“I went on £10k solo backpacking trip after losing husband and mum”
Meet the widow who embarked on a £10k solo backpacking trip after losing her husband and mum in three months.
Judy Condie, 63, lost her husband, Richard, of 44 years after an eight-year battle with cancer after losing her mum, Mary, just months earlier – leaving her feeling “empty”.
Her eight-year-old dog Jet died too and faced with her first harsh English winter alone she used her savings and booked a five-month trip to Australia and New Zealand in a bid to cope with her grief.
Judy made the plan to go abroad when she found out Richard’s cancer was terminal and says she “couldn’t just wait for him to pass away and wonder what to do after”.
Armed with just a 6lb backpack, Judy retired from her job and flew to Australia in August 2023 to visit her daughter – who lives out there – and embark on her solo backpacking journey.
She toured the west coast of Australia and New Zealand for six months, meeting people and sharing her story – which she says was “honouring Richard’s life”.
Judy explored places beaches on Rottnest Island as well as Adelaide, Melbourne and Surfers Paradise, soaked up the raucous atmosphere of Byron Bay and checked out art museums in Tasmania.
While on her travels, Judy documented her grief process in a journal and has now published a book about her experience.
Judy, a retired welfare manager of a nursing home, from Surrey, said: “The plan, it was a very rough idea, but I couldn’t just wait for him to pass away and wonder what to do with myself – I had to do something to get away and grieve.
“You have to acknowledge the grief and I’ve come back a better person.
“You can’t dwell on these things, otherwise it destroys you.
“It was a very vague plan and I booked things very last minute
“It was very hard at the start because I’d emptied out my life.
“It was weird and frightening in that I had this space in front of me to fill.
“It was really nice to talk to people though, I was on my own and people talk to you. I got such lovely feedback but circumstances grew and my confidence grew.
“You see these beautiful places and you want to share it.
“I was fascinated by how interested people were when I spoke to them and that gave me the confidence to keep going.
“Although it was sad, it was an adventure and a tremendous experience – there were never days when I didn’t want to be there or come home.”
Judy worked with Richard at the same nursing home and knew she wouldn’t be able to face going back to the same workplace after his death.
But she was dealt two other significant blows in the months before Richard’s passing.
She said: “He worked full-time until three weeks before he died.
“It was impossible in my mind to go to work because we both worked together and everyone there was also dealing with the loss – it made sense for me to retire.
“Six months before he died I lost my dog and then my mum at Christmas.
“The dog was a surprise as his cancer came out of nowhere.
“The idea of me going off with my dog was all I needed and wanted so losing him was sad but in a funny way if I hadn’t lost him I probably wouldn’t have gone to Australia as wouldn’t have wanted to leave him for a long period of time.
“Mum was getting closer and I knew they were going to pass at a similar time and that just emptied me.
“Because we have a daughter who lives in Australia it made sense for me to be there.
“I went to Australia and I decided I wanted to go off on my own to find peace and solitude.
“You don’t get over grief but I knew I had to reach those depths to come back stronger and with new purpose.”
Judy says Tasmania was one of her favourite places but the general “heat and light” helped her to heal.
She said: “I was in the most beautiful places – if the heat and light and space of the places doesn’t begin to heal you then nothing will.
“That first English winter would have been ever so hard to get through at that time so I was so glad I went away for it
“It kickstarted my new life.
“It ended up being a fantastic thing.
“I’ve always loved writing and had a dream to write a book – so I wrote it all down for my own benefit.
“Tasmania was beautiful.
“A lot of the places that became favourites were when I had an emotional shift.
“I’d always had this plan in my head of being alone on a beach with no around for miles and I achieved that in Tasmania and it was such a lovely feeling so it’s become a definite memory.
“Byron Bay – I loved being there as an older person and watching life go by
“New Zealand was very different to Australia – green lush hills and it’s beautiful, absolutely fantastic.
“Every stage brought something else and that was really nice.”
On the way home, Judy stopped off to see the sights of Mauritius and South Africa.
Once Judy got back she began writing her book exploring her “brutally honest and light-hearted” take on grief and plans to visit Australia once a year.
You can buy Judy’s book here with a portion of the sales going to cancer charities that Richard supported: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Caught-RIPtide-Judy-Condie/dp/1399993305
Groom in tears as grandparents walk down the aisle instead of flower girls
A groom was left in tears as his grandparents walked down the aisle instead of flower girls.
