecting another woman to harassment between March 2014 and August last year. The court heard that his gun was capable of discharging ball bearings, but was not considered potentially lethal. It was no comfort. I’d genuinely feared for my life. Ellis was jailed for three years and nine months for the charges against me and received four months and 15 days for the offence against the other woman.…

We couldn't be without him, he fits perfectly into our family The moment I saw him, I had to have him. I’d seen a post on Facebook from Hillcrest Animal Hospital. They’d found a stray goat wandering the streets. He was in a sorry state, underweight, with snapped horns and matted hair… and needed a home. Me and my partner, Dan, 42, love animals, and, along with our five dogs, 12 chickens and a parrot, we already had two goats – Maurice and Dazzler. So I contacted the hospital. ‘I’ll take him,’ I said, explaining I have a licence to own goats. Days on, last August, we went to pick up Hobo the goat and the vet told us he’d need lots of TLC. Back home I gave Hobo a…

Smoking trouble Q Since I gave up smoking, I've felt so ill. I've got catarrh and colds! Why did I bother? Hilary, 39 A Catarrh is common after quitting, as the cells lining the tubes your lungs recover and start to clear more phlegm. Colds are more common, too, but nobody's sure why. You've done the right thing and will soon feel the benefits. Sticky ear Q When I get a cold, I get a discharge from my left ear. Is it normal? Ayesha, 43 A A fever might melt ear wax, causing a brown-yellow trickle, which can be normal. But sticky mucus during a cold is more likely to mean you have a perforation, a hole in your eardrum that allows mucus from your ear to escape. Ask your…

Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix, £1.42 Jut mix with water to make eight small but perfectly formed vanilla-flavour cookies with a cracked top and squidgy inside. Eat warm! Tesco Milk Chocolate Cookie Mix, £1.16 Add butter and water to form six huge cookies. Not that pretty once cooked - but they taste SO good! Morrisons Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix, 95p With big chocolate chunks, these cookies taste good but watch it - they spread out a lot in the oven! NEW Sacla Boost Your Bolognese, £2.79, Waitrose Four x 45g packs of concentrated flavours including red wine and balsamic vinegar. Just add to onions and mince. Easy!…

Serves: 12 Prep: 10 min Cook: 40 min 200g unsalted butter, melted (plus extra for greasing) 1 tea bag 50ml vegetable oil 250g caster sugar 3 large eggs 235g self-raising flour 1tsp ground ginger 15 slices of tinned peaches (half a 410g tin, drained) 100g white chocolate, melted 10ml vegetable oil 1 Preheat oven to 180C/ Gas 4. Grease and line a square tin. 2 Open teabag and sprinkle into a saucepan. Add oil and butter. Heat for 1 min over a low heat until melted. Remove from heat and put to the side. 3 In a bowl, beat tea mix with caster sugar, eggs, flour and ginger until smooth. Spoon into tin and level top. 4 Arrange peach slices on top of sponge. Bake for 35-40min until golden and…

May the force be with you Disguised as my 20-month-old son Hunter, this little Jedi is actually mind-controlling someone to carry him… That'd be me! Andrew Grannell, Wrexham Pretty girl Our Lashaya, 4 months, is the apple of her grandma Margaret's eye. She'd be thrilled to see her pictured. Tara Andrews, Dudley Livingdoll She's only 17 months old, but my little daughter Kadie is already turning into quite the poser for the camera! Ebony Jade, Stoke-on-Trent…

1 Peel a butternut squash, cut in half lengthways, remove seeds and pith, and then chop into small chunks. 2 Heat 2tbsp oil, and cook a finely chopped onion for 2-3 min until softened. Add a crushed clove of garlic, 3 fresh chopped chillies (add the seeds if you like it hot, use less chillies if you don't), 2 sticks of chopped celery, and the prepared squash and stir well for a 1 min. 3 Stir in 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes with herbs, 300ml vegetable stock (use a cube) and 1tsp paprika powder. Season with salt and pepper, and then cover and cook over a low heat for 20 min. 4 Drain a 400g tin each of chickpeas and red kidney beans. Add these to the chilli…

