Bottles of ale which were brewed to celebrate the coronation of Edward VIII have recently been found in a bricked up cellar. The ales were brewed to celebrate Edwards coronation but were never released for sale because he abdicated to marry Mrs Simpson. They were recently found in a bricked up cellar after workmen were called in to replace a floor at the Greene King brewery in Bury St Edmunds.

There is still time to register for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch which is this weekend. All you need to do is register your details on the website at the following link. http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/  Then just spend an hour recording the birds that visit your garden on either Saturday 28th or Sunday the 29th. When you have finished go back to the website and submit your results. The results help the RSPB to get an idea of the numbers of different bird species in each region so they can see how they are doing and spot any problems with decline.

This is interesting it’s a man who has developed a way of combining cleaning the house and exercising. Steve Markovich, from Crescent Springs, Kentucky combines resistance training methods with day to day housework. The workout includes vacuum cleaner lunges, window cleaning squats, sofa lifting and karate kicks with most of the workout being able to be completed indoors. He has now started producing videos showing others how to follow his workout plan and is due to publish a book called Aerobic House Cleaning. What a great idea.

At a time when religion appears to feature less in the lives of many people in the UK, it is interesting to note that there has been a rise in the number of Church of England weddings. Figures show that Church of England weddings were up by 4% in 2010 when compared with 2009, the biggest annual increase in 10 years. The church has put the rise down to its weddings project which asked the public what it wanted from a church wedding and briefed the clergy on the findings. The project also included the launch of yourchurchwedding.org which is designed to make planning your ceremony easier. According to the article most people cite tradition as the reason they would like to get married in a church.

That’s according to recent research which has found taking the contraceptive pill significantly relieves the symptoms of period pains in a third of women. The study looked at 1,300 volunteers aged 19 to 24. It found that the pill reduced pain by at least one point on a ten point scale. It seems, then that there could be other benefits to taking this form of contraception. Personally I noticed no reduction in the severity of period pains whilst taking the contraceptive pill although one big advantage is knowing pretty much to the day when your period is going to arrive. At least then you can plan for it or in some cases run two packs of pills together to skip it altogether if it is likely to clash with an important event that you need to be well for.

With otters such as this little guy pictured now being found in most rivers in Britain, the population appears to be doing rather well. There are now thought to be around 10,000 of them in Britain. Whilst this is good news for the species it seems it is bad news for koi enthusiasts. Otters are good at climbing and digging and are naturally drawn to ponds full of large well fed fish. One man interviewed has lost 15 of his carp whilst another found the remains of a £200 fish on his patio. Householders in some areas are now being warned to protect their ponds with metal grids. For those considering more drastic measures they should be reminded that otters are protected and anyone attempting to kill them or disturb them can be fined up to £5,000 or jailed for six months.

A study has found that eating even small amounts of processed meat can increase your risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Eating one sausage or two rashers of bacon a day can raise the risk of developing pancreatic cancer by a fifth. Scientists in Sweden found that eating 50g of processed meat a day raises the likelihood of cancer by 19%. Eating 100g a day, the equivalent of a small burger increases the risk by 38% and eating 150g a day raises it to 57%. Other red meats such as joints and steaks were found to increase a man’s chance of developing cancer but not a woman’s. Personally I eat very little processed meat but I don’t think I will be giving up bacon anytime soon.

This is interesting it’s a new product from McCain, a jacket potato that is ready in just five minutes. Although jacket potatoes are very easy to cook, they do require at least an hour in the oven to produce a soft inside and a nice crispy skin. This product, however, claims to produce a perfect potato in just five minutes. Called the Ready Backed Jacket it can be microwaved in five minutes and is said to taste as good as the traditional oven cooked potato. At £1.49 for two it seems like a good idea for those who are pushed for time but I would be dubious about whether it would taste as good as the oven cooked alternative. It does seem to perform quite well in the taste test conducted in the article though, so might be worth a try.

If this article is to be believed then a large cat could be living in Woodchester. The remains of a deer were recently found that are consistent with a cat kill. It appeared to show teeth and claw impressions and the stomach had been taken out and discarded which can also be consistent with cat kills. This cat pictured could be the cat in question although some people have also spotted a large white cat. It does appear based on the evidence so far that there is a large cat on the loose in the area but it seems further investigation is needed to find out exactly what it is.