Table of contents for 22-Feb-2018 in Pick Me Up!

Sweet like chocolate The Green & Black’s Miniature Bar Collection lets you experience a range of their finest fairtrade flavours, from fiery ginger to crunchy butterscotch, for only £4 (usually £5.50), in Tesco until 6 March. Taste the tropics This flavour-packed Crafted Mango & Passion Fruit Juice Drink is handmade in the UK with no added sugar. It’s fruity and fragrant, with smooth and sweet mango and tangy passion fruit, and down to £1 (usually £1.50), in Tesco until 27 Feb. Fun food Goodfella’s Thin Margherita has a stonebaked base topped with their signature sauce and melty mozzarella. At £1.50 (usually £2) in Asda until 21 Feb, these are perfect for a Friday night pizza party! A bit special Gettingpersonal.co.uk  has a huge range of gifts and homewares, from personalised…

UK: MURDERED ON THE STREET Robert Knox, 18, had been working as an actor since he was 11, winning roles in The Bill and the reality show Trust Me, I’m a Teenager. In 2007, he got his big break playing Marcus Belby in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. He had already been signed up for the planned sequel. In May 2008, days after filming finished, Rob was in a bar in Sidcup, Kent, with his brother Jamie, then 17. Drunk and angry, Karl Bishop, 21, accused the brothers of stealing his phone - actually taken by a female friend. A fight broke out. Rob and his friends fought off Bishop and the police arrived. ‘I’m going to come back and someone’s going to die,’ Bishop had screamed. The next…

My face close to the sketch pad, I concentrated hard as I worked on my drawing - it was a picture of a cute puppy. ‘Very good,’ my stepdad Peter Hayes, then 25, smiled. Before I knew it, he was sitting cross-legged on the floor next to me. ‘Here, draw the ears like this,’ he said, showing me how. Aged 7, I loved drawing with Peter. We’d spend hours together, just the two of us. Peter had been in my life since I was 5. My biological father and mother had split up when I was 4, and I didn’t have a relationship with my real dad. Peter was the only father figure I’d ever really known. If we weren’t drawing together, he’d cuddle me and read me bedtime stories.…

Phyllis Elliot-Tingley, 62, Brighton It was October last year, and I was about to have a night in by myself, which was very rare. My husband David, 64, had ordered a cab and was waiting for it to turn up. He was going to see our local football team play. ‘I hope you win!’ I cried, as he was tying his shoelaces. What shall I do tonight, then? I thought. ‘Why don’t you play a game of bingo this evening?’ David suggested. It was almost like he’d read my mind! I’d been a member of Pick Me Up! Bingo for ages - since January 2011. Although I’d won a couple of hundred quid here and there, I hadn’t had any really big wins! I mainly played for the friends I’d…

Troy: Fall of a City, BBC1 Romantic intrigue, betrayal, battles, mysterious gods and, of course, the wooden horse feature in this epic eight-part drama based on the Ancient Greek legend. Louis Hunter and Bella Dayne star as Paris and Helen (above), whose affair sparks a war. David Threlfall and Frances O’Connor play the King and Queen of Troy and Jonas Armstrong is the King of Sparta. David Gyasi is warrior Achilles, who has the infamous showdown with Trojan rival Hector, played by Tom Weston-Jones. Benidorm: 10 Years on Holiday, ITV The Garveys, including Siobhan Finneran and Steve Pemberton, are back in Benidorm for a one-off documentary to celebrate 10 years of the comedy. They talk about being on the show and we see the real locations used for the Solana…

I was just absolutely fabulous at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford! Jo Greasby, Clayton Being surrounded by mountains and snow at Canada’s Arrow Lake was the perfect setting for me to relax and sunbathe! Andrea Richardson, Great Leighs My grandson was surprised by this monkey in Borneo, asking, ‘Why does it have a willy nose, Nanna?’ Good question! Jean Milne, Worthing While on holiday in Bolivia, I was relieved to find time for a game of Jenga! Pia Ainsworth, Wythenshawe This was the sight that met my sore eyes! My hubby Colin posing with his new chainsaw! Beverley Murphy, March I couldn’t help thinking there was something different about my girls’ faces, but Paris and Jasmine didn’t know what I was talking about! Stacey Hill, Torquay My…

Twinkle, twinkle, little tealight… To make tealight holders more decorative, simply adorn the edges with stick-on gems. When the candles are lit, it looks really pretty and twinkly! Mary Campbell, Ayr Storage solution Jam jars are perfect for storing your little ones’ crayons! R Griffin, Warmley Smoothie operator If you have fruit that’s past its best, but still edible, use a hand blender to make a healthy and refreshing smoothie! Pat Lowther, Durham Slam dunk Use a fork to dunk sandwich-style biscuits, such as custard creams or Oreos. You won’t drop your biccy in your drink! A Laird, Wirral Curtain cool Hair scrunchies make cheerful and quirky curtain tiebacks, as they come in different colours and are super-versatile! Angela Garvin, Romford Take the tube! Keep your plugs and cords organised…

