The 7-year-old died after being knocked down in April 2021

A witness to an accident that claimed the life of a seven-year-old girl in West Belfast five years ago told an inquest that a noise he heard at the time still “haunts” him to this day.

Deirdre Crawford left home at 5.50pm on April 3, 2021, to bring a present to a work colleague’s house for their 30th birthday. As she drove up Springhill Avenue, Mrs Crawford’s blue Renault Captur car hit Kaitlin McCoubrey-Fullerton, who sadly died at the scene. No prosecution was taken against her by the PSNI after the incident.

An inquest into the young girl’s death took place this week at Belfast Laganside Court, with the evidence focused on the circumstances before Kaitlin entered the road, what happened as she did so, and the layout and condition of Springhill Avenue.

READ MORE: ‘Our blue-eyed girl’: Belfast parent’s tribute to schoolgirl who died after being struck by carREAD MORE: ‘I was numb’ – Driver who hit child in fatal West Belfast crash gives evidence at inquest

Additionally, the inquest has examined the presence of parked vehicles and a speed ramp, as well as the driver’s control.

When the hearing resumed on Wednesday, witness Martin McGahan recalled calling to the home of his friend Gerard McGivern and his wife, Carmel for a barbecue at Springhill Avenue that evening. He said it was a “beautiful, dry and sunny” Easter Saturday, adding, “It felt like summer had arrived.”

“There were a lot of people in the street, mostly sitting in their gardens and plenty of kids in the street. The play park on Springhill Avenue was packed with children. I could smell barbecues as I walked up the street. The atmosphere was amazing, it felt really lively,” he said.

“There were cars parked on either side of the street, partly on the road and pavement, which made it very narrow for traffic. Because of all the cars and children, it meant that anyone driving on the street had to go very slow.”

Mr McGahan said he was sitting in the front garden and had just drunk his first couple of mouthfuls of beer when, shortly after 6pm, he saw a sky blue car pass in front of the house.

He added: “The car didn’t appear to be doing any speed as it passed. Around the same time, I remember hearing the sound of a car suddenly stopping or braking, although it wasn’t a skidding sound.

“It also sounded like something being sucked under a car. There was a gasp from the street and then silence. From the noise I heard, I knew something had been hit by a car. I thought it was possibly a child.”

Mr McGahan added that as soon as he heard the noise and saw the car pass, he jumped up and rushed out of the garden.

“We were all worried it was one of Gerard’s children that had been hit. I ran around a car and saw a young girl with red hair lying on the road. She was completely still. I thought she had no chance, that she was dead.

“There were two young women near the car. One of them said there’d been in an accident and that they’d just seen a flash of her hair.”

Mr McGahan then rang 999 and paramedics arrived soon after: “They didn’t seem to do much. I asked one of them if there was anything I could do to help, but they indicated she was beyond help.

“Then the parents of the child arrived. The girl’s father, who was really distressed, lifted her shoe, which had been lying on the road and threw it up the street in the direction of the Springfield Road. Both of them were shouting at the girl to wake up.”

He added: “The family of the driver were in a complete panic. They were asking me if the girl was OK. When I told them she had died, they were distraught.”

Under cross examination by David Reid, counsel for the coroner, Mr McGahan said he also recalled hearing a scraping noise when the car hit a speed ramp.

“That noise still haunts me to this day,” he added.

In her evidence, Carmel McGivern recalled being in her garden with Mr McGahan and others when she heard what “sounded like a wheelie bin or someone’s wing mirror being struck by a car”.

“I knew a vehicle had hit something. It was loud enough to make my stomach turn. When I heard voices, I knew from their tone that something serious had happened. Someone had been knocked down,” she added.

When Mrs McGivern got up and ran straight out through the garden gate onto the street, she observed a stationary car and a young girl lying in the middle of the road.

She recalled: “There was no sign of life at all. My immediate thought was that she was gone. I knelt down beside her and said, ‘I’ve got you, sweetie, I’m here for you’ – ‘you’ve been in an accident, there’s help coming’.

“I lightly stroked her back and pulled her hair back from her face to behind her ear. I held her hand and just kept whispering soothing things to her, calling her by her name and telling her she was loved”.

