Baby lambs, whose mothers have died whilst giving birth on farms in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire this Spring are being thrown a life line at an 'orphanage' in the Forest of Dean. Livestock carer Laura Johnson is nursing the orphans to health and happiness with day and night survival tipples of warm milk at the Mohair Farm Park, Little London, Longhope. After hitting the bottle in their cosy new refuge, the farm's first arrivals, Lenny and Penny, twin speckle faced lambs from a flock in Herefordshire are now bundles of new life and energy.

Farm park owner Mr. Chris Turney, who set up the temporary rescue centre said: 'The lambs were so thin and weak that they were brought to us huddled up in a cardboard box, but Laura's round the clock vigil has ensured that these two forlorn lambs are now chasing about in the barn and gambolling in one of the meadows, when it is dry enough.'

Another early arrival, a little ram lamb named Billy Whizz has been revitalized to such an extent that he regularly breaks out of the barn to frolic with the domestic farm deer in a neighbouring paddock. Mr. Turney explained: 'With the lambing season in full swing, this is a feverish time for sheep farmers. Those with very big flocks are extremely hard pressed to look after lambs whose mothers have just died. It is a real nightmare for them because they do not have the time to spend on essential bottle feeding every few hours for the best part of six weeks; so for a variety of reasons, a number of orphans will inevitably be lost before they are many hours old. However, here at the Mohair Farm Park we have the time, the staff resources and the experience to ensure that these vulnerable little lambs pull through and flourish.

Laura keeps a near 24 hours a day watch to guarantee their well being, getting up two or three times during the night to bottle feed them with a special warm milk formula and of course, the hundreds of children who visit our big indoor play barn every week love to watch what's going on and in some cases, actually lend a hand with the day time feeding. When the lambs grow up they will be integrated into our own small flock for breeding purposes'.

Pictured below, Laura Johnson supervises while Catherine Leowenthal, Victoria Phipps, Elissa Moor, Bethan Moor and Lucy Phipps bottle feed some Jacob Cross orphan lambs. Whilst I was visiting the Centre a Saanen Goat gave birth to kids - two boys and a girl. They are also pictured below and were born between just 1½ and 1¾ hour before the photos were taken.

Year five pupils at Walford Primary School have been taking part in a project on smoothies as part of a topic on healthy living.

The children formed companies and took part in various challenges, from creating advertising campaigns, smoothie tasting, identifying which fruits were used and market research. A database was created for each child to fill in, identifying their favourite fruits.

The children designed and made smoothies for other children around the school to judge. They then created spreadsheets to keep account of their income and outgoings.

Finally, they designed and made fruity hats and finished off their project by enjoying a party, all of the food being made with different fruits.

Above: Tick Tock, one of Britain's most dazzling music groups for the under 5's celebrated its first anniversary with an Easter celebration. Children from Ross-on-Wye and the Forest of Dean joined in the celebrations at Bishopswood Village Hall and were visited by the Tick Tock Easter Bunny. Toddlers, mums, dads, nannies and grannies joined in the fun, sporting some fantastic Easter bonnets.

Tick Tock takes place at Bishopswood Village Hall every Tuesday from 10 am until 11 am with a fresh toe-tapping programme each week. Each session combines sing-a-long songs, old and new, nursery rhymes and role play with costumes, props, puppets and instruments. Classes will resume on Tuesday 25th April. Turn up at the door or call Millie on 01981 541 373 for further information.

Below: Children from Weston-under-Penyard Pre-school Playgroup held an Easter Bonnet competition at Weston Village Hall on Tuesday 4th April. In the photograph are Alfie Weyman, Jonathan Wright, Ingrid Morgan, Abbie Price (1st prize), Mia Evens-Powell (2nd prize), Georgina Cornwall (3rd prize), Imogen Ryan, Sophia Reynolds, Cally Leeth, Thomas Marshall. George Aubrey, Lydia Whitehouse, Nia Ryan, Ellie-May Marfell, Phoebe Gibson, Oliver Booth, Katie Smith, Zoe Price.