'My dogs are so huge people stop me to ask if they are bears'
By Leo Black
This woman's dogs are so big and hairy people stop her in the street - to ask if they are bears.
Newfoundland terriers Leo and Teddy weigh 70 and 75 kilos (11 and 11.8st), around the same as the average British woman.
Both of the dogs are taller than their owner, Sanela Becovic, 44, who is 175cm (5.6ft) tall but both are gentle giants.
Sanela bought Teddy, six, from a breeder at ten weeks old, and Leo, four, at eight weeks old.
The dogs were expensive and cost €1,300 (£1,138) for Teddy and €1,800 (£1,576) for Leo.
The giant pooches have earned themselves celebrity status in Laholm, Sweden, where they live with Sanela.
They often get Sanela, a librarian, stopped when she's walking them, and everyone in town knows them by name.
Sanela said: "We live in a small city and everyone here knows them, but we still get stopped by people.
"It's hard to get places because people are always stopping us to talk and pet the dogs."
They may be gentle giants, but they still often give passers-by a fright when walking about Laholm.
Sanela explained: "People tell us they look like bears, they ask us 'what is that, is it a bear'?"
In fact, the dogs look so much like bears that Sanela bought Teddy originally because he looks like a bear.
She was scared of dogs before having Teddy but wanted a huge, fluffy bear to cuddle, and this was as close as she could get.
She said: "I was deathly afraid of dogs, but I was going through a hard time and always wanted a big bear to cuddle.
"It's hard to explain but I wanted one, and Newfoundlands are gentle, cuddly and have lots of hair, he was perfect."
The big dogs are quite spoiled by Sanela and her husband, Thomas Petterson, 50, and they get anything they want.
They bought a new car to fit the dogs into the boot, which set them back €130,000 (£113,897).
They even took the time and added a ramp that would make their dogs' trips more comfortable, by helping them climb in.
Sanela said: "It's basically a minibus that we made into Teddy and Leo's special car, we bought a special mattress and took the seats out."
The car wasn't the only accommodation they made, shortly after Leo's addition, they rented a new flat for the pooches.
Their old flat was too small so they chose another that cost them €400 (£350) more per month and included another bedroom.
Sanela said: "It was worth it, I'm planning on turning the extra bedroom into Teddy and Leo's room."
Sanela is wary of people thinking keeping a Newfoundland terrier is as expensive as she has made it.
She said: "You don't need to put this much money into them, I don't have kids so they are my kids.
"I'm obsessed with them and I spend much more money on them than normal people do."
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"I'm a thrifty mum - here are five dishes to feed your family for less than £2"
By George Mathias
A mum who creates budget-friendly meals has given her top tips for keeping costs down - and revealed five dishes which can feed a family for less than £2.
Grace Mortimer, 30, came up with Instagram page My First Meals after hearing about families struggling to put food on the table amid spiraling living costs.
Her account now has more than 450,000 followers and has spawned a book which has featured on the Sunday Times' bestsellers list.
Grace, a mum-of-one, says her dishes "don't compromise on flavour" despite the tiny costs.
And she's now revealed her latest tips for feeding the family on a budget.
Grace, of Gloucester, said: "With the cost of food rising to all time highs at the moment, I think we’re all feeling the pinch.
"My weekly food shop has risen by 50 per cent on average. I shop at Aldi because I find it to be the cheapest.
"Plus other supermarkets price match with them, so it makes coming up with a meal plan a lot easier for people to use who don’t have one nearby."
Grace advises that people steer clear of the branded goods where possible.
And she also says that you should always check the world food aisles in larger supermarkets - as they often have products such as tinned tomatoes and coconut milk for much cheaper.
Another big tip, she says, is "storing your leftovers separately."
Grace said: "If you’ve made spaghetti bolognese, don’t chuck the sauce and the pasta into the same Tupperware or pot because then your only option when it comes to using them is, well, spaghetti bolognese!
"The pasta can be used in a pasta bake for example, with some tinned tomatoes, friend bacon, steamed spinach and mozzarella.
"And the bolognese sauce can be turned into a cottage pie using some leftover or frozen veg and topped with mashed potato."
She also says that people should be wary of supermarket deals.
Grace said: "These are usually endorsing big brands and can appear great value but below the price ticket on each shelf is a weight to price ratio and sometimes you’re better off buying a different brand altogether or the supermarket own if you need multiple tins of something."
She also says that people should stop looking down on frozen veg.
"There’s just no need for the snobbery around frozen veg, It’s brilliant value, keeps for longer and often has higher nutrient density than some fresh veg which has been sitting in chilled warehouses for weeks.
Finally, she says social media is a great tool for scoping out great budget meals.
She said: "It's a fantastic free resource full of recipe creators and the comments section are the equivalent of trip advisor!
"If they don’t work, you’ll be able to see, if people are raving about it, it’s probably a great recipe!"