When questioned about the conditions on the road in terms of how busy it is for traffic, Mrs McGivern replied: “Springhill Avenue is a very busy street, and very active with kids and cars constantly going up and down the street. Some of them respect the speed and some don’t. A lot of people are on their mobile phones. It’s still like that today.”

She added: “I think if the drivers were made aware that maybe there was a camera watching, they might slow down and not use their phones as much. I do see a lot of people on their phones.”

Sean Dodds, who was driving behind the blue Renault Captur, after collecting his own daughter, when it hit Kaitlin recalled: “There were cars parked on either side of the road, meaning it was very tight for traffic getting through. It was Easter weekend, so there were loads of people in the area. I remarked to my partner that it was crazy how busy it was.

“The road is a long straight with a couple of speed bumps along it. My partner’s car had new alloy wheels, which I did not wish to damage, so I took it very slowly over the speed bumps.

“I volunteered to take my daughter home before returning to pick up my partner. I left at about 6:10pm with my daughter in a child seat in the rear of the car. I didn’t have the radio on and the windows were closed.”

Mr Dodds said the car in front driving at a constant speed and not fast: “All of a sudden there was a sharp movement towards the road. I distinctly remember a young girl with red hair running out straight across the road. I’m not sure where she was looking when she ran out.

“The car in front of me had either reached the speed bump or was just before it when the girl ran out immediately in front of the car.

“I don’t recall seeing the car in front brake or swerve prior to impact. It all happened very quickly. The car seemed to hit her as soon as she came out. She was struck by the front of the car in the front of the passenger side.”

He added: “I didn’t hear any noise prior to impact and don’t recall hearing the impact itself. She went straight under the car. I had a clear view of her under the car and that’s the image I can remember to this day. She was like a wee doll, not like a person.

“I could hear shouting and screaming outside. I was in shock and didn’t want my daughter to be exposed to what had happened. I reversed into a cul-de-sac and drove back up to where I’d come from. I told the people in the house what had happened and a while later, police came and took my details as a witness.”

A forensic scientist who attended the scene afterwards also gave evidence on Wednesday, saying an examination of the Renault car revealed no pre-collision defects and that the road surface was in good condition with no irregularities.

When questioned on driver perception-response time, he told the inquest: “I’m not aware of what the driver could have done differently, unfortunately.”

The inquest has now concluded its evidence and the coroner will deliver her findings in due course.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

A British tourist has been detained by authorities and quarantined after being caught in a Milan bar.

The Brit, in his 60s, had been on the same flight as hantavirus-stricken cruise ship passenger Mirjam Schilperoord, 69, when they travelled from Saint Helena to Johannesburg.

She was the wife of patient zero Leo Schilperoord, 70, who boarded the MV Hondius and made the trip to the rubbish tip on a remote Argentinan island.

She was taken off her next flight when she fell ill and died in a South African hospital.

The unnamed British holidaymaker and his travelling companion, who was not on the flight, were apprehended in Milan before being taken to Sacco Hospital.

The pair, who were not showing symptoms, were told they must remain in quarantine until June 6, after being forced into a 42-day isolation period.

It came after a French hantavirus patient was fighting for her life in hospital after being placed on an artificial lung.

Doctors described the device keeping her alive as ‘the final stage of supportive care.’

They added the passenger is suffering a severe form of the virus, ‘triggering life-threatening lung and heart failure’.

There are now 11 reported cases tied to the outbreak, nine of which have been confirmed. Three people who were aboard the cruise ship sailing the Atlantic Ocean have died of the rare but fatal disease.

One of the world’s leading health experts has warned that we can expect more hantavirus cases in the near future.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organisation, maintains there are ‘no signs’ a pandemic is on the cards after cases of the rodent-borne disease were identified on the MV Hondius cruise ship last month.

But he told a press conference in Madrid: ‘Of course, the situation could change.

‘And given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks.’

What is hantavirus?

Hantavirus, sometimes called the ‘rat virus’, is a rare family of pathogens carried by rodents – there is no vaccine or cure.

The virus spreads through contact with the faeces, urine and saliva of infected rodents.

