
Big hearted family win a Caribbean cruise at Pride of Scotland Awards
The Speirs who have provided holidays for 3000 terminally ill children and their families scooped the trip of a lifetime at the Pride of Scotland awards.
Duncan, 63, Caroline, 58 and their daughter Jenna, 30, who run charity Calum's Cabin, won a luxury Caribbean getaway courtesy of award sponsors P&O Cruises.
The trio were left speechless when they were revealed as the winners of the 14 night cruise at the glittering ceremony last Monday night.
The family, who built a network of holiday homes and flats in memory of their son Calum, have spent the last 14 years giving sick kids and their families a much needed break.
So it seems fitting that thanks to P&O Cruises they will now be able to enjoy some time away together making memories of their own.
The Speirs, whose son Calum died of an inoperable brain tumour in 2007, will set sail from Barbados on MS Arvia on a 14 day jaunt round the Caribbean with stops in St Lucia, Martinique, Grenada, St Kitts & Nevis, the Virgin Islands, Antigua and Saint Maarten.
The family, who had picked up a Special Recognition Award earlier in the night from actor David Hayman and presenter Jean Johansson couldn't hide their astonishment when the announcement was heralded by a troupe of colourful Caribbean dancers and steel drummers.
Caroline, said: 'As if winning a Pride of Scotland Special Recognition award wasn't enough already. We were shocked and absolutely astounded when our faces were revealed on the big screen. We are blown away and still can't believe it. A big thank you to P&O Cruises.'
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Metro
17 hours ago
- Metro
Guys are excited to hook up with me — until they see my bunkbed
Welcome to How I Do It, the series in which we give you a seven-day sneak peek into the sex life of a stranger. This week we hear from 26-year-old Caroline*, a straight writer who lives in Camden, and has been single for more than three years. She's now actively looking for a relationship after a few brief flings, and she's turned to dating apps. 'I can't deny that every time I go on a date, I look in the mirror and think to myself, this could be the one where I tell the grandkids: 'It was his Hinge prompt that did it for me',' Caroline says. She goes on multiple dates a week and says, while it's easy to feel down if they don't work out, when they do go well, they usually end up back at hers. It's here Caroline surprises her dates with her sleeping arrangements – a bunk bed. 'It's a fascinating test of character for my dates,' she says. 'They can often seem disappointed or a bit flummoxed by having make an effort to climb into bed. Green-flag guys get excited when they see it and I've had some wacky sex up there, but there are a few who are peeved off by it.' The bunk bed is part of her grandparent's old flat where she lives and it's been a fixture of the home since the 1980s. It's an effective way of weeding out potential suitors too and Caroline certainly won't be getting rid of it. Without further ado, here's how Caroline got on this week… The following sex diary is, as you might imagine, not safe for work . X Factor icon Diana Vickers and Metro's dating expert Alice Giddings dive into your wildest sex, love, and dating dilemmas – every Tuesday. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube. And be sure to follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also join the fun on our WhatsApp Group Chat here – share your dilemmas and Diana and Alice may just give you a call. The only thing getting me through today is the hinge date I have tonight. 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Ben leaves rather swiftly this morning and I can't help but worry that the bunk bed put him off. The after-intercourse conversation was also sub par. I think he originally found the idea of sleeping with someone on a bunk bed at 22 playfully naughty, but in reality he seemed rather unsettled. He let out a loud 'harrumph' when I explained to him he had to charge his phone on the bottom bunk, and then seemed even more agitated when his boxers fell on the floor and he had to go down the steps in the cold to retrieve them. Thankfully, I have a second date tonight with someone who left me hanging after a wild kiss at a tube stop. I meet Dan* in Soho in an underground bar and order some food. Dan is very confident which I find extremely attractive. We just about make it home without succumbing to our desires in the street and make our way up to my room. There's no worry etched across Dan's face when he sees the bunk bed for the first time. He actually takes it as more of a challenge. When you have an actual hunk in the bunk with you, life can feel pretty good. The sex is adventurous and we temporarily drop down from the bunk bed and end up doing it in front of the sink. We do doggy but standing up as he stands behind me. I don't feel particularly aroused when I see my reflection in the mirror, though. I'm slightly turned off when I come across the used condom on my upper bedside table this morning. I think it always says so much about a guy when they actually make an effort after sex. Still, I'm working today, and frequently check my phone to see if Dan's messaged. He pops up on my phone an appropriate amount of time later, saying he enjoyed the night and the bunk bed made for great entertainment. I smile and in the evening I get an early night, ready for my friend's party tomorrow. I'm on the tube to my friend's birthday and messaging someone who I went on a first date with a few months back. We've never slept together, and the wanting is what fuels our communication. We've just never gotten around to a second date. At my friend's party I forget all about him, after meeting a handsome banker, Liam*, who takes me on a pub crawl after the party ends. He's dangerously tall with a big ego and oozes confidence, and as the night ends he invites me back to his place in Chelsea. It's an upgrade from my bunk bed, where I do tend to hit my head on the ceiling if I'm on top, but the sex isn't quite what I was expecting. Our bodies are slightly off because of his height and we can't get the right rhythm. But it goes from awkward and clunky to satisfying when I get on top of him and do my thing before we both climax