Faye Peirce and her husband George, both 27, married at Middle Stanley farm near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire on 20 July 2024, with George’s grandparents taking centre stage as “flower grandparents”.
Heart-warming video shows Jenny Bayliss, 80, and her husband Brian, 82, walking down the aisle scattering petals while holding hands.
George has always been close to his grandparents and the couple did not have children at their wedding so decided to give them a starring role.
Faye, a singer and sales professional from Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, said : “George’s granddad even set aside his walking stick for the big moment.
“They were so proud and excited to be part of it.
“Involving them in this way felt so meaningful and it’s something we’ll treasure forever.”
Despite being usually composed, George was overcome with emotion when his grandparents began their walk.
Faye said: “I’ve never seen him cry in the eight years we’ve been together.
“But when he saw them walking down the aisle, he couldn’t hold it together.
“He was a blubbering mess for the entire day.”
Faye and George met when they were students at the University of Surrey in 2017 and have been inseparable ever since.
Faye said: “We’ve done so much together over the years but this day felt like the culmination of it all.”
The day held even more surprises for the grandparents as the couple gave them a special moment on the dance floor.
Faye said: “We invited all married couples to dance floor, where they gradually exited by length of marriage.
“Since George’s grandparents were the oldest couple at the ceremony by the end it was just them dancing alone.
“It was like revisiting their “first dance” together.
“They’re the heart of the family and having them be part of our day in such a meaningful way meant the world to us.
” It was such a special way to honour their love and legacy.”
The video was filmed by @jamestaylorfilms and photographs were taken by @emilyjayneweddings
You can follow Faye for more updates @fayeplunkett
Care home residents ‘overjoyed’ after an unusual visit from alpacas
Care home residents have been left ‘overjoyed’ after receiving an unusual visit – from alpacas.
The two alpacas, Len Black and Anton Brown, took a trip to Wingfield care home in Trowbridge, Wilts, as part of pet therapy.
The care home team said the alpacas, who live at Alpaca Adventure company in Shaftsbury, ‘definitely sparked positive memories’ as well as a sense of comfort.
Anna Przybylska, one of the managers for Wingfield care home, said: “We know how impactful pet therapy on elderly, especially those living with dementia, can be and so our activities team quite often organise visits from various pets.
“Usually it’s dogs but on this occasion we wanted something extra!
“That visit brought so much joy and comfort and emotional stimulation, especially for our residents with dementia.
“It was particularly special because we were able to take alpacas to individual bedrooms, to residents who are bed-bound and not able to join regularly in day-to-day activities.”
One resident, who was thrilled by the visit, said: “As a child I used to love all the animals on the nearby farm.
“Today was very enjoyable and it was wonderful that the animals were free to roam amongst us.”
Anna added that such an example of pet therapy helps to invoke a sense of calm admist the elderly, as she explained: “several of our residents could not believe how gentle, calm and how soft the alpacas were.
“Physical touch with the animals can evoke feelings of peace, prompting relaxation and well-being and we were so happy to see several of our more anxious residents to relax and just enjoy the moment.”
“IVF has robbed us of enjoying our 20s – it’s taken over our life”
A couple who have spent years trying to conceive say IVF has “robbed” them of enjoying their 20s.
Megan and Ryan Lamour, 27 and 28, started dating at the age of 16, after meeting through friends two years prior.
They knew they were each other’s “one,” and Megan stopped taking her birth control pill in October 2020, after they moved in together.
But by March 2022, they hadn’t been able to conceive – and it was revealed by a GP that Ryan has a low sperm count, and they have a 0.5% chance of conceiving naturally.
Two subsequent rounds of IVF have failed, and despite being on the waiting list for a third, Megan and Ryan wish to go private so they can look into other options if it doesn’t work.
They say becoming parents would mean “the world” to them – and they want to be able to give their parents a grandchild.
Megan, a postal worker from Newtonabbey, Northern Ireland, said: “Our IVF journey has robbed us of enjoying the last few years of our 20’s as it’s all we can think about and stopped us from being able to go abroad on multiple holidays and even our honeymoon as we can’t leave the country and need to save our money for treatment.
“It’s taken all the excitement, fun and privacy of trying for a baby.
“It’s taken over our life, it’s stopped us planning anything and living our life, it’s given us darkness, it’s going to take all our savings amd it’s been all we’ve concentrated on.
“A baby would be everything – it’s all we’ve talked about for nearly five years.
