TRADITIONS

When the shops are full of Easter eggs you know, it will soon be Easter. But Easter isn't just about chocolate eggs. The custom of giving eggs at Easter celebrates new life. We remember that , after dying on the cross, rose from the dead.

The egg is a symbol of Jesus' resurrection, when the egg is cracked open it represents the empty tomb.

Long ago people gave gifts of eggs carved from wood or precious stones. The first sweet eggs that were eaten were made in the last 100 years from sugar or marzipan.

Since then chocolate eggs have become popular and these are given on Easter Sunday.

In some countries parents tell their children the Easter Hare or Bunny has hidden chocolate eggs and they race to find them round the house or garden.

In other countries eggs are decorated by painting or dyeing them.

In some countries, the preparation of Easter baskets takes place. Baskets are lined with a white linen and decorated with sprigs of boxwood the baskets contain a sampling of Easter foods: decorated eggs, a piece of or , salt and pepper, bread, a piece of cake and an Easter Lamb made of sugar or even plastic. They are brought to church to be blessed, and then eaten on Easter Sunday for breakfast

28 1 In England, typical Easter celebration meals are

Boiled eggs are served at breakfast, then Easter cards and gifts may be given.

Roast lamb, which is the main dish at Jewish Passover, is the traditional meat for the main meal on Easter Day. It is served with mint sauce and vegetables.

The traditional Easter pudding is custard tarts sprinkled with currants and flat Easter biscuits, they contain spices, currants and sometimes grated lemon rind A Simnel cake is eaten at tea time. This is a fruit cake with a thin layer of marzipan on the top, and another similar layer baked in the middle. The Easter version of this cake usually has eleven marzipan balls on the top: each ball representing one of the apostles. Although there were twelve apostles, one of them is excluded because he betrayed Jesus.

Have a happy and peaceful Easter

Christ is Risen

Deacon Bogdan

Enjoy colouring in this .

2 27 Make A Pancake Lion!

You will need:

Scotch pancakes

2 tangerines broken into segments

1 strawberry cut in half 2 blueberries

Writing icing or melted chocolate

To Make

Leaving enough space for his mane place your pancake in the middle of a plate.

Place the tangerine segments around the pancake to make the mane. Make sure they all face in the same direction.

Make his face by cutting a small triangle out of the wide end of your strawberry to give you a heart shaped strawberry for his nose.

Put your strawberry in the middle of his face. Put the blueberries on either side of the strawberry for his eyes.

Draw a mouth and whiskers below with melted chocolate or writing icing.

26 3

A Tale of two frogs

Two frogs had lived in a village all their lives. They thought they would like to go and see the big city that was about ten miles away.

They talked about it for a long time, and at last they set off to see the city.

It was a hot day, and they soon began to feel tired. They had only gone a little way when one said to the other, "We must be nearly there. Can you see the city?"

"No," said the other frog; "but if I climb on your back I might be able to see it."

So he climbed up on the back of the other frog to see the city.

Now when the frog put up his head, his eyes could only see what was behind, and not what was in front. So he saw the village they had just left.

"Can you see the city?", asked the frog who was below.

"Yes," answered the frog who had climbed up. " I can see it. It looks just like our village."

Then the frogs thought that it was not worthwhile going any farther. They went back and told the frogs round the village that they had seen the city, and it was just like theirs.

4 25 Jokes

Q: What did the spider do on the computer? A: Made a website!

Q: How can you tell the ocean is friendly?

A: It waves.

Q: How do you make a milk shake? A: Give it a good scare!

Q: What gets wetter the more it dries? A: A towel.

Q: What has one head, one foot and four legs? A: A Bed

Q: What stays in the corner, but travels around the world? A: A stamp!

Q: What is harder to catch the faster you run? A: Your breath!

24 5 I love shopping in Stonehouse

I love going shopping in Stonehouse. It's much better than supermarket shopping when I have to stay in the car as I'm not allowed in. I do have my favourite cuddle rug, with the windows open for air and the radio on for company. If I can't sleep and I get a bit bored I can always jump about a bit which often sets off the car alarm, which gets me some attention.

However shopping in Stonehouse is different, I get heaps of attention for a start, and I'm allowed into lots of shops, tasty morsels can often be hoovered up in one of the cafes, and I can admire the bones outside the butchers. Mr Broomhall makes me smile when he threatens to make me into , don't think he means it! My most favourite shop is in Quietways and I refuse to walk past that ever. It's called AllPets and not only does it have lovely ladies who give me treats, but there are often little animals in cages who I can terrorise, though they don't ever look that scared.

Going shopping in Stonehouse is sometimes combined with a trip to the park and I love that, often meeting some of my doggy and human friends, and we rush around doing important business that dogs have to do.

Lots of people know me in Stonehouse, if you meet me do say hello

Love from Pasha

6 23 Hole in the Hand

What You Need: Cardboard paper towel tube

Instructions: Did you know that you have the amazing ability to see right through your hand?

Here’s how to do it:

Take a cardboard paper towel tube and look through it with your right eye.

Place your left hand against the tube with the palm of your hand facing you.

