Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2025 i Chat Specials

Welcome to the June issue of Chat Monthly! Whether you’re reading this on a plane to a week in the sun or just on your coffee break in the work canteen, we’ve got you covered. Looking for fun puzzles? Check. Bargain fashion and home buys? Sorted. Tasty recipes to wow at your next BBQ? Oh yes. And, of course, pages and pages of real-life reads. Like Izzy, who was in for a shock when she ended up giving birth on a motorway at rush hour (p12). There’s Heather, who found her secret family, 4,000 miles away (p52). And Verity, who woke up with a Geordie accent – but she’s never been to Newcastle (p62). Plus gripping true-crime reads and more. Have a great month. FEATURES, SHUTTERSTOCK…

Sue Thompson, 52, Chester-le-Street, County Durham Reading the letter in my daughter’s school bag, I sighed. Not again, I thought. It was Easter 2009, and along with all the other parents, I’d been invited to watch her class assembly. She and her friends would be singing and dancing. I should have been looking forward to it. Instead, it just filled me with dread. ‘I’ve got a late shift at the hospital that day,’ I told Jess, then 12. ‘OK Mum,’ she smiled. I felt a terrible pang of guilt. Because I didn’t have a late shift at my nursing job at all. The real reason I didn’t want to go was because I was so big. My weight had always held me back from doing things. Growing up, my dad…

Is it time to go? Q I’m three years in with the boyfriend, but lately it’s been a right mess. We’re bickering, splitting up, then patching things up again, but it never actually gets better. I’m crying myself to sleep most nights. We can’t decide whether to split for good or stick it out and hope for a miracle. The back and forth is wearing me down. What should I do? Angus, 33 A Relationships are a rollercoaster, my love. No one is head over heels with their partner every day. But crying yourself to sleep is not normal. Why are you sticking it out? Is it habit? Is he comfortable? You need a love that brings you joy, not tears. Time to move on, I say. It will be…

Liberty Mills, 50, Holmfirth, West Yorkshire Studying my face in the mirror, I frowned. What was that rash on my cheeks? It was 2009 and I’d just got back from a holiday in Spain with my daughter, then 7. Instead of feeling refreshed, I was so tired and my body ached all over. And now this rash had appeared. I went to see my GP. ‘It’s an allergic reaction to your sun cream,’ he said, giving me topical antibiotics. But I wasn’t convinced. As the months passed my symptoms worsened. Mouth ulcers, weight loss, insomnia… Some days I was too exhausted to pick my daughter up from school. I was only 30. But doctors didn’t have any answers. Then one day a locum doctor was on duty. ‘I think you…

Best Summer Ever by Heidi Swain (£9.99, PB, Simon & Schuster) Daisy has lost another job, and a boyfriend to boot. Driving home to Wynmouth to face a grilling from her parents (who thought the world of her cheating partner), she hopes life will look up this summer. She arrives in her Norfolk village to find Wynbrook Manor in a spin. Her housekeeper mother is busy caring for the ageing owner, while her dad attends to the garden. As Daisy finds her feet, she wonders if her repeated run-ins with handsome tourist Josh could spell the start of an exciting new chapter – or yet another disappointment? A sizzling, summery romance. Finding Belle BOOK OF THE MONTH by Reeta Chakrabarti (£16.99, HB, HarperCollins) In this moving tale of love, loss and…

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Grace True, 28, Sheffield, South Yorkshire Rows of tiny colourful outfits, sparkly high heels and mini handbags covered my bedroom carpet. Picking a pretty pink dress and matching accessories, I grabbed my favourite doll and dressed her up. ‘Come on Barbie, let’s go party!’ I said, walking her towards the Dreamhouse. Just 7, it was the same every day after school. I’d spend hours playing with my dollies, lost in a world of make-believe. As a teen, I started to lose interest, but never lost my love of fashion and colour. Dreamt of being a model. Only, I was suffering badly with joint pain. Made it hard to walk, I had to take painkillers. Docs did tests that came back clear, so I struggled on. ‘I can’t come,’ I’d say…