“I’ve been seeing people I used to go to school with having kids, and it’s hard not to compare myself.
“We want to give our parents their first grandchild.”
The couple had already been together seven years, when they decided to start trying for a baby in late 2020.
Megan says they were “love’s young dream” – despite a few hiccups, and knew they would always be there for each other.
But after over a year of trying, nothing happened – apart from a chemical pregnancy Megan experienced in March 2022.
“Sometime in March 2022, I took a test, and it was positive,” she said.
“I was three-or-four days late – but a couple of days later, I started bleeding, and another test said negative.
“There wasn’t time to let myself get excited – it was gone, as quickly as it came about.”
Feeling like “enough was enough,” Ryan ordered an at-home test to measure his sperm count.
He says it worked similarly to a pregnancy test – in that a line would show up if he had enough sperm to conceive.
When the line didn’t appear, they booked in to see a GP – who confirmed in June 2022 that his count was low.
Ryan, a postal worker, said: “That was tough.
“I feel more guilt than anything else, because the issue’s on my side.
“You do feel guilty, because all I want is to be able to give Megan the gift of being a mother – and I can’t do it as easily as other people can.
“It’s taken a while to come to terms with that.”
In September 2022, the couple were added to the NHS waiting list for IVF – and were told it could take three-to-four months to receive an appointment.
Megan and Ryan got married in November 2023 – and in the same month, were called in for their first consultation.
“Here in Northern Ireland, we’re only entitled to one free cycle,” Megan said.
“But if you have frozen embryos, you can continue the round until you’ve run out.”
The consultant prescribed Megan with norethisterone, to take once a day for five days, in order to control her menstrual cycle.
For the following 10 to 15 days, she took one-to-two injections a day, to prepare her eggs for retrieval.
On March 7, 2024, Megan had the egg retrieval procedure – which was initially successful.
“We were able to get 10 [eggs] collected and six were fertilised,” Megan added.
“Five days after the procedure, one of the fertilised eggs was able to be transferred into my uterus, and two were frozen.
“But two weeks later, I got the call – the transfer wasn’t successful.”
On November 26, 2024, Megan and Ryan’s first wedding anniversary, they were told the second embryo transfer hadn’t been successful, either.
With one frozen embryo left, and an estimated wait-time of nine months, the couple have decided they want to continue IVF privately.
They’ve put the money they were going to spend on a honeymoon into a savings pot – and have started a GoFundMe in the hopes of reaching their goal.
Megan said: “There’s one private clinic we think we’re going to go for.
“It’s a bit dear but you get two unlimited tries – and a partial refund if you don’t have a live birth at the end of it.
“As far as further plans go, we’ll see how this journey goes for another two years.
“If we can’t do anymore, we’ll maybe look into adoption.”
Ryan added: “All I can do is hold Megan’s hand through this; it’s been horrible to watch.
“There’s still hope – with our NHS chances running out, it’s crazy money.
“But I can’t put into words how much it would mean to have this baby – I’d give anything to be a dad.”
Megan and Ryan’s GoFundMe can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/journey-to-baby-larmour
Dad’s hilariously bad paintings go viral – now he’s flooded with portrait requests
A dad’s hilariously bad portraits have gone viral and now he’s flooded with paid art commissions worldwide.
Jamie Matthias’s wacky side-hustle started by accident after he painted a “terrible” portrait of his wife Kate as a wedding gift.
Kate thought the artwork was so funny she posted a picture of it on social media and within days it racked up thousands of views and comments.
Jamie, 41, has since been inundated with requests from people desperate for him to create funny versions of their own photographs.
The dad-of-three, from Alsager, Staffs., now juggles his art business which his full-time accounting job.
He said: “I actually don’t mean to paint badly and I’m doing my best to recreate the photos I get sent but it’s just the way they turn out.
“I try and create an alternate universe where proportions have no meaning. I’ve painted for years but I had no idea they were so bad until people started telling me.
“We’ve always painted, it’s like a family activity.
“At half-term we’d get the mats and canvasses out and paint something with the kids.
“Kate was making a comment about how bad mine were and I said I would paint one for our wedding day, as a joke.
“It was brought out by the kids during my wedding speech and everyone loved it, it was hysterical.
“I find painting really relaxing so I did some for the friends and family over Christmas.
“The reactions were priceless. I thought I’d stick one out there and see if anyone wanted one.