Early symptoms can be easily mistaken for the flu, such as fever, chills or body aches, but can escalate to heart or lung failure.

At the centre of the cruise outbreak is the Andes strain, which is endemic to South America, including Argentina, where the ship departed on April 1.

Advertisement

Dr Stathis Giotis, a lecturer in life sciences at the University of Essex, told Metro that the Andes hantavirus is the only known strain that can be spread from human to human, though cases of this are few and far between.

‘It is clearly a serious situation for those directly affected and it deserves careful public health follow-up, but there is no evidence at present that this represents a broader epidemic threat,’ he said.

People who may get in contact with rat droppings, like agricultural workers or people simply cleaning their sheds, are at high risk.

Advertisement

Hantavirus is still a mystery

Despite years of research, many questions have yet to be answered about the hantavirus, including exactly how it spreads, how long it can survive outside a host and why it can be mild for some people and severe for others.

There is no specific treatment or cure, but early medical attention can increase the chance of survival. The Andes virus implicated in the cruise ship outbreak can have an incubation period of up to eight weeks and a mortality rate of up to 50%, according to the World Health Organization.

The virus usually spreads from rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people, though the Andes virus may be able to spread between people in rare cases.

The genome of the hantavirus has been completely sequenced, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said Wednesday.

Advertisement

‘There is no data to suggest that this virus is behaving differently in terms of transmissibility or severity from any of the known virus circulating in certain regions of the world,’ said Andreas Hoefer, who oversees the operational coordination of the European Union’s reference laboratories for public health.

‘Based on that data, I would say that currently we have no reason to suspect that this is a new virus’.

MORE: Cruise ship passenger dead and nearly 2,000 in quarantine after ‘norovirus outbreak’

MORE: Ten people from remote islands to land in UK to self isolate after hantavirus outbreak

Advertisement

MORE: Passengers reveal life of breakdowns, ‘Covid rules’, and the joy of fruit on virus cruise ship

Comments


Add as preferred source

News Updates

Stay on top of the headlines with daily email updates.

Advertisement

The UK State Pension is worth up to £241.30 per week but must be claimed when you reach State Pension age — or you could face a payment delay

Advertisement

The State Pension age began a gradual increase from 66 to 67 in April, with the transition scheduled to be finalised for all men and women throughout the UK by 2028. The proposed adjustment to the official retirement age has been in law since 2014, with a subsequent rise from 67 to 68 planned for implementation by the mid-2040s.

The most recent figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) reveal the State Pension currently delivers regular financial assistance to 13.2 million elderly people nationwide, including more than one million pensioners residing in Scotland. This benefit is accessible to those who have attained the UK Government’s qualifying retirement age and have contributed at least 10 years’ worth of National Insurance Contributions.

Individuals nearing the official retirement age this year may be unaware that the State Pension is classified as a contributory benefit and is not disbursed automatically by the DWP. The benefit must be applied for, otherwise pensioners risk experiencing a delay in receiving their initial payment of up to £241.30 per week, or £965.20 for each four-week payment cycle.

The funds are not distributed automatically when someone reaches State Pension age, as certain individuals opt to postpone submitting a claim in order to continue working and accumulate more towards their pension fund, particularly if they have not contributed the complete requirement of 35 years’ worth of National Insurance Contributions, or were ‘contracted out’.

DWP guidance explains: “You do not get your State Pension automatically – you have to claim it. You should get a letter no later than two months before you reach State Pension age, telling you what to do.”

It then clarifies you can either claim your State Pension or delay (defer) claiming it. It states: “If you want to defer, you do not have to do anything. Your pension will automatically be deferred until you claim it.”

This means that unless you respond to the letter confirming your wish to begin receiving your State Pension, no payments will be made, as the DWP will treat any lack of response as an intention to defer, reports the Daily Record.

Postponing your State Pension could boost your weekly payments once you do decide to claim, provided you defer for a minimum of nine weeks. Your State Pension grows by the equivalent of 1% for every nine weeks you defer, amounting to just under 5.8 per cent for every 52 weeks.

The additional sum is paid alongside your regular State Pension payment. However, it is worth noting that any extra payments resulting from deferral may be subject to taxation — further details are available on GOV.UK.

