Christmas dinner catastrophes, a spaghetti-covered baby and a dinner which went less than plain sailing are all in the running to win the UK’s best dinner time disaster competition.

To celebrate the launch of its new dining and living room collection, furniture specialist, ScS, is asking people to submit photos and stories of their funniest foodie fails and mealtime mess-ups and has already received a heap of hilarious entries.

The competition will crown the nation’s best dinner time disaster and the lucky winner will receive a new dining table and four chairs.

Simon Nicholson, Furniture Buying Director at ScS, said: “Meal times provide a great opportunity to bring the family together, whether it’s to chat about your day, share a giggle or get something off your chest. But family dinners don’t always go to plan and can result in some hilarious situations and fond family memories!

“We launched our Dinner Time Disasters competition to celebrate quality family time and the hilarious blunders and mishaps that often come with sitting down to enjoy a family meal. We’ve received some fantastic entries so far and can’t wait to see more.”

The Library of Birmingham’s role in supporting innovation and creativity was praised during a visit by the Government’s arts minister.

During a tour of the iconic venue, John Glen MP, heard how the library is a centre of excellence for literacy, research, creativity and entrepreneurship

Mr Glen visited the library’s Business, Learning and Intellectual Property Centre, which provides support for entrepreneurs and inventors, including free legal advice on how to protect and develop their ideas.

Last month the Library of Birmingham secured funding from Enterprise for Success, which will enable its business support and advice services to be expanded in community libraries across the city.

The arts minister was also shown the Shakespeare Memorial Room, which houses part of the city’s Shakespeare collection – the world’s largest in a public library - before moving onto Archives – which received its National Archive accreditation this week.

Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism John Glen said: "Libraries are so important to local communities, not only as places for people to access books and technology, but where they can also learn new skills. The Library of Birmingham is a great example of this and I have been very impressed with the services available to support local entrepreneurs and inventors."

Cllr Brigid Jones, deputy leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “The Library of Birmingham is one the city’s iconic cultural institutions, so this was a great opportunity to show the minister around this world-class library."

Last year the Library of Birmingham welcomed more than 1.6 million visitors through its doors, making it the busiest public library in the UK.

Magical yuletide markets, grottos, light shows and craft workshops will be on offer at the Treasure Houses of England – a consortium of historic estates including Beaulieu, Blenheim Palace, Burghley, Castle Howard, Chatsworth, Harewood House, Hatfield House, Holkham Hall, Leeds Castle, and Woburn Abbey.

Highlights include:

Beaulieu – Step back in time to 1889 to join the Montagu family, played by costumed actors, as they rehearse a Christmas Day pantomime and visitors are invited to join them on stage. Then join Lady Montagu in the Library for craft activities to make your own Christmas card or sparkling tree decorations. Meet Lord Montagu's cook as she prepares the Christmas feast, see a Christmas tree in every room and enjoy carols and punch by the fire. At the entrance to Beaulieu, take your photo with the life-size gingerbread house before following the magical path lit by fairy lights down to Palace House. The event runs on December 9th -10th and then from December 16th-January 1st. Please note the attraction will be closed on 25th December.

Blenheim Palace – Marvel as Blenheim Palace's Formal gardens are lit up in a rainbow of colour during an unforgettable after-dark festive trail of lights. The lake will be aglow with brightly-lit boats and dancing fountain jets, the arbour will be adorned with fairy lights, and fibre optics will transform the hedgerows – helping to create a magical wonderland. The event runs from November 24 – January 1. Closed 25th December.

Burghley – Food markets with a difference! Come and meet over 30 local suppliers at Burghley's biggest ever 4 day festive celebration of local produce. With handmade cheeses, artisan breads, organic vegetables, luxury sweet treats and rare breed meats. In the Courtyard from 9am to 4pm on Thursday 23rd November - Sunday 26th November. Free admission.

Castle Howard – A host of angels will descend on Castle Howard's grand state rooms to spectacular effect in Angels on High – set to be particularly special during candlelit twilight visits over the weekend of December 16 and 17. Throughout the festive season, 18 November - 23 December, visitors will be treated to live music around the house, seasonal menus, lit fires, indoor markets and Christmas goodies in the shop. For younger visitors, there will also be a Magical Christmas Garden, Audience with Father Christmas, Enchanted Evening with Father Christmas, a soaring Christmas tree and the return of Bompas & Parr's Gingerbread Castle Howard.

A special school in Oldbury is thrilled to be benefiting from volunteers from Network Rail who have transformed their school grounds.

The Meadows special school, on Dudley Road East, initially contacted Network Rail to ask for donations of sleepers to use in their memorial garden.

Network Rail responded by sending a team of volunteers who have given the school’s memorial garden a complete make-over.