Kelly Farndale, 42, Newcastle-upon-Tyne Rolling along the pavement on my skates, I laughed. My dad Mark followed behind. ‘You’re doing great!’ he beamed. Wobbly as I was, I felt confident, zooming along. Dad will catch me if I fall, I thought. It was 1985 and I was 3. Dad, then 21, was my hero, I felt safe in his arms. But our happy family didn’t last long. That year, Dad moved out. I stayed with my mum Gill, then 19. She was incredible but I missed Dad. I rarely saw him. ‘I’ll take you to feed the ducks,’ he promised on the phone when I was 5. But he never turned up. ‘Is it my fault he didn’t come?’ I asked Mum. ‘Of course not,’ she said. I’d see Dad…

Izzy Farrell, 34, Whitstable, Kent Rolling over in bed, I felt a pain in my stomach and reached down to my huge bump. ‘Shall I run you a bath?’ my partner Christian, then 34, said. He’d done the same when I’d gone into labour with our first child. It was 3am on 5 April 2024 – my due date. I knew only 5% of babies arrive on time. Our eldest daughter Calliope, 2, had been six days late, and when I’d finally gone into labour she’d taken 22 hours to make her appearance! ‘It’s probably a false alarm,’ I told Christian. ‘Let’s go back to sleep.’ An hour later I felt it again. A contraction, but stronger and more painful this time. ‘Things are speeding up,’ I told Christian. As…

Checkouts beeped as shoppers lined the aisles of King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, Colorado. Nothing out of the ordinary for a Monday afternoon in March 2021. But at 2.30pm, as people filled their trolleys, there was carnage in the car park. A gunman on the loose. He’d stepped out of his car and opened fire, shot two people before entering the busy shop. Bangs rippled around the supermarket. Realising they were gunshots, shoppers ran for their lives. Terrified, a mum whispered to her son to stay low, not look and move fast. Another woman crawled on to a shelf and hid among bags of crisps. The gunman made his way down the aisles. ‘This is fun,’ he jeered, firing shots again and again. He chased those who ran, sought out…

Puppetry As a kid, did you love The Muppet Show, along with Sooty and Sweep? If so, puppetry could be right up your, ahem, Sesame Street. Start simple by making your own hand puppet, adding buttons or stickers to an old sock. Then sign up for a puppetry workshop to hone your handy skills. Soap carving Pass the soap – but only after you’ve indulged your creativity! A bog-standard bar will do, along with any implement from your cutlery drawer. Then let your imagination fly as you whittle away and carve your favourite cartoon character, flowers or fruit. And don’t worry about washing your hands afterwards. Chess boxing Best for beefy brainboxes, this unusual pastime is half nerdy, half knuckles. You move a chess piece, then go a round in…

Paula Stewart, 43, Halifax, West Yorkshire The creature in the palm of my hand was shivering, small and slimy. And I loved him. ‘He’s so cool!’ I told my dad Paul, then 39. It was summer 1989 and, aged 8, I was helping Dad save a group of toads. Their home had been made into a building site. So we were moving them to a spot in the woods where they could nest near water. Dad, a conservation officer at the council, was passionate about animals. We had a house full of dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea pigs. Over the years, I helped him rescue a family of badgers from hunters, and countless toads, birds, hedgehogs and rabbits. But after graduating from uni, I went down a different career path…

My breath stinks Q I’m feeling embarrassed about my bad breath. I often cough up white bits from the back of my throat, which smell really bad. What can I do? Louise, Hawes A I understand the embarrassment of bad breath, but there are steps to address it. Those white bits could be tonsil stones harbouring odour-causing bacteria. The first step is to maintain good oral hygiene – brush teeth twice daily, including your tongue, and floss to remove food particles. Avoid smoking and excess alcohol, which can dry your mouth and lead to tonsil stones. A tongue scraper can help remove bacteria. Also, gargle with salt water or mouthwash to reduce bacteria. Stay hydrated, and if it persists, try gentle irrigation or cotton swabbing to dislodge tonsil stones. If…