It is also worth bearing in mind that deferred State Pensions rise annually in line with the September Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate, rather than the highest measure of the Triple Lock policy.

Your initial payment will arrive within five weeks of reaching State Pension age, with full payments following every four weeks thereafter. You may receive a partial payment before your first complete one. The letter will outline what to expect.

You can also opt to receive your State Pension payments weekly or fortnightly, which will reduce the waiting time for the first payment. The day your State Pension is paid depends on your National Insurance number.

A baby allegedly sexually abused and murdered by his adopted dad had a bite mark on his bottom weeks before he died, a court heard.

Jamie Varley, 37, is on trial over the death of 13-month-old Preston Davey on July 27, 2023.

Preston had been placed with Varley and his partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, at their home in Blackpool aged nine months with a view to him being formally adopted.

But jurors at Preston Crown Court have been told the toddler was routinely ill-treated, sexually abused and physically assaulted, suffering dozens of injuries in the final four months of his life.

On Wednesday, Home Office pathologist Dr Alison Armour was shown several photos and videos of the toddler found on the couple’s phones.

In one image taken on June 12, 2023, Preston was standing naked in a garden paddling pool.

Asked to comment on a darker shade of skin on his right buttock, Dr Armour said: ‘It is my view, sir, it most likely represents a human bite mark.’

She said having looked at the photo, the mark on his body was a round, circular bruise, turning slightly purple and around 3.5cm in diameter.

Peter Wright KC, prosecuting, asked Dr Armour why she though it was a bite mark.

‘The size, configuration, which means the shape, are all consistent with a human bite mark,’ she said.

Dr Armour was also asked her opinion on a series of seven photos recovered from Varley’s phone of Preston in his cot, along with two toy teddy bears, taken four days before his death.

The images span a period of three minutes and 12 seconds, during which time Preston’s head and arms remain ‘slumped’ over the top horizontal bar of his cot with his neck resting on the bar.

His body is apparently partially suspended, his legs in a ‘frog-like’ position and the child seemingly asleep or unconscious.

‘This is very unsafe and in my view dangerous,’ Dr Armour said.

Mr Wright continued: ‘What is the risk here presented?’

Dr Armour said: ‘Partial suspension, ultimately leading to death, he’s got his neck in contact with that cot railing.

‘That’s going to inhibit your ability to breathe.’

In one photo, Preston’s head is in a slightly different position with fluid coming from his mouth.

Dr Armour continued: ‘Preston’s tongue is protruding, its blue and also his lips appear blue, consistent with a lack of oxygen in the blood.’

Mr Wright said: ‘In terms of a child in that position for that length of time, how safe or otherwise is such a position?’

Dr Armour said: ‘This is a very prolonged period of time for a child to be in such an unsafe position.’

Four days later, at around 6.20pm on July 27, 2023, the defendants rushed Preston unconscious from their home to Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

Medics worked for nearly an hour to resuscitate the child but could not save him.

Varley said he had left the child alone in the bath for three or four minutes before he returned and the baby was partially submerged.

Dr Armour, who carried out the post-mortem examination at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, said people who drown often swallow water but she found no water in Preston’s stomach.

She added: ‘It is my position that drowning can be reasonably excluded as the cause of death in this case.’

Dr Armour concluded the cause of death was an upper airway obstruction, leading to Preston’s collapse by a deliberate act of smothering, or an object or objects inserted into his mouth.

The post-mortem examination also found external and internal injuries including bruises to Preston’s forehead, throat, mouth, bladder, bottom and bleeding in the lungs.

These were mostly ‘non-accidental’, she said, and could not be explained by the attempts by medics to save his life during resuscitation on hospital admission.

Many of the external injuries Dr Armour described as ‘fingertip’ bruises, consistent with gripping, prodding, poking and pinching, she said.

Preston also had severe bruising to the back of his throat which Dr Armour described as one of the ‘most unusual’ injuries she had never come across in her 39-year career as a consultant forensic pathologist.

‘This is an extensive bruise,’ she said.

Dr Armour said the underlying cause is ‘difficult to ascertain’.

Smothering ‘either by a hand or a soft object’ could be the cause, she said, but that ‘would be unusual’.