together. I'm ready to accept last night as a fleeting drunken escapade, but when Liam insists on walking to work together the next day (thankfully I wasn't wearing anything too outlandish to be deemed a hangover risk in the office), I start mulling over the possibility it could be something more. People talk about the levels of intimacy that are unlocked after dating their partners for a few months, but I feel like these depths of passion were ignited in just one night fuelled by too much cheap Aperol. I've never felt so turned on by someone as he worked to pleasure me and make me feel just as satisfied as he did. I've sworn off fake climaxing in the name of feminism, but acting wasn't necessary last night. I'd felt so astonishingly at one with him, floating out of my body and seeing us intertwined. I'm now already imagining his response when he (hopefully) comes to mine and sees the bunk bed. I'm meant to have a date tonight but hastily cancel on them after Liam asks to meet at a pub near my flat this evening. I'm weirdly nervous before, a feeling which I haven't grappled with for ages. I question what we'll talk about, but after seeing him and remembering just how strikingly handsome he is, my worries soon disperse. We order drink after drink and he tells me he loves techno and 18th century art, but on the way back to mine I have a strange feeling he said he hates heights. At first glance, he immediately exclaims: 'Why the HELL do you have a bunk bed, if you think I am going up there you can think again.' He tells me his parents deprived him of a bunk bed until one summer, on a trip to a holiday camp, he fell off of one onto the floor. Reluctantly, I agree to squeeze into the single bottom bunk with him instead. We get in on, doing missionary and spooning, as well as my wrap-around favourite and I'm incredibly satisfied by the time we fall asleep. Liam stays at mine for a while this morning while we cuddle on the bottom bunk before he heads home. He texts me a study related to bunk bed injuries in America, and suggests drinks after work next week. More Trending I don't usually sleep with three guys in one week, my average is more like once every two weeks, but lately my libido has been pretty high – for what reason I don't know. I was really enjoying dating this week and I'm so glad I just went with it. Liam and I seem to really click and I actually think I can see a future with him – maybe he's really The One. He's smart, funny, driven and, of course, majorly handsome too. He's the first guy in a long time I've felt this way about – maybe this one could be a keeper? This article was originally published in April 2025. Do you have a story to share? Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@ View More » MORE: These are the most common reasons couples divorce after years together MORE: My husband paid our entire £45,250 house deposit — it makes me so uncomfortable MORE: Four warning signs your engagement is actually just a 'shut up ring'


Scottish Sun
a day ago
- Scottish Sun
British Airways launches bargain flights to affordable long-haul holiday destination for £150
Plus, how you can earn Avios points CHEAP TRIP British Airways launches bargain flights to affordable long-haul holiday destination for £150 – with a catch Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) FOR anyone wanting a bargain winter getaway, British Airways has just revealed a great one - but there is a small catch. The airline is launching new flights from London Heathrow to Cape Town starting in December, however only it's only available to its loyalty members. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 British Airways is launching a new Avios-Only flight route in December Credit: Alamy 5 The winter sun destination has highs of 29C in December and January Credit: Alamy British Airways is launching a new Avios-Only flight from London to the South African capital with 500 seats on offer. By using points accrued on the British Airways Club, members can buy themselves a seat on the plane. With the new flight, members can jet off to Cape Town from as little as 70,000 and £150. Cape Town is the latest British Airways long-haul Avios-Only flight destination added to its roster. Read More on Flights TAKE OFF My ultimate budget travel checklist - all the tricks to save HUNDREDS on flights This popular route will be made available for customers using their Avios over the festive period - from December 20, 2025 to January 2, 2026. British Airways' Chief Commercial Officer, Colm Lacy, said: 'We're delighted to announce Cape Town as our latest Avios-Only flight destination, in South Africa's peak travel season. "Members will have the opportunity to book seats across all four cabins over the popular festive period offering more value and choice than ever.' It sounds good, right? If you want to start collecting Avios points yourself, sign up to the British Airways Club. Then to gain points, you have to fly with British Airways and book British Airways Holidays. Buying baggage and seats also add points, as does using British Airways American Express cards. The New British Airways First Class Seat 5 Cape Town has safari experiences too Credit: Alamy 5 Take the cable car up and down Table Mountain Credit: Alamy Cape Town is one of the world's best value holiday destinations. It came in second place as the top best-value destination in the Post Office Holiday Money Report 2025. The report added: "Cape Town, South Africa, retains second place, despite an 11 per cent rise in prices compared to last year." Some of the top sights in South Africa include Table Mountain which you don't have to climb - instead you can hop on a cable car. At the foot of the mountain is Groot Constantia, which is South Africa's oldest winery, having been established in 1685. For one of the most beautiful journeys, head down the Cape Peninsula until you reach the nature reserve of Cape Point. It's a great winter sun spot too, and between December and January, temperatures can reach highs of 29C. Head of Travel (Digital), Caroline McGuire, visited the world's cheapest long haul holiday which is perfect for families - with no jet lag, jaw-dropping animals and perfect beaches. Plus, the budget airline that's launching first UK flights to one of Africa's best-value holiday destinations.