“I made a joke, because of the poor quality of my art, that I might start trying to sell it to make money.”
Jamie said he was stunned by the reaction online to his artwork.
He added: “As a bit of a joke set up a Facebook and Instagram account called Terrible Art by Jamie Lee, we
sent out the picture, the reaction and a bit of a blurb and it just kind of blew up.
“We’ve got orders all over England, Scotland, Wales and even Northern Ireland, people all over the country
seem to be really enjoying it.
“We’re at 71 orders now, and we put it up on January 2.
“We joke Kate is head of financial distribution and her bridesmaid Kate is head of marketing.
“It seems to be getting a lot of noise on social media, we’ve got just over of 1,800 followers.
“Some of the pictures they ask me to paint are amazing, they clearly get the humour.
“It’s acrylic on canvas and it’s priced from £25 plus postage, it’s very cheap.”
Jamie spends around two hours every evening painting his commissioned work on 10 x 12 inch canvases.
He said: “I do it at the dining room table, I haven’t got a space, I don’t have a studio.
“For me it’s just about the reactions and people have been loving it.
“We’ve said to people there’s a three to five week waiting list but they all understand.
“I’ll keep forgetting to paint someone’s nose and have to keep mixing paint and add it later. It adds to the comedy value.
“I’ve been drawing this way since I was a child, if anything some of the paintings have got a lot worse.
“This is my standard, there’s no risk of it getting better. I am absolutely not an art teacher.
“We just do it as a family, I actually didn’t like art at school.
“I think everyone has seemed to appreciate them in some way. They are terrible but Kate just said it’s so much fun, she appreciates it.”
His wife Kate, 40, added: “It’s just the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever seen. We’ve had so much fun laughing at his inability to paint.”
Amateur baker finds fame online – making hilarious celeb caricature cakes
An amateur baker has found fame online by making hilarious caricature cakes of famous faces including Ant and Dec, the royals – and Claudia Winkleman.
But Keith Scovell, 55, admits he had no idea his creations had made him a viral sensation – until it was pointed out to him.
He first began baking his Spitting Image-esque cakes after his sister Helen requested a crocodile cake for her birthday around seven years ago.
The resulting “horrendous” creation drew a crowd of onlookers who found the cake hilarious and encouraged him to explore his talents further.
Mr Scovell, of Kentish Town in north London, later went on to attempt a cake creation of Taylor Swift for his niece’s 18th birthday which racked up thousands of views on his social media pages.
However, the HR consultant says that, not being social media-savvy, he had no idea how big a response the cake had received until people pointed it out to him.
Mr Scovell has gone on to recreate the faces of Ant and Dec, King Charles and Queen Camilla, Liam and Noel Gallagher and Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in his cakes.
Some of his creations – including his latest of Traitors host Claudia Winkleman – have been featured on national television and brought him adulation from across the globe.
“They showed Ant & Dec their cakes on This Morning,” Mr Scovell said. “I just do them for family and friends. I don’t sell them, I just give them away to whoever wants to eat them.
“The very first one was the crocodile cake. My sister Helen wanted a cake but she didn’t want a Colin the Caterpillar one.
“I did a crocodile and it was horrendous… But it was funny and that’s where it all stemmed from. Other people in the park came over to look at it.”
Mr Scovell explained that given this positive reaction to his initial attempt, he began crafting similar cakes for family occasions.
He said: “For my niece’s birthday we were going to see Mary Poppins, so I made a cake – but it turned into Scary Poppins because of the teeth.
“I got engaged last year and did an engagement cake as two Victoria sponge hands with sponge fingers and almonds for nails.
“They were pretty awful – but they were pretty funny. The one that went crazy was for my great-niece’s 18th birthday.
“I gave her a Taylor Swift cake. That was the first one that went viral. Obviously, it looked nothing like her but it was funny.”
Mr Scovell revealed that he tries to toe the line between being funny and offensive with his cakes and never intends to upset the subjects of any of his cakes.
“I don’t want to be disrespectful,” he continued. “But something has happened in the past few months where the cakes are beginning to look like the people.
“With the Claudia Winkleman one, I was watching her on TV and sculpting the cake. I looked down and thought, ‘This could actually look like her’.
“They’re kind of like [the puppets from] Spitting Image. People say I’ve captured her essence.
“I just use what I see in them and bring that to life in cake. If someone doesn’t like it, the cake takes the hit, not me.”