She added: ‘That leaves the other cause, in my view – the insertion of an object into the mouth occluding the airways.’

Dr Armour told jurors there were no injuries to Preston’s teeth, tongue, palette or cheeks, indicating the object did not have any ‘sharp edges’.

Asked if the injury was consistent with a sexual assault, she replied: ‘I cannot exclude that, sir.’

Dr Armour said the injuries to Preston’s throat, along with other serious injuries found on his body, were ‘very recent’.

Asked how close to death they were inflicted, she added: ‘I think I have said a matter of hours.’

Varley denies murder, manslaughter, two counts of assault by penetration, five counts of cruelty to a child, grievous bodily harm, sexual assault of a child, 13 counts of taking indecent photos or videos of a child, one of distributing an indecent photo of a child, to his co-accused, and one of making an indecent photo.

McGowan-Fazakerley denies allowing the death of a child, three counts of child cruelty and one count of the sexual assault of a child.

The continues on Thursday.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE: Alex Murdaugh has life term for killing wife and son overturned in shock twist

MORE: Husband jailed for ‘sadistic’ murder of his Miss Switzerland finalist wife

MORE: Paedophile who pretended to be disabled to dodge court jailed for 15 years

We’ve all popped in to a Home Bargains for an essential item or two, and ended up leaving with a hanging basket, solar lights or a rug that we didn’t know we needed.

Now, residents will soon be able to call in for ‘bits’ as work is underway to transform the space.

Homebase closed their doors here after a major restructure and its collapse into administration in late 2024, leaving the store space available for Home Bargains to take over.

The former Homebase store (Image: Google Maps)

The new store is set to open on August 1 and will be a significant addition to the town, especially since the current Home Bargains stores in Gateshead are relatively small.

Currently, these smaller branches are located in Gateshead High Street at The Precinct and in Blaydon.

Unlike these smaller stores, the new Team Valley Home Bargains store will be much bigger, giving people more options when shopping.

Once open, the new store will provide competition to other big names in Retail World, such as Smyths Toys, TK Maxx, M&S Simply Food, Asda Living, and Dunelm.

This development is anticipated to bolster the local shopping scene, with locals on social media calling the opening “another boost for local shopping”.

The Sun and Mercury are in an alignment known as a Cazimi in practical Taurus. This allows you to wade through complex details.

Sagittarius, Scorpio and Libra, communication and creativity are on your side today. Finding solutions to sticky issues is easy, so tune into that.

Today is prime time for planning, scheming and big goals. Keep your sights set ahead of you, not behind, and all will be well.

Ahead, you’ll find all star signs’ horoscopes for today: Thursday May 14, 2026.

Like checking your horoscope every morning? You can now sign up to our free daily newsletter to get a personalised reading for your star sign delivered straight to your inbox.

To order your unique personal horoscope based on your time, date and place of birth, visit patrickarundell.com.

Aries

March 21 to April 20

The Sun and communicator Mercury have forged an alliance in the practical Taurus, that’s helping you to decipher and plan anything to do with resources or everyday finances with an extra crispness and acumen. Indeed, with the planet of opportunity, Jupiter, still in touch with both, this can also be a time when positive family news can arrive.

Head here for everything you need to know about being an Aries

Taurus

April 21 to May 21

Your natural appreciation for continuity has been challenged in recent years by the restless Uranus, which has pushed you to be more experimental. And even if not everything has worked out, you’ve probably enjoyed experimenting. Today is another one that gives you an opportunity to showcase your unique talents and do so with added confidence.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Taurus

Gemini

May 22 to June 21

Your guide planet Mercury’s closeness to the Sun in a thoughtful part of your situation, which could see you have some powerful inner realisations or decipher key events from your past. But their link together to the expansive Jupiter suggests a hunch around a business idea could prove to be lucky – if you trust your instincts and act boldly and decisively, Gemini.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Gemini

Cancer

June 22 to July 23

You can enjoy lots of bright and breezy chats today, particularly within your group, considering an idea that you can all work on together. Then again, someone could give you valuable input on a future hope. With everyone pitching in like this, it can cheer you to know that your circle is supportive. Past connections that disappointed can start to fade away.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Cancer