Aries 21 March - 20 April Stop and think about what you’re about to do. Are you doing it because you really want to? And can you afford it? If the answer to both of these is yes, go ahead; if not, this is your last chance to say no and withdraw. Call 0905 817 0690* for more Taurus 21 April - 21 May What you’re being offered is too low. Past let-downs have made you cautious; don’t assume this is the best you’ll get - you’re worth more. Better options will come up; don’t make a final choice until you’ve seen them all. Call 0905 817 0691* for more Gemini 22 May - 21 June Re-opening an old family feud sounds like a recipe for trouble, but it may…

Players are happy to have a good natter Bingo has always been my favourite game. That’s why I joined Chat Mag Bingo some years ago. A regular at a local hall, I’d always had a fun night out, but, with a young daughter – now 15 – a busy job and my partner working nights, it wasn’t as easy. So playing bingo online was perfect! After a busy day, I could come home, catch up with my daughter, cook dinner and tidy up – before settling down for a few games. The chat rooms were always full of other players happy to have a good natter. And they’d explode with excitement when one of us won! The 75-ball bingo in Lounge was my favourite, but I liked the slots, too.…

Why has he never been identified or come forward..? It was the last photo ever taken of Damian Godson. Just 6 years old. Smiling, happy, excited. And standing next to a monster! It was 6 June 1979. A busy Sunday afternoon at Luna Theme Park in Sydney. Damian was there with his mum Jenny, dad John and brother Craig, 4. The boys were desperate to go on the Ghost Train, so John agreed to take them. But it was a hot day. ‘Wouldn’t you prefer an ice cream?’ Jenny asked. Damian and Craig shook their heads. So when her sons and husband had gone on the Ghost Train, Jenny got herself an ice cream. But instead of giggles when the ride ended, Jenny was met with chaos and screams. And…

She was used to spells in hospital She was put into an induced coma It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. ‘She’ll be lucky to hit 20,’ a doctor said. It was April 1987, and my girl Kayleigh, 11 months, had been struggling to breathe since birth. She’d just been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. An inherited condition, it’s caused by a faulty gene responsible for the movement of salt and water in and out of cells. It results in mucus gathering in the lungs and digestive system, causing numerous problems for sufferers. There’s no cure. Just 20? I was crushed. Me and her dad, my ex, were unaware we were carriers of the faulty gene. Back then, I’d no idea of the endless pills, nebulisers, bouts of intravenous antibiotics, physiotherapy and hospital…

What I loved A neighbour's tree in their front garden is still twinkling with Xmas lights! Makes me smile every time I walk past. What hacked me off Online bullies who pretend their bad behaviour is just banter. Stop! It's rude and horrible. Learn to play nicely. What made me laugh Our daft-but-determined Tanya. She finally became a Guinness World Record holder not once but TWICE! You should have heard the whoops in the Chat office! Read about it on page 44. Hope you're world-class at something this week!…

I had regular scans but lived in fear of losing our little girl Despite her difficulties, Alana's smiley and contented For three years, we’d been trying for baby number two. But every month my period arrived like clockwork, bringing fresh disappointment. We were lucky to have our daughter, Emily, 5, my partner, Mark Donlon, 43, and I reasoned. Emily had been born more than three months premature and had spent the first 10 weeks of her life in the Special Care Baby Unit. She was our little miracle and we decided that was enough for us. Only, the moment we stopped trying for another baby, something amazing happened – I fell pregnant! We were stunned but thrilled. ‘It’s going to be a girl,’ Emily insisted, desperate for a sister. She…

Further tests found it had attacked his skull, leaving lots of holes Sitting my 17-month-old son, Oliver, on the floor, I surrounded him with toys. Soft toys, cars, things that lit up and made noises. But Oliver wasn’t interested. He’d given up trying to walk, wasn’t talking and even his big sister Macie, 5, who he adored and who doted on him, couldn’t get him interested in anything. All Oliver wanted was to cuddle up on the sofa, and I was worried. He had one thing wrong after another – ear infections, cradle cap, a swollen tummy, constipation. Eventually, in February 2014, the doctor referred us to Peterborough City Hospital – and blood tests revealed shocking news. Oliver had Langerhans’ cell histiocytosis (LCH). The doctor explained histiocyte cells are found…