However, the now-famous baker admits that he had no idea he was gaining such an online following until friends began pointing it out to him.
Mr Scovell’s creations, which take him around three hours to complete, have now grown so popular that people from all over the world message him to ask if he can send them one of his cakes.
“I had no idea people were viewing them,” he said. “Someone said, ‘Do you know your cake has 60,000 likes?’.
“I was learning the social game and that’s not my world. It was all about the cakes. But I’ve had some really great comments, like somebody saying, ‘How dare you’, and I thought, ‘Oh God…’.
“[They said:] ‘How dare you put a picture of Claudia Winkleman on here and pretend it’s a cake’. People call my cakes artworks. I didn’t think they were, but I guess they are.”
But despite his plaudits, Mr Scovell admits his cakes are artworks first and food second – meaning that though they’re edible, he’s in no rush to sign up for the Great British Bake Off.
“It’s all about the icing,” he said. “It’s edible, but it’s basic cake. I’m never going to go on Bake Off or anything.
“After some of my latest ones, people were messaging saying, ‘Where can I get one?
“People were asking me to ship them across to America, but I don’t think I could ship one across London. It’s just purely for fun.”
However, due to his rise in popularity, Mr Scovell says he may need to think about selling his cakes or offering a cake-making kit in the future.
“Maybe it’s something I’ve got to start thinking about,” he said. “I just didn’t think people would be that interested in it, but maybe there’s a gap in the market.”
On his upcoming creations, Mr Scovell says he’d like to bake alongside anniversaries and events occurring over the next year – including the 40th anniversary of Eastenders next month.
Cancer survivor pays tribute to friend Linda Nolan who “saved her life”
A cancer survivor who “owes her life” to friend Linda Nolan said star was beautiful “inside and out” and “taught her to make the most of life” despite having cancer herself.
Gail Jones, 59, grew up obsessing over the Nolan Sisters, going to every concert, every meet-and-greet, and buying every album.
Gail ended up being diagnosed with breast cancer herself in 2020, ten years after the late Bernie Nolan had encouraged her to check her breasts, as a result of the singer’s life-saving advice.
Gail ended up developing a close friendship with Linda, who also had cancer, and Linda supported Gail through her treatment until she was given the all-clear in November 2021.
They last had a call two weeks ago where she said “I’m still here and I’m still going, so I’m going to live every day”.
The mum-of-four, from West Bromwich, West Midlands, credits both Linda and sister Bernie for saving her life – and said the news of Linda’s death is “absolutely devastating”.
Gail last spoke to Linda on the phone two weeks ago, and knew her health was deteriorating – but it didn’t make the news of her death any less of a blow.
She said: “I’m heartbroken. Linda got me through some very dark times in my life and my cancer treatment.
“When I was diagnosed, I was so scared but Linda was so strong and positive, and she taught me to make the most of life.
“She and Bernie literally saved my life. I didn’t want to be here at times, but Linda kept me going and reminded me what I have to live for.
“She was funny, she was strong and inspirational. She was beautiful inside and out.”
Gail found a lump in her breast in July 2020, a decade after the late Bernie had reminded her never to forget the checks.
She was diagnosed with a grade-three tumour as a result and reached out to Linda, who supported Gail through her journey while also living with incurable cancer herself.
Gail, who lives with wife Susan Jones, 60, maintained a friendship with Linda even after going into remission a year later.
They would meet up and keep in contact on the phone, and last spoke two weeks before Linda’s death, which was announced today (15).
Gail said: “Linda hated the word ‘brave’ – she would tell me ‘it’s not about being brave, I don’t have a choice!’
“But I still think she was so brave.
“My God, she was inspirational too. And such a beautiful soul, inside and out.
“She always had time for you.
“The last few weeks, she hadn’t been well at all, but she’d say ‘I’m still here and I’m still going, so I’m going to live every day’.
“I’m heartbroken because I knew how much she wanted to live.”
Gail said she could tell Linda was deteriorating when they last spoke by phone two weeks ago.
She said: “She told me she wanted to live longer, but that she wasn’t frightened to die.”
Gail said Linda had helped her to see the light when she was going through her own mental battles as a result of cancer.
She said: “Linda made me feel like I wanted to enjoy every single day and be happy to be here.
“I like to think I can be as tough as she was, if anything happened to me.
“I hope the crowds line the streets in Blackpool like they did for Bernie.
“I hope the people of Blackpool give her a good send off. She definitely deserves one.”