Grace's £2 family meal ideas are as follows, with all prices based from Aldi:
Seriously Garlicky Seafood Spaghetti
INGREDIENTS:
500g spaghetti - 28p
250g seafood sticks - 99p
1 tin of chopped tomatoes - 35p
1 bulb of garlic - 16p
1 red onion - 12p
TOTAL = £1.90
METHOD:
Slice the onion and mince the garlic.
Add both to a large saucepan with a good drizzle of oil and fry until golden.
Then add the chopped tomatoes and bring to a simmer.
Dice the seafood sticks and add them to the bubbling tomato sauce.
Meanwhile, boil the spaghetti according to packet instructions, saving a little pasta water before draining it.
Once the pasta is cooked, add it to the sauce along with the reserved pasta water and give it a good season (if you wish).
Serve!
Chicken, Broccoli & Potato Pie
INGREDIENTS:
1 whole broccoli - 75p
2 baking potatoes - 25p
1 tin cream of chicken soup - 67p
Total = £1.67
METHOD:
Turn the oven to 200 degrees fan.
Slice the whole broccoli (including the stalk) and chop one of the potatoes into cubes.
Add both to a large pan with a good drizzle of oil and sauté until the potato has crisped up.
Then transfer to an ovenproof dish if you don’t have a cast iron pan (if you do, leave it in the pan) and pour over the chicken soup.
Give it a good mix.
Finely slice the remaining potato and arrange over the top of the top.
Brush the potato slices with a little oil and place in the oven for 30 minutes or until the potato on top is golden and crispy.
Then remove and serve.
You can add any random veg you have lying around into this or perhaps some fried bacon lardons if you wish but it’s delicious on its’ own and very filling! Alternatively this makes a lovely side dish with roast chicken.
Roasted Carrot & Coconut Soup with Garlic Bread
INGREDIENTS:
1 kg of carrots - 66p
1 tin of coconut milk 79p
1 garlic baguette - 37p
1 stock pot (I used chicken but veggie is fine) - 25p
Total = £2.07
METHOD:
Turn the oven to 180 degrees c fan.
Peel and chop the carrots and add them to a lined tray along with some oil. Season if you wish with salt and pepper.
Roast the carrots for 1 hour.
After which, remove them and add them to a food processor along with the coconut milk, stock pot and 500ml of boiling water. Blitz until smooth.
Add the mixture to a large saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer.
Meanwhile, place the garlic bread in the oven for 15 minutes.
Serve!
Refried Butter Bean Flatbreads
INGREDIENTS:
1 drained tin of chickpeas - 55p
1 drained tin of butter beans - 59p
1 red onion - 12p
500ml of plain yoghurt - 35p
2 cups of self raising flour - 40p
Total = £2.01
METHOD:
Turn the oven to 200 degrees (fan).
Add the chickpeas to a lined tray along with a drizzle of oil and season if you wish.
Once the oven is up to temperature, roast for half an hour.
Combine 400ml of yoghurt with 2 cups of self raising flour and bring together to form a dough. If too wet to handle, add a little extra flour.
Roll the dough into flatbreads on a well floured surface - it makes approximately 8.
Add the flatbreads one by one to a hot frying pan with a little oil and fry on both sides until golden.
Slice the onion in half and dice both halves - add one half to a frying pan with a little oil and fry until crispy then add the butter beans. Once the the mixture starts to dry out - add a little water to loosen it and break the beans down, then bring to a simmer.
Finally, add the other half of sliced onion to a bowl with a sprinkling of salt to part-pickle them.
Then assemble the flatbreads with a spoonful of leftover yoghurt, refried beans, roasted chickpeas then pickled onion and serve.
(I added a little coriander and chilli sauce to mine but they are delicious as they are.)
Pea Green Crispy Gnocchi with Pangrattato
INGREDIENTS:
500g gnocchi - 99p
2 cups of frozen peas - 40p
1 sliced red onion - 12p
1 vegetable stock cube - 5p
1 slice of white bread, grated - 2p
Total cost = £1.58
METHOD:
Add the peas, stock cube and 100ml of water to a food processor and blitz until smooth then set aside.
Add the onion and gnocchi to a hot frying pan with a little oil and fry until crispy and golden.
Finally, add the grated bread to a separate frying pan with a good glug of oil, season if you wish and fry until crispy and toasty.
Then add the sauce to the gnocchi and bring to a simmer. Top with the crispy breadcrumbs (pangrattato) and you’re done!
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"I was hospitalised for anorexia - watching the Lionesses helped me beat it"
By Izzy Hawksworth
A female footballer who was hospitalised with anorexia says watching her former teammates win the Euros with the Lionesses helped her beat the illness.
Maddie Blackburn, 23, was in hospital for her eating disorder when she watched Georgia Stanway and Ella Toone, who she previously played with, beat Germany.
She said it was 'surreal' watching them on TV while she was in hospital, which kickstarted her into recovery, forcing her to gain weight.
