Mealing – and Connie – take a TV break
ACTRESS Amanda Mealing is taking a break from Casualty after seven years playing Connie Beauchamp on the medical drama.
The Cardiff-based actress joined the long-running BBC One series in 2014, moving from sister show Holby City, where she had played the same character for six years. Future episodes will see Beauchamp embark on a career break and put her personal life ahead of work.
Mealing said: “It has been the most remarkable privilege to play Connie for the last 18 years.”
Mealing will appear on screen in Casualty until late March, show bosses said.
Deborah Sathe, senior head of content production for Holby City and Casualty, said: “We are going to miss Amanda playing chief of the ED Connie.
“We look forward to welcoming Connie back on to our screens in due course.”
■ Only 25.8% of children read for pleasure daily – and the numbers are in decline.
■ 383,755 children in the UK don’t own a book of their own.
■ In 2020, World Book Day gifted a million £1 books in the UK and Ireland.
■ One in seven children said the book they chose with their World Book Day token was the first book they owned. ■ 59% of children said during lockdown that reading made them feel better.
Wild flowers should not be picked, but left alone to grow for everyone – including important pollinators – to enjoy. These paper blooms are simple to make and look lovely.
YOU WILL NEED
Green and white tissue paper; yellow beads; thin wire (florist’s wire works well); scissors; sticky tape; glue; a small vase or container.
METHOD
1. Cut some lengths of wire about 15cm long for the stems and about 25cm long for the leaves. Make sure they are as straight as possible.
2. To make a stem, take a 15cm wire and lay it on a 15cm by 6cm strip of green tissue paper. Stick it to the paper with sticky tape. Cover the tissue in glue and roll/twist tightly around the wire. Leave to dry. 3. To make a leaf, bend a 25cm piece of wire in half to make a long, thin V-shape. Cut two pieces of green tissue the same length as your wire and 3cm wide. Use tape to stick your wire down to one piece of green tissue paper. Glue all over the surface of the tissue paper and stick on the second piece to cover the wire. Leave to dry.
4. For the snowdrop flower, cut a very thin strip of white tissue paper and wrap it around the end of the stem leaving a little bit of wire poking out. For the petals, take white tissue paper and cut out a flower shape. Make a small hole in the centre and thread the flower onto the stem behind the roll of white paper and stick the petals down. Glue on a bead to be the centre of your flower. Leave to dry.
5. Bend the head of your flower over to look like a snowdrop.
6. To make the leaves, cut around the wire shapes carefully and shape them to look like snowdrop leaves.
7. Arrange your flowers and leaves in a posy (wrap green tissue paper round the bottom to hold all the elements together) and display them in a small vase or other suitable container.
Use the same technique to make other spring flowers for your bouquet.