Leo

July 24 to August 23

If you are thinking about or talking about retraining, learning new skills, or applying for another job, your mind can be super agile, but also focused on what the practical benefits may be. Mind with Jupiter, the planet much to do with faith, in an instinctive part of your situation, whatever the logic tells you, do be open to listening to your hunches too, Leo.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Leo

Virgo

August 24 to September 23

Whilst you may find yourself especially restless today, you can also find yourself super curious, and that’s not a bad combination. It’s just that often your preference has traditionally been for regular structures and routines in your everyday world, but currently exploring fresh horizons and new people just seems so much more stimulating – how good is that!

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Virgo

Libra

September 24 to October 23

Being one of the three air zodiac signs, you have a natural appreciation of communication and thinking carefully about situations. Some may feel that you overanalyse, but today you are going to have a fabulous opportunity to get beneath the surface. Excellent if you’re researching, seeking extra value, or even enjoying watching a TV programme on forensics.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Libra

Scorpio

October 24 to November 22

You can be very candid in your observations of people, but what others can really appreciate about you today is the time you take to listen carefully to what they have to say. With your listening skills so sharp, this can help you to perceptively tune into their situation, even if you don’t necessarily make a comment. Planning a joint travel jaunt? Things can shape up nicely.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Scorpio

Sagittarius

November 23 to December 21

If you’re wanting to get to grip on your personal paperwork or catch up on the domestic chores, today can see you determined to be precise and productive in all you do. Much as your nature can find such demands a little dull, you can just take on these tasks with a great deal of application, and once you have completed all you set out to do, feel quietly content.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Sagittarius

Capricorn

December 22 to January 21

Encounters today can be warm, friendly, and amusing. Your dry wit is one of your great qualities and rarely gets talked about in the astrology archetypes of your sign, but it should be. Also, if there is someone that you’re getting to know that you really like, things can just flow very nicely between you. Even if this is not outright flirty, it can still be rather lovely.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Capricorn

Aquarius

January 22 to February 19

If you have a home office, as many people do these days, today is an excellent opportunity to think about whether it’s working as effectively as it might. If it’s squeezed in a corner and has to compete with other domestic demands. It might be worth considering if moving things around would create a little bit more of a quiet cocoon and the chance to concentrate better.

Head here for everything you need to know about being an Aquarius

Pisces

February 20 to March 20

There is little doubt that you can be one of the most intuitive of the zodiac signs, but today your mind can be as sharp as a pin, able to dextrously whirl different concepts around with ease, but also amuse people with your sharp observations and playfulness. With the weekend racing up, and a bubbly New Moon, this can see you keen to arrange fun social possibilities.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Pisces

Your daily Metro.co.uk horoscope is here every morning, seven days a week (yes, including weekends!). To check your forecast, head to our dedicated horoscopes page.

Head here for this week’s tarot horoscope reading, and see what the cards have in store for you!

Check out the tarot horoscope reading for the month of May here.

Prefer us to the others? Then tell Google!

As a loyal Metro reader, we want to make sure you never miss our stories when searching for your news. Whether it is the latest politics news explained, live football coverage or a showbiz scoop.

Click the button below and tick Metro.co.uk to ensure you see stories from us first in Google Search.

Add us as a Preferred Source

Advertisement

MORE: Daily horoscope May 13, 2026: Today’s predictions for your star sign

MORE: Daily horoscope May 12, 2026: Today’s predictions for your star sign

MORE: Daily horoscope May 11, 2026: Today’s predictions for your star sign

Hydrangeas are a popular flower but few people know you can change the colour of them.

Advertisement

Hydrangeas are a beloved choice for British gardens. Their enormous, luxurious blooms deliver a spectacular splash of colour, and they’re comparatively straightforward to maintain.

They’re also amongst the select few garden plants capable of changing colour over time. Many gardeners purchase these shrubs assuming their hue is permanent, but specific varieties can transform as time passes. With the appropriate soil conditions, hydrangeas can shift from pink to blue or even purple. This occurs when the soil becomes more acidic, making aluminium more accessible to the plant, which can influence the pigment of the petals.