“I was raised Amish – I didn’t wear jeans or get my hair cut for 26 years”
A young woman has told how she has fled the Amish community and had her haircut and wore a pair of jeans for the first time.
Alisha Green, 26, was a generational member of the Amish and Mennonite community after her parents and grandparents were born into it.
She claims that the community was restrictive as it was recommended that you didn’t have contact with anyone outside of the group.
Alisha claimed that being raised within the Amish community meant she was expected to get married and raise a family instead of going out to work.
She claims that people are kept in the community by fear after being told that bad things will happen to them if they leave.
After going for her driving test when she was 18, Alisha realised that life outside of the community wasn’t what she was told and in May 2024, Alisha packed up and has not had contact with her family since.
Since leaving last March, Alisha has had her hair cut and put on a pair of denim jeans for the first time.
Alisha, a delivery driver, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, said: “It got to the point where I was either going to leave or stay for the rest of my life.
“I was 26 years old, I was tired of the expectations put on me.
“I was expected to get married and have a child, that is what my parents wanted.
“I didn’t feel like I had the freedom to have a career or live life how I would have wanted.”
Alisha was born in the Amish and Mennonite community, she was homeschooled as a child.
She claims there were a lot of “faith restrictions” and she was warned to stay away from people outside of the Amish community as they didn’t follow god.
Alisha said: “I didn’t even realise how restricted it was until I left, I was able to get my hair cut for the first time and I was able to wear jeans.
“There was an understanding that if you had friends you couldn’t be close with them if they were outside of the community.
“It was encouraged not to have friends outside of the community.”
Alisha claims that religion was law and if you wanted to do anything within the community you would need to get your parent’s permission first.
She said that the teachings of god were misleading.
Alisha said: “For me, it meant that I had to report back to my parents for a lot of my decisions, they were seen as the authority and I had to follow what they said.
“It is the whole community idea that you follow rules and you get your parent’s blessing.
“The main reason I left is because of the faith restrictions.
“I was tired of the expectations as well as I knew that my relationship with god was not supposed to be a legalistic one.”
Alisha said the first time she realised that life outside the community was different to what she had been told was when she went for her driving test.
She said: “Taking the driving test was really eye-opening for me.
“There is a lot of fear within the Amish community that if you leave, bad things are going to happen to you and that is what I feared.
“Seeing other people who weren’t part of Amish culture doing good things was a shock for me.
“In a lot of ways, it made me feel like I was living in a bubble.
“It helped me to see that things weren’t normal in my community.”
In May 2024, Alisha was home alone for a week while her family were away.
It was then she decided to pack up and leave with the help of some close friends.
She said: “That time I had alone was really good for me.
“That is when I packed up, I mentioned to my family that I was going to stay somewhere else and I just never went back.”
Alisha said she has not had any contact with her family since and they believe she has been influenced by the devil.
She said: “They think it is a false teaching and think the devil has got hold of me.
“It is sad and I wish they knew that was not the case.
“They are well known within the community and people have been telling them where I have been staying so I have had to keep moving.”
Alisha said that she doesn’t regret leaving and is looking forward to her future.
She said: “Life has been really interesting, there are so many sweet people that I was not expecting to meet.
“In general, I am so glad that I am not in the Amish community anymore.
“I would say life outside of the community is scary, when you have a lot of rules you know what to expect.
“Outside you don’t have any rules so it can be scary and uncomfortable.
“Overall, it has been refreshing that there are people outside who care for me and it is not what was portrayed to me.”
Shocked family find their car windscreen smashed – by a meteorite
A shocked family found their car windscreen had been smashed – by a METEORITE.
Paul Butler, 55, and his family were watching TV at home when they heard a loud bang outside.
They dismissed the noise as fireworks being set off on Boxing Day night and went to bed.
The next morning, Paul went outside his home in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks., and noticed his parents’ car windscreen was shattered.
His son Nathan, 12, discovered a small black shiny rock measuring around 2cm in length near the car which didn’t match with any other stones.
The eagle-eyed schoolboy put a magnet next to the rock which revealed it was magnetised which is a tell-tale sign the stone came from outer space.
Online research revealed it was most likely to be a piece of meteorite which plummeted to earth.
Nathan said: “I was looking around on the ground near the car and right by the front wheel was a black rock that stood out from all the others.
“I wondered if it could possibly be a meteorite but wasn’t sure until we used a magnet and researched it online.”
