As we approach the shortest days of the year, and the coldest, the last thing most homeowners will want to think about is getting out in the garden to do some clipping back or raking up the leaves that are rapidly falling.

Around this time of year gardens are  starting to look a little tired, drab and in need of some colour to brighten them up. If you’ve just moved into a new-build home, the garden is a blank canvas, and it’s all too easy to put gardening off until the warmer weather arrives, but there are plenty of things to do to keep your garden looking good and to attract winter wildlife during the colder months.

NHBC, the UK’s leading warranty and insurance provider for new homes, is offering all homeowners some autumn tips to get your garden ready for winter and spring:

-           Treat your lawn with autumn fertiliser to help strengthen the grass ahead of winter. Be careful not to use a traditional summer fertiliser because this can encourage grass to grow, making it more susceptible to frost.

-          Tidy up your garden by clipping back all the summer growth. Plant some of the off-cuts in pots if you want more in your garden or to share with friends and family.

-          Dig up your annual plants so you have space to plant pansies and other bedding plants that will be blooming in the spring. Bulbs need to be planted at a depth of two to three times their height so they’ll bloom in Spring.

-          Regular autumnal showers mean the soil is moist and perfect for transplanting work if you need to move any of your established plants around.

-          Remove dead and yellowing leaves to prevent your plants from decaying as the temperature drops. If you have a pond, make sure you cover it with a net to prevent fallen leaves from polluting the water.

-          To protect your flower beds and other frost-sensitive plants, cover them in bubble wrap.

-          To help garden wildlife during the lean winter months, fill bird feeders with nuts and seeds and plant berry bushes such as holly.

Two of Severn Trent’s senior leadership team, Sarah Bentley, Chief Customer Officer, and Jane Simpson, Head of Asset Creation, have been named in Cranfield University’s ‘100 Women to Watch’ list, further showing the company’s commitment to diversity,

Sarah Bentley, Severn Trent’s Chief Customer Officer is a member of the Executive Committee and runs the water and waste network as well as the retail operation and group technology.  She is responsible for the whole customer experience and providing great service to 3.5 million households and over 8 million customers across the Midlands and into Wales.  Jane Simpson, as Head of Asset Creation, oversees 150 engineers in house and 1000 people in the supply chain, and manages £1.2bn worth of investment, including the company’s biggest ever engineering project to secure water supplies for over a million customers in Birmingham.

In 2009, Cranfield School of Management published The 100 Women to Watch. Now in its 8^th year, it aims to highlight the broad and deep female talent pool for UK businesses to draw on, by showcasing different talent and, in so doing, refuting the myth that there is a limited supply of willing and able women to take on board-level accountability in UK listed companies.  This year is not the first time that Severn Trent has been included in the list, in 2016 Bronagh Kennedy, General Counsel and Company Secretary, was one to watch and also in 2014, Liv Garfield, now Severn Trent’s CEO.

Severn Trent has a proud record of diversity, especially female representation, with women making up 44% of Severn Trent’s Board, 60% of the Executive Committee and 27% of the senior leadership team.  In addition, Severn Trent is ranked joint first in the FTSE 100 for female representation at Board level by the Hampton-Alexander review, and has recently reported a mean gender pay gap of just 2.4%, which is well below the national and industry averages.

Liv Garfield, CEO at Severn Trent, said: “I’m delighted that two of our leading women are recognised in the Cranfield University ‘100 Women to Watch’ list.  It’s a real honour to have our colleagues listed alongside so many talented women, and I think it’s important that we have strong female role models like Sarah and Jane.

“Diversity is really important to everyone at Severn Trent and we believe that successful businesses are those that embrace a diverse and inclusive culture that welcomes people from all walks of life.  But we know there’s always more to do in our ambition to go further and deliver more opportunities for everyone.”

Earlier this year, Severn Trent was named in the first-ever Social Mobility Employer Index as one of Britain’s top employers for the actions the company is taking to make sure everyone has the opportunity to find a job and to be promoted, regardless of their gender or background.

