Justine Thomas is 48, from Norwich, and tells us: ‘It’s the first time I’ve bought a card that says ‘to my husband’ but it’s the first time I won’t be sending a card to my beloved dad.’
Justine’s father passed away in March of this year, aged 89 years old, and had three daughters and three sons.
Coping with loss at this time can be difficult, and happy memories can help family members deal with such a big loss.
Justine says: ‘This year, I’m trying to focus on the really good memories we have while looking forward.’
Moving on, Justine says: ‘I know this Christmas will be different, so I’ll spend the day looking back – but just enough. I also keep reminding myself there’s a big future out there.’
Alice Cracknell, 33, runs a non-profit clothing brand and lives in Devon with her husband Tom. The pair are actually expecting and their due date is today, on Christmas.
This comes after the couple experienced a miscarriage in September of last year, at 12 weeks. Alice went through shock, having experienced all of the pregnancy symptoms.
Alice had a special mention for the NHS staff who helped her through the grieving process and felt blessed to have a supportive family around her.
It wasn’t until 6 months into her next pregnancy, that Alice started buying things for her new arrival, Alice was scared she would jinx it.
As the big day arrives, Alice is still really excited for the new addition to the family.
‘So whether our baby arrives late or early, it really will be the perfect Christmas present!’
In London, Chinelo Awa will be spending Christmas without her mum, after she passed away three years ago on Christmas Eve.
But to honour her mum, she’s spending her Christmas volunteering to feed the homeless.
It’s been a Christmas tradition in the family, to donate food to the vulnerable.
Chinelo said: ‘On Christmas Eve, we’d season all the meat, then the next day we’d fry it, prepare the rice and create the bags. We’d spend our mornings doing that, ensuring we ate too, so we wouldn’t get hungry on the road.’
Chinelo’s mum was everything to her and hopes to create a new tradition in her memory.
To read these stories in full, click the link below 👇
All of the items are either found by TfL staff or handed in by members of the public, before making their way to the Lost Property Office, which has been looking after TfL’s lost property since 1933.
EXCLUSIVE: Cash-strapped councils in London have sold off historic landmarks worth over £70 million in the last five years. trib.al/Rsih6Z7
Instead of refurbishing Grade I and Grade II-listed landmarks to use as youth centres or much-needed housing, some councils have given them away for ‘very, very low’ sums.
One such example is Fulham Town Hall, which was built in 1890 using Georgian architecture.
It was bought by developer Ziser London for £10 million and is set to be turned into a boutique hotel, spa and restaurant.
The small town on the border between England and Wales soon had the eyes of the world upon it.
@VancityReynolds and @RMcElhenney, famous for their roles in Deadpool and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, submitted a deal to take 100% control of the club last year.
Their plan?
According to their mission statement… ‘Our goal is to grow the team, return it to the English Football League in front of increased attendances at an improved stadium while making a positive difference to the wider community in Wrexham.’
First up, Omicrimbo, the Covid-19 variant first discovered in Africa, has made a big impact on the UK’s number of daily infections which passed 100,000 earlier this week.
Good news arrived when two studies found it leads to significantly less severe disease, but health experts warn that we are not out of the woods yet.
It is understood cabinet ministers were given the dire warning at a virtual government meeting this morning.
So many NHS staff are forecast to be off sick by January 15 that there could be too few medics to treat patients, The Sun reports.
The Prime Minister and Government medics told the cabinet that even ‘the most conservative’ estimates of case numbers are looking ‘very bad,’ the paper says 📈
Hospitals in England have already been told to discharge as many patients as possible to free up beds amid the crisis.