Jo McGarry, from Caragh Nurseries, said: “Many people are surprised to learn that hydrangea colour is directly linked to soil pH. In acidic soil, the blooms turn blue, while alkaline soil encourages pink petals. Purple shades appear when the soil is close to neutral.

“Only certain hydrangeas respond this way, particularly macrophylla and serrata varieties. White hydrangeas generally stay white regardless of soil conditions.”

If you’re hoping to alter the colour of your hydrangeas, it’s reasonably straightforward to achieve. However, some traditional techniques ought to be avoided, reports the Express.

One approach gardeners have attempted to modify their hydrangeas’ colour is by placing a rusty nail into the soil underneath their shrubs.

Jo said: “Burying rusty nails in the soil to turn hydrangeas blue is something gardeners have talked about for years, but it isn’t the safest or most effective option.

“Sharp metal hidden in borders can become a hazard for people and wildlife. They also provide too little soluble iron to impact petal colour.”

Advertisement

Instead, there are more secure alternatives to transform your garden.

Jo said: “Using ericaceous compost, coffee grounds, or aluminium sulphate is a much better approach for gardeners wanting blue hydrangeas. These methods gently increase soil acidity without creating unnecessary risks in the garden.

“For pink hydrangeas, the soil needs to be more alkaline. Adding garden lime can help raise the pH and reduce aluminium uptake. This encourages pink blooms to develop.

“A fertiliser with higher phosphorus levels can also help limit aluminium absorption and support stronger pink colouring.”

It typically requires at least one growing season before visible colour changes emerge.

Jo said: “Testing your soil pH first is always worthwhile because overcorrecting can stress the plant and affect nutrient uptake. Small gradual changes tend to give the healthiest and most consistent results.”

In our research in the British Library’s medieval collections, we have identified a previously unnoticed document that provides fresh insights into the survivors of the outbreak of plague known as the Black Death (1346–53).

The document – a scrap of parchment inserted into an account of the Ramsey Abbey manor of Warboys in Huntingdonshire – records how much time peasants were absent from work when struck down by the plague. It also reveals the names of those who survived and how long their employers believed recovery could take.

In our recent paper with Barney Sloane we shed new light on a group of 22 tenants who probably contracted plague, languished on their sickbeds for several weeks, and then recovered.

As one of the deadliest pandemics in recorded history, it has been estimated that between a third and two-thirds of the population of medieval Europe died during the Black Death.

Given the sheer scale, many historians have focused on discovering details about those who died. Yet this has left the histories of those who contracted plague and recovered largely untold.

Despite the deadliness of the disease, it was possible to recover from plague, and medieval chroniclers mention the possibility – however unlikely – of survival. For example, Geoffrey le Baker, a clerk of Swinbrook in Oxfordshire, wrote in the following decade that he thought recovery depended on people’s symptoms:

People who one day had been full of happiness, on the next were found dead. Some were tormented by boils which broke out suddenly in various parts of the body, and were so hard and dry that when they were lanced hardly any liquid flowed out. Many of these people escaped, by lancing the boils or by long suffering. Other victims had little black pustules scattered over the skin of the whole body. Of these people very few, indeed hardly any, recovered life and health.

But who recovered? Why did so many succumb to the disease when others survived? And just how long was this “long suffering”? Unfortunately, there is remarkably little documentary evidence because most medieval sources record information about mortality rather than ill health.

Unique list of plague survivors

A unique inclusion in the account of the manor of Warboys details a group of people who fell ill between the end of April and the start of August 1349. The monks of Ramsey Abbey wrote a list of their tenants who had fallen sufficiently sick that they could not work on the lord’s lands and detailed the length of time that they were absent.

People were clearly affected differently by their experience of plague.

The quickest recovery was that of Henry Broun who missed just a single week of work. By contrast, John Derworth and Agnes Mold had much more protracted illnesses and were both absent for nine weeks.

The average length of illness was between three and four weeks, with three-quarters of people returning to work in under a month. The speed of their recoveries is all the more surprising given that they were entitled to up to a year and a day of sick leave from work.