Builders, plumbers and electricians and more from across the country are taking part in the MyBuilder 2017 Hero Project, giving up a day of their time to carry out work for homeowners who would normally be unable to get essential work done.

MyBuilder.com, the leading online marketplace for homeowners to find quality tradesmen, has launched its annual Hero Project, challenging generous tradespeople to give up a day of their time to undertake jobs for people in need. Tradespeople from all over the UK are already answering the call, taking on jobs without pay in order to help people out this Christmas.

If you or someone you know has not been able to afford a small, but essential job around the house, the MyBuilder Hero Project might be able to help.

To take part, homeowners-in-need can simply post a Hero Project job on the website, explaining what the job is and why they need it done. MyBuilder will then attempt to match them with tradespeople who will volunteer up to a day of their time, as well as compensating every tradesperson who takes part up to £100 for material costs.

Jobs that have already been posted on the site include fitting an extractor fan for a homeless shelter, and painting an autistic child’s bedroom their favourite colour.

Commenting on the Hero Project, MyBuilder founder and CEO Ryan Notz said:

“We know how much the amazing tradespeople that use MyBuilder love their communities, and we knew they’d jump at the chance to give something back this Christmas. When we’ve run the Hero Project in the past, we were overwhelmed with the response we got, and we expect this year to be bigger than ever. I’m sure we can help people and families in need across the country at a time when they need it most.

18-month-old Daisy Blakeley, from Kingswinford, is set to be the star of Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Foundation Trust Annual Christmas Concert.

Taking place at St Martin in the Bullring on Wednesday 13 December at 7pm, the event is set to be bigger and better than ever as it’s the first time the two hospital charities will host the Christmas Concert as a joint initiative.

The event will treat guests to Christmas carols and fundraising festivities for the £2 million Critical Journey’s Appeal - a cause very close to Daisy’s family’s heart.

The Appeal will raise money to kit out four Critical Care Ambulances with the latest, life-saving medical equipment. This will enable the KIDS/NTS service to respond faster and more effectively, helping critically ill patients and their families in the West Midlands get to the right place, at the right time, for the right treatment.

At just seven-months old and following her first trip to see Father Christmas, Daisy began to have breathing difficulties and was later diagnosed with severe bronchiolitis. After reaching the final stage of her treatment she needed an urgent transfer to a different hospital to be ventilated.

Dad, Andrew, remembers: “The KIDS/NTS team arrived very quickly, straight-away we were put at ease and felt totally reassured that Daisy was in the best possible hands. Both of us were able to travel in the ambulance and the team were absolutely fantastic throughout the whole process, they told us what was happening and why.

“As a family, we know without the fantastic support the KIDS/NTS team provided Daisy, she may well not be with us today. We can’t thank them enough for everything they did.”

Daisy’s family have shared their story to help raise awareness of the appeal and Dad, Andrew, will be sharing more of his story on the evening following performances from The School of Theatre Excellence, Signature String Quartet and Benson Community School. Daisy is just one of over 2,000 babies, children and young people moved by the Critical Care Ambulances every year.

Miranda Williams, Public Fundraising Manager at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Daisy and her family to our annual Christmas Concert as their story is at the heart of our Critical Journeys Appeal. The money raised from the concert will transform our vital KIDS/NTS service an advice, stabilisation and transport service dedicated to the management of critically ill babies, children and young people across the West Midlands.

“Our Christmas Concert is a fantastic evening full of festive fun and it’s not too late to get your tickets so come along and join us for yuletide treats and Christmas carols whilst showing your support for the Critical Journeys Appeal.”

Royal protocol is such, for centuries that would have forbidden the match. Not too long ago, it would have been nigh-on impossible to imagine a Prince becoming engaged to marry a woman who doesn’t ‘tick the boxes’ - in any way – that is the ‘given’ as history has revealed.

So, as 2018 is on the starting blocks, and the impending nuptials of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle gathers greater column-inches, their collective generation of royal followers, and future news-seekers of the monarchy, will continue to doth their caps to someone who is proving, ongoing, to be a man for all people.