I took a deep breath, focused and… smashed it! Remember Roy Castle belting out, ‘If you wanna be the best, and you wanna beat the rest. Oo-ooh! Dedication’s what you need’? A child of the 80s, I do… And it’s been my mission to get my mitts on one of those records – any of those records! Hence, as you’ve no doubt noticed from the pages of Chat , I’ve tried and failed to achieve any of the seven I’ve attempted. Finally, accepting eating challenges were not going to get me a prized, framed certificate, it was time to rethink my choices. So, naturally, I plumped for attempting Most Jelly Moved With A Teaspoon In 30 Seconds and – a spelling swot at school – Most Five-Letter Words Spelt Correctly…

1 Visit Stow-on-the-Wold Dating from Norman times, the town is steeped in history, reflected in the pretty architecture. There's also a fine pair of original stocks on the green, which you can try out for size! 2 Take a butcher's Stow is stuffed with fascinating shops, including Lambournes, a fantastic ‘proper' butcher's with top-quality local meat in season, beautifully hung and prepared. 3 Feathered fabulousness Birdland at Bourton-on-the-Water is a 10-minute drive from Stow. Plan your visit around penguin-feeding times, so you can watch them dive, swim and wait patiently by the buckets of fish. So cute! 4 Photo opportunities You'll be spoilt for choice at Bourton-on-the-Water, which is a picturesque little town with gift shops, restaurants and places to stay, as well as the lovely, babbling Windrush river flowing…

WHAT A COCK UP! Plans for a skate park being erected in Rangiora, New Zealand, are causing a stir. Locals are fuming that the outline looks like a penis. Already nicknaming it the ‘d**k bowl', it's not wheely off to a great start! MOTH EATEN? All this fluffy creature needs is some icing! Meet the vibrant pink and yellow Rosy Maple Moth, which looks remarkably like a Mr Kipling Battenberg cake! Native to North America, females have a wingspan of up to 2in. Exceedingly good… CLAW-SING TROUBLE Melissa Angel Wilkerson was celebrating her 6th birthday at a restaurant in Oregon when she spied a toy inside a claw-crane machine. She crawled inside to grab it - and got stuck! Firefighters removed her unharmed. EGG-SHELLENT LAY Chicken breeders in Germany recently…

I hadn't meant to hurt him, so I was stunned by his outburst Seeing my chance, I dug out my phone to call the police Logging onto my laptop, a smile crept across my face when I noticed that I had a new message… It was from Kenneth Ellis, 44. We’d been chatting on a dating website for the last few months. Haven’t heard from you today, hope you’re OK? it read. How sweet, I thought, typing out a reply. I’d been single for years after me and my ex-husband split up in 2010. My two sons were all grown up. At 22 and 18, they had their own lives. Lonely, I’d decided to try online dating. I’d chatted to a few men, but Kenneth seemed so genuine – he…

Lunging towards me, he knocked me to the ground We’re like Little and Large,’ grinned my boyfriend Lee as he bent down for a quick kiss. It was true, we seemed an odd couple. Lee Bromilow was 6ft 4in tall, heavily built and weighed 15st. But I was very slim and slight, just under 5ft and weighing less than 6st. Yet, from the moment we met at a party, we’d clicked. In a way, Lee’s size was what I liked about him. He was protective and I felt he’d look after me. As well as lovers, we were best friends. I felt I could tell Lee anything. I’d been born with my bowels outside my body and had needed surgery as a baby. I’d grown up feeling self conscious about…

After the shock came the panic... What should I do!? I didn't plan it but I'm determined to be the best mum I can be Growing up, I always knew my mum, Tobii-Rhea was younger than the other mums. ‘I had you when I was 16,’ she explained. ‘You weren’t planned, but were a blessing in disguise.’ I’d never known my dad as they divorced when I was a toddler. Mum went on to have my three younger siblings. Knowing how young she was when she’d had me just made me proud of her for coping. But kids were the last thing on my mind. That said... At 14, while I wasn’t in a serious relationship, I missed a period. Then another, and another... I confided in Mum. I could…

