Combination of inadequate support and lack of awareness from communities is damaging life chances of UK’s carers The life chances of many of the 6.5 million people in the UK who care, unpaid, for a disabled, older or ill family member or friend, are being damaged by inadequate support from local services, according to new research launched today for Carers Week 2016. CW research report 2016What’s more, when carers face a lack of understanding about their caring role from the...Read more

Ingredients Serves 6 3 red, yellow, or orange bell peppers (or a mix) – quarters 400g (14oz) Cranks Whole Lotta Loaf - cubed 340g (12oz) feta cheese - coarsely crumbled 2 cups cherry tomatoes - halved 1 small red onion - diced ¼ cup chopped fresh basil ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil - brushing 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice 1 medium clove garlic, crushed Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper What you'll need Food processor Pastry tin 5How to...Read more

Papercutting The best in papercutting. Have you seen an advert for a new car company called CarWow, it looks like a great idea for buying a car but what struck us was their fabulous ad. The advert features a spinning wheel which revolves to take you through the most stunning papercutting art to explain how the company works: carwow.co.uk ‘Wheel-o-trope’Director: Richard Chaney Papercutting has evolved at an incredible rate over the last few years with arts ts now producing the...Read more

We can thank legendary French crooner Sacha Distel for the schoolyard favourite of the 1950s ‘Scoubidou’, the art of knotting plastic strips together to form colourful bracelets. Distel's hit song Scoubidou coined the name originally adapted from the US song  ‘Apples, Peaches and Cherries’. Scoubidou also know by other names including boondoggle ,gimp, lanyard, scoubi, scoobie, and rex-lace originated in France in the 1950s and became quite the fad in 60s Britain. The art is enjoying a renaissance however many of...Read more

Bingo boosting brain capacity for over 50s In light of Mental Health Awareness Week, did you know that bingo can actually help to boost your brain capacity? Research from the University of Southampton conducted in 2001 found that bingo is an effective way to slow and counter age-related decline in our thinking capacity. Experts believe the game has a positive impact on mental speed, the ability to scan information and memory. As well as being an awful lot of fun,...Read more

Don’t believe all the menopause myths Does smoking trigger an early menopause? Will HRT make you gain weight? Will you have a difficult menopause just like your mum did? And, most importantly, which menopause myths are true and which aren’t? In the Spring 2016 issue of The Menopause Exchange newsletter, advanced nurse practitioner Jan Brockie takes a look at some common menopause myths, including whether the menopause is linked to depression, whether or not HRT is natural and how long...Read more

Impartial opinion on the question ‘How old do I look’? Not wanting to become too age obsessed in our advancing years, but with an irreverent approach to that old question ‘How old do I look’? - our intrepid research team (Jemma & Charlie) decided to seek out websites of interest in this field. How Old .net Website: www.how-old.net Here those geniuses over at Microsoft have invented some gizmo which utilises facial recognition technology, some impressive software (most probably used by...Read more

Over 50s colouring books-don’t go over the lines! Do you recall colouring-in during your childhood? , what resonates is if I was ever colouring-in within a team there be a constant reminder ‘Don’t go over the lines’ more testament to accuracy than discipline perhaps? Adult colouring books are all the rage, perhaps the resurgence is partly due to Black Sabbaths Ozzie Osborne-a keen colouring fan. I recall several years ago inadvertently watched a reality show about the Osborne’s and found...Read more

Switch Diets In Middle-Age To Live Longer If you know your diet could be better, here’s an incentive to help you focus on improvements. Research from King’s College, London, shows that switching to a healthier diet can reduce your risk of a heart attack or a stroke by almost a third – even when changes are made after middle-age. The randomised controlled trial involved 165 healthy, non-smokers aged 40 plus. Half were assigned to an ideal diet that met all...Read more

The number of people living with diabetes has almost quadrupled since 1980 to 422 million adults, with most living in developing countries. Factors driving this dramatic rise include overweight and obesity, WHO announced ahead of World Health Day. WHO is marking its annual World Health Day (7 April), which celebrates the Organization’s founding in 1948, by issuing a call for action on diabetes. In its first “Global report on diabetes”, WHO highlights the need to step up prevention and treatment...Read more