Shared by Christine Beetlestone

Easy plain cooking after Christmas and it will serve 4 generously.

• 1lb minced beef
• 1 onion (6oz) chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or mashed
• 1-3 green chillies* seeded and chopped finely
• Smoked Paprika*
• 8oz mushrooms sliced
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes Optional: 1 tin of red kidney beans, rinsed.
• 1 tbs tomato puree
• 3 Oxo cubes added to
• 11/2 pts boiling water (this is the right amount!)
• 8 oz macaroni
• 1/2 teasp salt and ground black pepper
• Just a dash of Worcester sauce
• 2 litre oven proof casserole dish or saucepan

Why I Started Save5 by T Sandeman-Charles

Having been ill for many months, in October 2009 I had a lung biopsy to determine what I was suffering from. At the same time my sister – Sue – donated a kidney to a very good friend of hers and whilst she and I were recuperating we would phone each other regularly. I was truly inspired by Sue – she had literally saved and transformed her friend’s life. I started to think “what can I do, that will make a difference?”

In January 2010 I got the diagnosis I was dreading - two serious lung diseases. Organising fibrosing pneumonia and idiopathic pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis. The long and short of this is that my lungs are fibrosing which means breathing is going to become more and more difficult and a lung transplant will be not only necessary – it will be my only option.

On Wednesday 12th October 2011 Maggie Titmuss and her family attended Buckingham Palace for Maggie’s investiture as MBE.

The day was very structured as you can imagine. We arrived at the Palace at 10:00 and were allowed to park in the grounds. There were lots of tourists outside the gates taking pictures of everyone going through! We were told there that it would be Her Majesty the Queen presiding over the ceremony which took the whole thing up a notch.

The Palace is spectacular with marvellous paintings along the corridors and in the galleries. Graham and the girls were briefed in the ballroom while I joined the other recipients for our briefing which was conducted by the Lord Chamberlain. I met lots of very interesting people there including the Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson. Everyone was overwhelmed by the sense of occasion but only got really nervous when it was time to go through to the ceremony at 11:00.

Tony Mayes - Harlow Baptist Church

This is my first Christmas in Harlow and I am looking forward to it as always. One of the things that Is important to me about Christmas is that amidst all of the busy buying, frantic preparation and over burdening of expectations for that one day … there is a beautiful sense of peace as I focus on what it is all about.

God intervened for humanity in such an incredible way that over 2000 years later we still want to sing the carols and feel the wonder as Christmas day approaches. I love the carols and the candles that evoke such a feeling of joy and wonder in me and others as they remind us how much God loves us and why Jesus came, to be our light and our saviour.