Paul, who runs a firm providing forensic science equipment, added: “We all heard a loud bang in the night but didn’t think anything of it.
“We assumed it was probably someone letting off a firework.
“It was only when we came down for breakfast the next morning that I saw my parents’ car windscreen was smashed.
“I went outside with Nathan and he was looking around and found this strange black rock.
“It had a strange shape and looked like it had been burned.
“After Nathan tested it with a magnet we looked online and it looks like it was meteorite.
“It is the only logical explanation for what caused the damage because it wasn’t there when my dad drove into the driveway.
“It must have happened on the driveway. The glass was inside the car and was covering the dashboard and driver’s seat.
“The impact looks like it splintered the glass and made a fair bit of damage but it’s very lucky no one was inside at the time.”
Paul’s parents Graham and June were forced to drive their Toyota to a nearby garage where they had to explain the billion-to-one cause of the damage.
Paul added: “We found out it was about a billion-to-one chance of a meteorite hitting the car in our driveway so we’ve started buying lottery tickets.”
Nathan plans to take the space rock into Myton School in Warwick where he attends, to show off to his classmates.
Woman unable to walk in straight line because of brain condition is running ultramarathon
A woman who was left unable to walk in a straight line because of a rare brain condition is now running an ultramarathon.
Mel Sykes, 42, was diagnosed with a Chiari malformation – where the lower part of the brain pushes down into the spinal canal – after losing her balance and slurring her speech.
Mel, who has previously took part in 100 mile races, had surgery to reduce the pressure on her brain but was told there was a chance that she could never run again.
However, she’s now taking part in the Spine Race – where participants have seven days to run 268 miles from Edale, Derbys., to Kirk Yetholm, Scotland.
Mel said: “I was able to stop wearing my glasses about three months ago as my vision is back to normal.
“Sometimes I’m a bit wobbly on my feet still but I’m doing great.
“I never thought I’d be up and about again – let alone doing crazy things like this.”
Mel first started suffering with double vision in 2023, but went to the opticians and the GP who both “didn’t seem too concerned” about it and prescribed her some glasses.
She then struggled to drive because of her double vision and then started suffering from having pins and needles in the left side of her face, arm and hand.
Mel was then unable to walk in a straight line because she was losing her balance and then she started to slur her speech.
She said: “I began with double vision in the summer which my optician and GP didn’t seem too concerned about at the time.
“I was prescribed some glasses, but these didn’t really help and I was starting to struggle with my work as a specialist podiatrist.
“Everyone kept asking me if I felt tired.
“At this point I had a full-time job and was running 100-mile races – I didn’t know what was normal tired or poorly tired.
“My colleagues were so supportive throughout all of the investigations but it became too difficult to manage my work with the double vision.
“I had to stop driving, so then I had to go off work.
“As soon as I did, all of the other symptoms came on pretty quickly.
“I was losing my balance, my left hand, arm and the left side of my face had pins and needles constantly, and I had a strange tremor in my head.
“In just a week, I couldn’t even walk in a straight line and was starting to slur my speech.”
Mel, of Holmfirth, West Yorks., was initially treated at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust but was then referred to the specialist neurosurgery team at Leeds General Infirmary.
But after having surgery, she asked doctors Ian Anderson and Emeka Okorie if she could ever do an ultramarathon again – but they said she might not even be able to run now.
Mel, a specialist podiatrist, said: “I asked them if I’d ever be able to run an ultramarathon again.
“They told me that they couldn’t guarantee I’d be able to run at all, let alone to the extremes I’d been doing.
“I had to accept it and concentrate on my recovery.”
After Mel’s surgery, she started walking small distances with a friend but just four months after the operation, she took part in an 18 mile race.
She said: “I was up on my feet quite quickly but walking small distances at first, to the end of the street and back was all I could manage as long as a friend was with me.
“By the end of December I was able to start some slow running again.
“Then in February, I ran an 18-mile race – just four months after brain surgery.”
Mr Anderson said: “Melanie is an inspirational patient.
“We see patients with Chiari malformation not infrequently but hers was one of the most substantial that I have come across and her symptoms were so severe that I knew that she needed her surgery urgently.
“It’s humbling to see how courageous and determined our patients can be.
“I feel sure that her fantastic recovery is due, in no small amount, to her positive attitude.”
The Spine Race left Edale yesterday (Sunday) and competitors have a week to reach the finish line in Scotland.