Given that actress Meghan is Black, Catholic, divorced and from the United States, the prospect of the ‘Suits’ star being beside the fifth in line to the throne marks probably the most telling indication that the House of Windsor is, more so now than ever before, ‘representing’ their people over whom they rule.

Less of a constitutional significance than, say, had Prince Harry had been older than his brother, Prince William, but the fact that his relationship with the 36-year-old is likely to be played out on pretty much every given media platforms, for, ostensibly, an unimaginably endless period of time, it’s clear that these are changed times.

The right-wing tabloids have made Ms. Markle’s race a talking point and were criticized for dog-whistle racism in their coverage of her, with one – the Daily Mail - describing Markle’s mother’s neighbourhood as being “famous for gangs” as it detailed the number of crimes that happened in the vicinity of her home.

The young, dashing 33-year-old Prince Harry is the very epitome of what his late mother, Princess Diana, represented.  And, with his relationship with the ‘90210,’ ‘CSI: NY’ and ‘Castle’ star the subject of endless bulging discussions and mega media hype, it’s just plain to see; Love clearly does conquer ALL.

Discover the real 'Behind the Scenes' at Blenheim Palace, in a fascinating limited edition tour for 2018. 'Restoration & Conservation' will be the theme of the guided tours which will begin in the New Year as part of the extended opening season experience offered to visitors at the Oxford World Heritage Site.

The 'Restoration & Conservation' tour will be exclusively available from 5th January – 28th February, running twice per day excluding Sundays. The new tours will tie in to the annual deep clean of Blenheim Palace which will now be on full to visitors during this period. The tour will give an in-depth look into what is being done in each of the State Rooms.

Kate Ballenger, House Manager at Blenheim Palace: “Each year, when the Palace is usually closed, the Operations team, accompanied by various specialists, complete the 'deep clean'. This process is much more than just cleaning, it is the careful review of the entire collection followed by a thorough cleaning programme alongside the ongoing conservation and restoration work.

This tour of the Palace gives insights into both the deep clean and the conservation and restoration that is happening at present and has happened in the past.”

The new tours will look at two very important aspects of running a 300 year old Palace, including restoring a piece of art, building or tapestry to its original condition, as well as the preservation and repair of the historical and cultural site and its artefacts. The tour will also examine the theme of renovation, exploring how Blenheim Palace must also modernise and remain as a comfortable family home and appealing to visitors.

From the necessary continuing restoration of the 'Capability' Brown Cascades and Bladon dams, work which will total approximately £2m when completed to keeping the Palace safe for its inhabitants and visitors, the tour will look at which projects are undertaken, when and why.

The fascinating tour will also look at the most impactful projects including The Eyes in 1928. Painted for the 2nd wife of the 9th Duke, Gladys Deacon, these have a great visual impact on visitors. Exposure to the elements over 80 years had caused the painting and plaster work to degrade to a point where they were barely visible.

From clocks to paintings each piece of work often requires specialist and niche attention, with specialists sought from all over the world to complete the painstaking tasks of restoring priceless pieces of history.

The job of cleaning the China collection used to fall to the 10th Duchess and her unfortunate administrator, Archie Illingworth – he used to dread the call, 'Mr Illingworth, today we are going to clean the China!' The Duchess would wash the China and it was Archie's responsibility to dry it.

One of the recent renovations is the Bouchain Tapestry, the priceless 18th century tapestry depicting one of Britain's most important military victories is 25ft wide and almost 15 feet high. The giant wall hanging is made of wool and silk and was woven in the Brussels workshop of the Flemish weaver, Judocus de Vos.

Part of a set of 10, the tapestries are the most accurate and detailed contemporary records that exist of the campaign, not least because the 1st Duke, John Churchill, provided accurate battle plans and portraits of the principal characters. After being painstakingly removed from the walls of the Palace's Second State Room, the tapestry was carefully rolled up before being transported back to the city it was originally created in for renovation. It took a year to completely renovate!

From keeping the rain out, Blenheim Palace has over 7 acres of roof, to protecting ceremonial robes, the Marlborough's Coronation Robes were beginning to deteriorate in the sunlight, there is much to learn and lots of exciting facts to discover.