The memorial garden area of the school was previously inaccessible for pupils and families who are wheelchair users and the school council and parents group wanted to improve access so everyone could have the opportunity to remember those pupils and staff that have passed away.

The team from Network Rail, headed up by Allun Edge, Infrastructure Maintenance Protection Coordinator, provided all of their labour on a volunteer basis, and used part of the ‘5 volunteer days’ that they are entitled to each year to support this worthwhile project.

Sixth Form students at the school kept the volunteers fed and watered providing them bacon and sausage sandwiches and gallons of tea and coffee.

Jo Cliffe, Head Teacher at The Meadows said: “We are absolutely stunned by the work that has been done by this wonderful team of volunteers from Network Rail.

“We would like to thank the Network Rail team for everything they have done and want to welcome them back soon for the official opening ceremony.

“When organisations engage with special schools, it is of benefit to our pupils, but also wider society – helping everyone to understand how important it is to accept diversity and celebrate the individual skills that each of us bring.

“Our pupils, families and the staff team at The Meadows are incredibly grateful for the work that has been undertaken and wish to express their heartfelt thanks for all that has been done in their behalf.”

Allun from Network Rail added: “It was a real pleasure for all of us to visit The Meadows, meet the brilliant pupils and help make the memorial garden a special place for them to enjoy. And those bacon sarnies were amazing!”

Work is still under way to get the garden finished. The school hope to raise some money for the centre piece sculpture by the local artist and sculptor, Luke Perry. This piece of artwork has been designed by Luke, along with the bereaved families, to remember the individual pupils in a personalised manner.

Wood Green war memorial is looking fresh ahead of this weekend’s Remembrance Sunday commemorations, thanks to the Armed Forces – with a bit of help from Tottenham Hotspur’s Christian Eriksen.

Flt Lt Will Brookes – chairman of Armed Forces Spurs – organised a clean-up of the monument, and took 13 other serving troops and veterans from the Navy, Army and RAF along with him.

The group – all from Armed Forces Spurs supporters’ group – travelled from across the country to pitch in alongside midfielder Eriksen, picking up leaves and scrubbing the monument, erected in 1920 to commemorate local soldiers who died in the First World War.

Flt Lt Brookes said:

As a supporters’ group we get to go on the pitch at games, we get to see players, we have the glamour, but we wanted to do something for the local area and get the memorial in shape for Remembrance Day. We wanted to come here and give a fitting tribute to these names on the memorial, of those who gave their lives for their country, and their families.

The Mayor of Haringey, Cllr Stephen Mann, went to meet the troops and show his support as Eriksen and Flt Lt Brookes laid wreaths at the site.

The Mayor – a former Navy serviceman – said of the clean-up:

The fact that these servicemen and women want to volunteer their free time, in between serving our country, speaks volumes about the people they are. It was an honour to meet the troops ahead of Remembrance Day. Their work at the memorial means that we in Wood Green continue to have a fitting tribute, where we can always remember the local heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in war.

KIDS across the country are being encouraged to Be Kind in an effort to curb bullying ahead of the Diana Award’s Anti-Bullying Week (13-17 November).

The Be Kind campaign – which aims to inspire kids to Speak Up, Stand Out and Be Kind – launched by ITV’s This Morning Show, is now being strongly supported by the popular stationery and gifts brand Smiggle.

Kids are being invited to visit their local Smiggle store in the West Midlands from Thursday 9th November to pick up a FREE, limited edition Smiggle #BeKind wrist band, to show their support for the cause.

150,000 bands have been produced by Smiggle and will be available across the country for anyone who wants to show their support. Celebrities appearing on This Morning throughout the week will also be showing their support by wearing a Smiggle #BeKind band.

John Cheston, Managing Director of Smiggle, said: “The happiness of our fans means everything to us – after all, Smiggle is where a smile meets a giggle. We want young people to speak out to a trusted adult if they’re being bullied, stand up if they see bullying taking place and choose kindness.

“We are proud to be working with the team at ITV’s This Morning to support the health and happiness of all young people by standing up against bullying.”

This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby said: “We really want this campaign to help children, their families and even bullies themselves to realise what they are doing. How much better would the world be if everyone was just that bit kinder to each other?”

Co-presenter Philip Schofield added: “I’m 100% behind this campaign. I hope we can save young lives and show the bullies how catastrophic one tweet, one snapchat or one text can be.”

This Morning Editor Martin Frizell said: "This Morning's Be Kind campaign has the power to save lives. Every single time somebody stands up to a bully they are stopping the devastating effects bullying can cause. So many children every day suffer in silence.

"We are grateful to Smiggle for their support. Let's all band together and Be Kind to stop bullying."

People taking part in the campaign are being encouraged to wear their free Smiggle wristbands and upload their photos to social media throughout the week to show their support, using the hashtag #BeKind.*