Elped lift us from the gloom and doom of 2016 is love
RO RESCUE DOG TO HOLLYWOOD THE SONG-AMINUTE MAN WALNUT’S LAST WALK THE OAP WHO WANTED TO WORK
ed olm s to after ople rt to the heraid: and ome des who ribu- BRITAIN RITAIN enjo enjoyed ed a h hugege ro royal love-in to celebrate the Queen’s 90th.
Thousands watched Trooping the Colour in June. The Mall in London was transformed into a giant street party. Across the UK, school kids wore hand-made crowns and communities organised fetes and garden parties. ITT did didn’t’t mattertt what htf footballtb ll t team you supported. When Leicester City clinched the Premier League title in May their fairytale win left us full of admiration for the underdogs. The club was written off as relegation candidates at the start of the season and were 5,000-1 outsiders to take the trophy. IN her six years at Freshfields Animal Rescue Centre, Freya the Staffordshire bull terrier had been snubbed by prospective owners 18,000 times. Film director Michael Bay read the story on mirror.co.uk and was so touched he offered to adopt her. A local couple snapped her up first but Michael was still a fan. So he gave Freya, six, a role in next year’s Transformers: The Last Knight. From rescue dog to red carpet – it’s far from a dog’s life for Freya now. FORMER Butlin’s Redcoat Ted McDermott sang his way into our hearts when a video of him crooning with his son went viral.
Ted, 80, suffers from Alzheimer’s but remembers the words to Frank Sinatra classic You Make Me Feel So Young. When son Simon posted a picture of them singing it in their own Carpool Karaoke on YouTube it went crazy, raising more than £150,000 for the Alzheimer’s Society. YOU’D need d a hearth t off stonet not to be moved by the tale of Walnut the whippet.
After taking the decision to put down his beloved 18-year-old dog, owner Mark Woods put out a call on social media for anyone who wanted to accompany him and Walnut on their last walk together in November.
Hundreds turned up with their dogs at Porth Beach, Newquay, as Mark carried Walnut in a blanket. He gently lowered the dog on to the sand, allowing him to dip his paw in the water one final time. Walnut died later that day. THE world ld was ini awe of f th the refugeef survivorsi team who took centre stage at the Rio Olympics.
For the first time a team of “displaced” athletes with “no home, no flag and no national anthem” overcame adversity to compete. Some were separated from their families, others had fled homes destroyed by conflict. They included Syrian swimmer Yusra Mardini, 18, who saved 20 other refugees in the Med by pushing their sinking
dinghy towards dry land in Greece. ARMY veteran JoeJ BartleyB l was giveni a job at his local cafe after complaining of being “bored to death” aged 89. Joe, of Paignton, Devon, placed an ad in his local news- paper looking for work earlier this month It read: “Senior citizen, 89, seeks employment... still able to clean, light gardening, DIY and anything. Save me f r om dying of boredom!” He was hired by a local cafe owner. But his new boss had to act fast – Joe was flooded with offers from across the globe.