Mum had always cooked… I lived on takeaways The photos helped show my flab was vanishing Lunchtime in the hair salon that I ran meant only one thing – takeaway! ‘Who wants pizza?’ I asked my girls. ‘Yes, please!’ they chorused. Popping to our nearest takeaway, I came back clutching boxes of pizza. Everyone dived in, but I polished off a whole one to myself – and still found room for a bar of my favourite choc afterwards. It wasn’t hard to see how I’d reached 21st, a size-28. I’d started getting chubby around 16. But it was when I’d moved out of home at 18 that things spiralled out of control. Mum had always cooked the meals at home and, not having a clue how to make anything myself,…

Happy home I loved Toni Osborne's story ( I fell for a tramp , 11 Feb issue) - I have been homeless and met many people in the same unfortunate circumstance. No-one chooses to be living on the streets. To those who have never been so unlucky, please don't look down on us. I hope Toni and Jack are very happy and wish them all the best for the rest of their lives. Name and address supplied Fishy tale My family and I had gone on a brilliant tour of some caves. At one point, the guide happened to mention something about the fissures in the rock. ‘How did the fishes get here?’ whispered my little granddaugher out of the blue. ‘Is it because it’s so damp?’ The…

While studying a Psychology PhD, I spotted a Pole Dance Society had launched. I’d played university softball, and enjoyed keeping fit. ‘Let’s give it a whirl!’ I thought. In September 2009, I headed to a class alone. Getting to grips with the pole was tougher than expected! I fell off countless times, but had such a giggle. Flexing into positions felt incredible. I loved defying gravity. Many people associate pole dancing with seedy clubs, but it’s not like that. Pole fitness is a sport that requires a lot of discipline. Employed as a Psychology lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, I took pole classes twice a week. Three years on, I qualified as a trainer. I adored showing others how to control the pole – a change from lecture halls! I…

MUA Intense Colour Eye Liner in Royal Blue, £1, Superdrug Bold shade that's amazing value for money! Top tip: Sharpen eyeliner regularly for a nice clean line. Barry M Waterproof Eyeliner in Bold Blue, £3.99, Superdrug A waterproof formula that stays put. Top tip: Keep the rest of your make-up simple and wear this with nude lips. Benecos Natural Kajal in Bright Blue, £3.95, www. pravera. co.uk Made from natural ingredients, so suitable for sensitive eyes. Top tip: A change from black eyeliner. Kiko Intense Colour Long Lasting Eyeliner in Metallic Blue, £5.20, Kiko A creamy formula with sparkle - so very glam! Top tip: Wear on your upper-lash line for impact.…

Comedians seem to like writing for old ladies Retiring as a bank cashier in 1999, I’d time on my hands. Still a sprightly 66, I wanted a challenge. Divorced, I knew staying indoors knitting and watching telly would drive me batty. I’ve one daughter, Gabrielle, and a son, Simon, who are both in their 50s now. Simon’s worked as a film and TV extra – nowadays they’re called supporting artists. ‘You should try it,’ he said. Far from shy, I’d done am dram in my 20s, and loved the theatre. ‘Stardom beckons!’ I chuckled. Simon introduced me to his London agent in April 1999. It turned out OAPs were in demand. My first job was a disaster, I waited five hours and didn’t see a camera. But I still received…

Jason had blood on his hands and clothes… Diary excerpts revealed her troubled feelings THE CRIME On the morning of Friday, 10 May 2013, Dennis Lane was found stabbed to death in a bedroom at his home. His daughter and her bloodstained boyfriend were found sitting in another bedroom. But could they really have been responsible for such a brutal crime? THE STORY Dennis Lane was a businessman and blogger. Prominent in the local community, everyone knew him for his trademark red scarf and big personality. As well as his job as an estate agent, he was known through his blog, Tales of Two Cities. Dennis was popular and loved. Especially, it seemed, by his daughter Morgan Lane Arnold. He’d fought a legal battle with her mother Cindi Arnold over…