Now, Maddie is in recovery from the illness and is even back training with a local women's football team and hopes to study football coaching at university.
She said: "I played football since I was very little so it was quite surreal watching them play on TV in front of thousands of people while I was just sat in hospital.
"I just thought 'what am I actually doing with my life?'
"It was an eye-opener because I had been in hospital for around seven months at that point.
"I thought that I either need to help myself or I wouldn't even up recovering.
"I think with anorexia, you can have all the help and support in the world but it's you that needs to choose to eat.
"I think I needed something to motivate me but it was always going to be football because I played for years and years.
"Then I think the Euros changed everything really."
After she started losing a lot of weight, Maddie's mum took her to the doctors and she was eventually admitted to Cheadle Royal Hospital’s eating disorder unit in 2021.
(Pix via SWNS)
(Pix via SWNS)
The footballer was in there for six months in 2021, but sadly she relapsed and went back into hospital in 2022.
Now she's started training with a local women's football team - which is something she never thought she would do because of how hard it is to recover from anorexia.
Maddie said: "I've just started training with a local team.
"I want to start playing back to the level I was a few years ago but I think it's going to take quite a while because I've not got my strength back yet.
"I think I'm quite shocked I'm playing again because I didn't expect to be in this position.
"I thought I would be in and out of hospital constantly, even though I didn't want that but Anorexia is one of the hardest illnesses to recover from.
"I kind of just accepted that was going to be me for the rest of my life, but I can say now that it's not."
(Pix via SWNS)
(Pix via SWNS)
Maddie has reflected on her time at the eating disorder unit and described it as 'the weirdest experience'
She added it was 'awful' only being able to see her family through a window during Covid and that she felt 'it wasn't a very helpful environment' to be in.
Maddie, of Whalley, Lancs,. said: "It's the weirdest experience I'll ever go through - unless you've been there yourself, then you don't know how to describe it.
"You're surrounded by other poorly people so you are being triggered 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"It's loud and full of alarms and there's people who are in completely different stages of their recovery - you could get someone who is due to be discharged soon.
"But then you can get someone who has just come in so they are really poorly.
"For me, it just wasn't a very helpful environment to be in.
"There wasn't really any visits during Covid, if they were any visits then it was just threw a window and it was awful."
England star Alessia Russo opened up earlier this year about battles with 'wanting to be skinny' and the impact it had on her performance playing football.
Maddie says she related to the 24-year-old's comments and thinks it's 'important' that she opened up publicly about her experience.
She said: "Alessia Russo opened up not that long ago about how she struggled with body image and food issues in lockdown.
"I think she said when she started playing football after lockdown, she got injured straight away and that made her realise she had to eat more.
"It's the same for me really.
"It's important that people like her open up - it inspired me to open up so it could inspire hundreds of people to talk about it."
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Selfless bystander helps "battered and bruised" Gazza
By Ben Barry
A bystander turned Good Samaritan to help his "hero" Gazza - after the star was found "battered and bruised" outside his hotel.
Terry Swinton, 54, was staying in the Travelodge Bournemouth Seafront hotel when he walked outside for a cigarette.
To his surprise, he looked up to see his "hero" Paul Gascoigne, known as Gazza, looking battered and bruised arguing with two people.
Terry said although he didn't witness a fight, he said it was clear from his injuries something had happened to him.
He then walked over to stop the argument and offered Gazza £10 for a taxi home, which he said the two people with him tried to take.
Terry then brought Gazza back into the hotel to sober him up, sat with him for 10 minutes and left him with hotel staff.
Terry, a newspaper proprietor, from Clerkenwell, London, said: "I went downstairs for a fag during the football and immediately recognised who he was.
"He is a hero of mine, when I saw him I was heartbroken to be honest.
"Men of a certain age, we all know who he is, we have grown up with him."
Terry was staying in the Travelodge Bournemouth Seafront hotel while he was watching Arsenal vs West Ham on December 28.
At half-time, he popped out for a cigarette where he spotted football legend Gazza surrounded by two people.
Terry added: "The two people around him were trying to take money off him.
"I didn't have any money on me but I went back upstairs to get him some money to get a taxi home.
"When I went to hand him the money, the man and woman tried to take it and I told them to do one and told Gazza to get inside."
Terry sat with Gazza for around 10 minutes and said he was "physically battered".
"He couldn't string a sentence together he was physically and mentally battered," Terry said.
"I made sure the two people didn't take anything off him and went back upstairs to watch the football.
"When I went up to watch the football I wasn't interested, I kept thinking of Gazza.
"I am old school, if you see someone in trouble I would make sure they got home alright.
"It just so happened to be Paul Gascoigne."
Terry believes that Gazza then spent the night in the hotel and was still in the hotel reception when he came down for a morning smoke.
He said: "I said good morning to him and asked him how he was feeling.
"He could still barely string a sentence together.
"As someone who has grown up with him, I was heartbroken to see him this way."
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