This list of survivors includes a preponderance of tenants who occupied larger holdings on the manor. It has long been debated by historians and archaeologists whether the plague killed indiscriminately, with no regard to status, sex or age, or whether the poor and elderly were more vulnerable.

The survival of so many wealthier tenants could indicate that their higher living standards enabled them to recover more readily than their poorer neighbours, perhaps because they were able to stave off secondary infections and complications. We should not read any significance into the fact that 19 out of the 22 people were men: this reflects the gender bias of manorial landholding rather than any sex-selectivity of plague.

Although 22 people may not seem like many, in a regular year during the 1340s, only two or three absences were recorded during the summer months. It, therefore, represents a tenfold increase in regular illnesses on the manor. Put another way, these sick tenants were absent for 91 weeks’ worth of labour services during just a 13-week period.

Advertisement

Our understanding of the impact of the Black Death has been influenced by the appalling scale of death. Yet it is only when we add those who fell ill and recovered back into the picture that we can truly understand the seismic shock the pandemic had on society. The dead, dying and sick must have considerably outnumbered the living in villages and cities across Europe.

The consequences of this can be seen in medieval accounts and chronicles, one of which records that “there was so great a shortage of servants and labourers that there was no one who knew what needed to be done”. As a result of this combination of high mortality, unprecedented illness and abysmal weather, the two harvests of 1349 and 1350 have been described as the worst experienced in medieval England, worse even than those that caused the great famine of 1315-17.

This archival discovery allows us to write the history of sickness and recovery back into the Black Death, demonstrating that recovery was possible even during one of the worst pandemics in recorded history.

This new evidence reveals the remarkable resilience of medieval peasants. Many of them lay languishing on their sickbeds, exhibiting buboes (the painful, swollen and inflamed lymph nodes on the groin and neck that were typical of the Black Death), vomiting blood and wracked by fevers and not only survived but returned to work in just a few short weeks.

A cleaning expert shared that yellow toilet bowl stains are caused by much more than just limescale – and how to remove them in 60 minutes

Persistent yellow stains in your toilet bowl can make even a spotless bathroom look grubby, but tackling them doesn’t have to mean reaching for harsh chemicals or splashing out on pricey products. With just two common household items, you can break down stubborn build-up and restore your toilet to its former glory in as little as 60 minutes.

A cleaning expert writing for the Martha Stewart website has revealed that vinegar and bicarbonate of soda are genuinely all you need. However, you may well be using these items in the wrong way.

The expert went on to explain exactly how to clean your toilet bowl so those yellow stains disappear — and what’s actually causing them in the first place. It turns out it’s not simply limescale.

More than limescale

Yellow toilet bowl stains are primarily caused by mineral deposits from hard or well water, including calcium, magnesium, and iron, which form a hardened, rock-like layer over time.

That said, urine can also play a part. The acid in urine can react with minerals from hard water to create particularly stubborn deposits. The longer stains are left untreated, the harder and darker they become — and if left unchecked, they can even lead to blockages, reports the Express.

Clorox in-house scientist Mary Gagliardi admitted to the Martha Stewart blog that: “Uric acid (present in varying concentrations in urine) can react with hard water minerals to form uric salts with low solubility that deposit on surfaces, resulting in yellow stains.”

How to clean

Before you get started, you’ll need white vinegar, baking soda, rubber gloves, paper towels, and a toilet brush. The first step is to lower the water level.

To do this, simply flush the toilet; for a more significant drop, switch off the water supply behind the toilet and flush once more to drain the bowl further.

Next, coat the stained areas with vinegar. For marks above the waterline, you’ll need to use vinegar-soaked paper towels. Leave this to soak for a minimum of 30 minutes — for more stubborn stains, leave it for up to an hour or even overnight.

Add one cup of baking soda to produce a fizzing reaction, leave it to sit for 15 minutes, then scrub thoroughly. Finally, turn your water supply back on and flush to rinse everything away.

Why you need to clean weekly

Cleaning expert Marisol Rivera recommends cleaning your toilet bowl once a week and giving all areas a thorough going-over. Rivera shared: “The jet holes under the rim of the bowl become clogged with mineral deposits over time.

“This causes the water flow to become uneven. The build-up will concentrate in specific areas of the bowl as a result.”