Happy hands The skin on your mitts is constantly exposed to the elements, not to mention water, cleaning chemicals and driers. Treat them to the same nourishment your face enjoys with Bare Hands Conditioning Cream, £6, barefeetandhands.co.uk, which leaves skin buttery-soft. Balancing act If you’re suddenly breaking out in spots, or tick the combination/oily skin-type box, try Q+A Salicylic Acid Facial Serum, £9.50, Tesco, to purge pores, exfoliate dead skin and reduce blemishes. Protect and perfect The best thing you can do for your skin is wear high-factor sunscreen every day. St Moriz Face Sunscreen SPF50, £9.99, stmorizcom, feels light, not greasy, with hydrating vitamin E and hyaluronic acid. Calm down Skin feeling a bit touchy? Aveeno Calm + Restore Foaming Cleanser, £12.99, Boots, lathers to a gentle foam that…

Kimberley Smith, 23, Peterborough Sat with my friends on the grass in the park, I cuddled up to my best mate Caine, then 17. He gave me a big squeeze and made me laugh with a silly joke. ‘What would I do without you?’ I laughed. It was September 2018 and I’d had a tough day at college. But Caine always knew how to cheer me up. We’d known each other since nursery school. Now I was 17, he was like a brother to me. I lived with my mum Nicola, then 43, and older sister Lauren, 21. But most evenings were spent with Caine and our mates at the park. We always had such a laugh together. But one day, in November 2018, I was at home in my…

The jury decided that Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, then 25, was legally sane at the time of the attack, and in September 2024, he was found guilty of 10 counts of first-degree murder. He was also found guilty of 38 charges of attempted murder, one count of assault and six counts of possessing illegal, large-capacity gun magazines, which enabled him to store and feed ammunition into his firearm at an alarming speed. Following the verdict, members of the victims’ families spoke in court. Star Bartkowiak lost her 49-year-old daughter Tralona in the massacre. ‘We will never see her again. Never hug her. Never laugh with her, never nothing. There are no words for the loss of a child or any loved one in this manner,’ she said. Alissa was sentenced to…

Keelie Towler, 34, Normanton As the door handle turned, I waited, and then… ‘Boo!’ I shouted, jumping out at my partner Scott as he stepped inside. We collapsed together in laughter. That was our relationship all over. Always giggling. We’d met at work in early 2018 – he was a maintenance engineer and I was a confectionery operator. We clicked straight away. He was already a dad to two girls, and after two years together we welcomed our beautiful boy Rupert in July 2020. Life with a newborn was tough. But Scott and I laughed our way through the sleepless nights and endless nappy changes. Then, one Monday morning, while I breastfed Rupert, who was about 4 months old, I noticed a lump in my left breast. It felt squishy,…

1 Prioritise concerns If you have numerous issues, talk about your main concern first. ‘Give the GP time to concentrate on your biggest worries rather than rushing at the end,’ says Dr Martin Stagg, author of The Real Doc Martin*. ‘Plan ahead and give a quick summary at the beginning.’ 2 Mention your ideas We’re all guilty of using Dr Google. This isn’t always a bad thing, but trust your doctor. ‘You’re free to share ideas about possible diagnosis and treatments, or referrals you think you need – however, don’t be offended if the GP disagrees with you or an internet search,’ says Dr Stagg. ‘The GP has the knowledge and skills to make a better judgement than a search engine, which doesn’t have access to your medical history, or…

Difficulty level YOU WILL NEED ✱ 36 x 48cm outer fabric✱ 38 x 65cm fusible fleece✱ 36 x 48cm lining fabric✱ 38 x 98cm iron-on interfacing✱ 36 x 41cm inner-pocket fabric✱ 7 x 36cm straps fabric✱ Two 14 x 18cm outer patch pocket fabrics✱ 20cm piece of 1cm-wide elastic✱ 2.5cm wide D-ring✱ Safety pin✱ Chalk marker✱ Matching sewing thread✱ Zipper foot FINISHED SIZE: 19 x 23 x 10cm Take 1cm seam allowances throughout. Cutting out Cut the fusible fleece into the following: 36 x 48cm piece for the bag outer, two 14 x 18cm for the outer patch pockets. Cut the iron-on interfacing into the following: 36 x 48cm piece for the lining, 36 x 41cm piece for the inner-pocket, 7 x 36cm piece for the straps. 1 Following the…