Include Dad in the wedding? Sue, 59, Leigh My ex-husband and I split when our only daughter was 14. He’d met someone else and they’re now married with an 8-year-old son. Though we’re all on good terms and see each other a lot, my daughter has never fully forgiven her dad. Now 26, she’s getting married. She has invited her dad to the wedding, but she’s asked my partner to give her away and me to make the speech. Her dad is devastated. He’s always been a good father to her and she’s only known my partner for three years! I think she’ll live to regret excluding her dad from these traditional roles. Should I ask her to reconsider? YES Pick Me Up! reader Charlotte Ellis says, ‘She…

When you picture a nanny, who comes to mind? Whether it’s Disney’s Mary Poppins or her modern-day counterpart, Jo ‘Super Nanny’ Frost, we bet the person you pictured was a woman. It’s not just nannies who are mostly portrayed as female, either. Jobs in nursery nursing, childminding - in fact, any that involve caring for young children - tend to be seen as ‘women’s work’. It even affects teaching, as Department of Education figures from 2016 show. According to the DoE, just 15 per cent of primary school teachers are male. Why is this? Could it be that we don’t like the idea of leaving our kids alone with a man? Research by Direct Line Home Insurance reveals that 12 million UK parents - 36 per cent of those surveyed…

Rushing around the stockroom, I was up to my ears with deliveries as usual. Busy, yes, but... This is boring, I thought, miserable. It was May 2014, and I’d been working as a stockroom processor in a clothes shop in Edinburgh for almost three years, hating every minute. I popped out for lunch, but my mood didn’t improve. Cars beeping, people rushing around... I’d never been much of a city girl. ‘We’ll be off on holiday next week,’ my mum Jennifer reminded me later. Mum, my dad John and I were going back to the Orkney Islands for the second time - a group of 70 beautiful, peaceful, remote islands north of Scotland. My little piece of heaven… ‘I can’t wait,’ I sighed. Stepping off the plane a week later,…

Ken Hom’s stir-fried pork with black bean sauce Serves: 4 Prep: 10 mins, plus marinating Cook: 10 mins For the marinade: 1 Cut pork into thin 5cm slices, then mix with marinade ingredients. Set aside for about 20 mins. 2 Heat a wok or large frying pan until hot. Add half the groundnut or vegetable oil and, when very hot, stir-fry pork for 2-3 mins. Transfer to a colander set over a bowl. 3 Wipe pan clean, reheat, then add the rest of the groundnut or vegetable oil. Add spring onions and shallots, then the rest of the ingredients except the sesame oil. Bring to a boil, then return pork to the pan. 4 Stir-fry the mixture…

I made sure the app showed I was always in negative calories Everyone has times in their life when things feel a bit overwhelming. Back in November 2012, when I was 13, my grandad Derek, 70, passed away. Me and my mum Alison had lived with him and my nan Margerie, 74, since my parents had split when I was a toddler. Grandad and I had always been close. With him gone, I struggled to cope. I was being bullied at school, too, and felt as if I had no control over my life. So I started going out running after school. My feet pounding the pavements around where we lived, I enjoyed the sense of freedom, the way it let me escape all my problems. At first, it was…

We had no insurance and we were homeless, with triplets to care for By the time my husband Brijesh, 31, and I got our three little ones off to sleep, it was 2am. ‘Well, I’m not going to have any trouble nodding off,’ I yawned. A mum to 9-month-old triplets, it’s fair to say I was often shattered. Still, we had two extra pairs of hands on deck that week. It was last May, and Brijesh’s mum Kusum, 59, and dad Narendra, 63, were visiting from India. They were besotted with their grandchildren - girls Rishva and Rutvi and our boy Rithaan - giving me a welcome rest from non-stop childcare. Kusum and Narendra were sleeping downstairs, and we’d put the triplets in cots in our bedroom - easier than…

She’d eaten a poor diet, with very little exercise Seeing her come out of her shell was amazing The moment I saw Strudel, I fell in love with her. Maybe it was the big brown eyes. Perhaps the huge, cheeky smile. Or maybe the fact that this gorgeous golden retriever was, well, a little on the tubby side. OK, make that a lot on the tubby side! Weighing 5st 12lb, the porky pooch was nearly double the 3st recommended for her breed. ‘Aww, look!’ I said to my hubby Wynn, 25, as I perused the Hearts for Hounds Facebook page, an organisation that found homes for unwanted dogs. We’d helped them out a few times, fostering 10 dogs before a permanent home was found. It turned out that Strudel needed…

Karen Carder, 46, Woking Last April, it was just after 10pm, and I’d agreed to pick up our daughter, 17, from her chip-shop job. I had a bit of time before I had to leave, so I opened up my laptop to have a few games of Pick Me Up! Bingo. I’d joined a few years ago. I loved bingo and the site has lots of great games. My favourite was Tiki, a 90-ball bingo game. I also enjoyed Diamond Bingo. I’d had a big win on it in February 2015. My husband, 47, had been playing darts with mates and wanting ‘me time’ I’d bought tickets for Diamond Bingo and let the games play out. Only, before I knew it, there was a message on screen. Winner! it read.…