Look straight ahead with both eyes open and you’ll see that a hole has formed in your hand!

22 7 Honesty the best policy!

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the woods; but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner… As he was walking back he saw Grandma’s pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved! In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile; only to see his Sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said, ‘Sally, let’s wash the dishes’ But Sally said, ‘Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.’ Then she whispered to him, “Remember the duck?’ So Johnny did the dishes. Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, ‘I’m sorry but I need Sally to help make supper. ’Sally just smiled and said, ‘well that’s all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help? She whispered again, ‘Remember the duck?’ So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help. After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s; he Finally couldn’t stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, ‘Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.’

8 21 A picture for you to colour Mountain Story - An interesting short story

"A son and his father were walking on the mountains. Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself and screams: "AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" To his surprise, he hears the voice repeating, somewhere in the mountain: "AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Curious, he yells: "Who are you?" He receives the answer: "Who are you?" And then he screams to the mountain: "I admire you!" The voice answers: "I admire you!" Angered at the response, he screams: "Coward!" He receives the answer: "Coward!" He looks to his father and asks: "What's going on?" The father smiles and says: "My son, pay attention." Again the man screams: "You are a champion!" The voice answers: "You are a champion!" The boy is surprised, but does not understand. Then the father explains: "People call this ECHO, but really this is LIFE. It gives you back everything you say or do. Our life is simply a reflection of our actions. If you want more love in the world, create more love in your heart. If you want more competence in your team, improve your competence. This relationship applies to everything, in all aspects of life; Life will give you back everything you have given to it."

YOUR LIFE IS NOT A COINCIDENCE. IT'S A REFLECTION OF YOU!" -- Unknown Author 20 9 Now can you help her go who through this more difficult maze? St George Patron Saint of England

10 19 How about colouring in this picture of George and the dragon.

18 11 Join the dots following the numbers before colouring the picture How to make a WOODEN spoon DRAGON

You will need: A wooden spoon Green paint Green craft foam Scraps of red, yellow and orange craft foam Green glitter glue PVA glue Wiggle eyes Black permanent pen Instructions: Paint the spoon with green paint and leave to dry.

Fold the green foam in half. Draw a wing shape with the bottom along the fold. Cut around the wing shape. Unfold and decorate the wings with the glitter glue.

Draw around the bowl of the spoon onto green foam. Cut out and glue to the spoon at the base of the handle (this is the lower part of the jaw).

Glue the eyes to the back of the spoon, and draw on the nose with black pen.

12 17 Unscramble the letters to find the colours and fill in the crossword. Cover the middle of the wing piece with the glue and wrap it round the spoon (you may need to tape in place with low mask tape to The answers are in the grey box below. hold it while the glue dries) Now cut an arrow-shaped tail from green foam, decorate with glitter glue and glue to the end of the spoon. ACROSS Finally cut a flame shape from yellow foam, a slightly smaller one from orange foam and an even smaller one from yellow foam. Glue 2. lbeu 3. der them together in a pile and stick to the bottom of the dragon s 6. nereg mouth. 8. hewit 9. clbka

Wartime Memories DOWN

1. greano 2. wrnob When the second world war broke out, I was just eight years old. 4. leylwo Japan finally surrendered in 1945 After nine years of war we looked 5. lupper 7.nipk forward to the end of rationing, but this continued for many years after. Even in 1953, the year I was married, some food could only be bought using our ration books. My family was very fortunate in that we lived in the country and my father was able to grow vegetables in our garden. A kind local farmer would give us the odd wild rabbit to eke out our meat

ration; on one occasion we had some whale meat – that was as

purple 7. pink 7. purple tough as old boots! Our egg ration was supplemented by pet doves

brown 4. yellow 5. 5. yellow 4. brown which provided us with an irregular supply. Thanks to my dear Down 1. orange 2. 2. orange 1. Down

black black mother’s culinary skills, I never remember being hungry.

green 8. white 9. 9. white 8. green Joan Franklin Across 2.blue 3.red 6. 6. 3.red 2.blue Across

Answers

16 13 Would you like to make an The Dog and His Reflection EASTER GARDEN?

an Aesop Fable

This is one way of making your Easter garden but you may like to use your own ideas.

Directions A dog was walking home with his dinner, a large slab of meat, in his mouth. On his way home, he walked by a river. 1. Fill a shallow dish or tray with soil from the garden or potting compost. Looking in the river, he saw another dog with a handsome chunk of meat in his mouth. 2. Arrange the soil so that there is a hill on one side.

3. Cover the soil with moss, scattered cut grass or sand. "I want that meat, too," thought the dog, and he snapped at the dog to grab his meat which caused him to drop his 4. Make three crosses with dried twigs tied with sewing thread, and place on the hill. dinner in the river.

5. Make a cave in the bottom of the hill for the tomb where Jesus ______was laid. Place a stone in front of it.

6. Make one or two little holes in the soil and put in small containers such as egg cups and then fill them with water. Too much greed results in nothing.

7. On Easter day put some pretty flowers in the containers and move back the stone from the tomb, showing that it is empty.

14 15