The Guardian
3 days ago
- The Guardian
Love story of two Edwardian servants on Yorkshire estate told in new collection
He was a valet, she was a kitchen maid and more than a century ago they met because of his passion for photography and desperate need of a warm place to use as a makeshift studio. Alf Edwards and Caroline Palmer worked at opposite ends of an imposing country house, set in a huge estate with hundreds of employees, and there was little other reason for their paths to cross. But they did and they fell in love and married despite everyone advising them not to. The poignant, Edwardian below-stairs love story of Alf and Caroline is revealed in what English Heritage says is the most significant and biggest donation of objects relating to servants that it has ever received. The couple's grandson Gordon Edwards donated more than 60 objects, which include photographs, letters, postcards and personal items such as Alf's camera, Caroline's gold watch and a handmade engagement present. They document a story that could be a plot line from Downton Abbey, and add more widely to understanding of life at Brodsworth Hall, near Doncaster, a Victorian country house once owned by the 'shoot-in-winter, yacht-in-summer' Thellusson family. 'It is a fabulous story and a fabulous group of objects,' said Eleanor Matthews, English Heritage's curator of collections and interiors. 'Collections like this just don't survive.' Matthews said Brodsworth had always been very good at telling the stories of people who worked at the house. 'But having objects that the servants owned, used, looked at, had in their rooms whilst they were working at the house … that just makes it super-special.' Alf and Caroline were the employees of Charles and Constance Thellusson, whose ancestor Peter Thellusson had bought the Brodsworth estate in 1791. Peter Thellusson had amassed a huge fortune, a substantial part of it linked to the transatlantic slave economy. When he died he left what has been described as 'one of the most spectacularly vindictive wills in British history', with the bulk of it left in trust for as yet unborn descendants. The current Brodsworth Hall was built between 1861-63 and survives, virtually unchanged, as a mid-Victorian vision of a comfortable country house. It was here, as the first world war loomed, that Alf and Caroline met because of his enthusiasm for photography. They began courting and were quickly engaged, perhaps because of the times. Many men employed at Brodsworth were conscripted but Alf, because of ill-health, was unable to sign up. Soon Caroline was promoted to cook at Brodsworth and Alf took on extra duties including becoming chauffeur. His poor health led everyone to advise the couple not to marry and they briefly separated. But the parting was too much and on 17 July 1916 they married and had three happy years, during which time Caroline gave birth to two boys, before Alf died from tuberculosis aged 34. Matthews said Caroline lived a long life and always talked fondly of her time at Brodsworth. The donated objects include Alf's camera, made by Eastman Kodak of Rochester New York and possibly purchased on a trip he took to the east coast of the US with the Thellussons in 1914. There is also what is thought to be Alf's engagement present to Caroline – a wooden picture frame handcarved by him with a good luck message and a horse shoe fixed to it. A number of the objects have now gone on display at the house and the hope is they may help to unlock other stories. Matthews said the trove included the earliest image of staff at the estate. 'Hopefully in time we will be able to identify them all,' she said. 'These beautiful, poignant items tell a story largely unknown to us until now and, thanks to the donation, we are able to add another layer of understanding to the rich fabric of Brodsworth's history.' While the collection is catalogued and conserved, a few select pieces including Alf's camera, the carved wooden stool, three pipes, first world war registration cards, postcards, and Caroline's wedding wristwatch will go on display for the first time at Brodsworth Hall from Wednesday.