It wasn’t all bad

The water vole is set to make a return to England’s riverbanks. Immortalised as Ratty in Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, the rodents used to be a common sight, but since the 1970s, numbers have fallen by 90%. Now conservationists have launched the biggest ever reintroduction of the species in England: 325 voles, taken from stronger populations in Scotland, were released into Northumberland’s Kielder Forest last week; a further 350 are set to be released in August.

A 19th century violin, held in a collection in Oxford, has been sent to a teenage musician living as a refugee in Lebanon. After fleeing Aleppo with his toy violin in hand, Aboud Kaplo, 14, consulted Youtube videos to teach himself to play. When film-maker Susie Attwood met him, she was so impressed by his dedication that she asked Oxford University’s Bate Collection if it could help find him a real one. Though its loans are mainly to academics and students, it immediately agreed, and selected for him a high quality (though not precious) instrument that had belonged to a former curator.

A charity single to raise funds for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire was released this week. Coordinated by Simon Cowell, who owns a house in nearby Holland Park, the cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water features more than 50 stars, including Robbie Williams and Brian May (who also live in Kensington), and Rita Ora, who grew up near the tower and who was spotted helping the relief effort hours after the disaster. Fundraising efforts have been held across the UK, raising at least £3m so far.