A consultation on changes to the council tax benefit system is drawing to a close and people have just two more weeks to respond.

From April 1, 2013 the current council tax benefit scheme is being abolished by the Government. Council tax benefit is claimed by low or no income households to help them pay their council tax. Currently it is a nationally regulated scheme, with rules about who is entitled set by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

The East Riding of Yorkshire council currently processes and pays around 28,000 council tax benefit claims of which around 15,500 (58 per cent) are pensioners who are excluded from any changes and will continue to be protected under the existing scheme.

All local authorities have been required by the Government to design their own local schemes to support those who need help with their council tax. The scheme is only applicable to working age households as pensioners are protected and will not see any changes in their assessments as a result of the new scheme.

The Government will be reducing the funding available to local authorities to deliver the new scheme, which will mean that there will be less money available to support working age residents. In the East Riding in 2011/12 around £23 million was spent on council tax benefit. The funding for 2013/14 will be reduced by at least £2.5 million. Savings will need to be made by either reducing the support provided to working age claimants or by finding savings elsewhere in the council’s budget.

THE Beverley based charity Real AId - which has a store in Drifield - is poised to launch it’s annual gift box campaign.

Gifts donated by local people will be sent to come of the world’s poorest children. A A spokeswoman said: “Last year we received a record breaking response from schools groups and the public allowing us to change the lives of 6154 children.

“These gift boxes were hand delivered by ourselves to some of the poorest communities in Sierra Leone, Moldova and Romania.

“With your help we look forward to another successful year.”

for further information, log on to www.realaid.org.uk or write to Units 4-8 Riverside Works, Hull Bridge Road, HU17 9RT Tickton

PLANS to use local businesses and natural resources to boost the region’s economy were unveiled at a forum meeting.

Lord Haskins, Humber Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) chairman, set out the five-year plan earlier in October.

The LEP thinks the Humber estuary can power regional and national economies as the UK’s largest ports complex and as an attractive site for offshore wind farms.

A major part of the plan focuses on developing an energy super cluster centred on offshore wind, and also promotes supporting local companies to trade internationally.

Lord Haskins said: “Our Plan for the Humber is grounded in reality and deliverable.

“The LEP is now looking to deliver these objectives with local and national partners. Close working relationships both locally and with government are essential.

“The Humber’s offer for ports and energy leads the UK so we want to continue our excellent relationships with government departments to ensure that we reach our potential and play our part in the economic recovery.”

Michael Fallon MP, Minister for Business and Enterprise, said: “The Humber LEP’s plan builds on its strengths in leadership and local business knowledge, and will use the relationships it has with civic leaders and local firms to implement its ambitions.

“I look forward to seeing the partnership deliver this growth plan and make a real difference across the Humber.”

The plan can be accessed online at www.humberlep.org.

Age UK East Riding is urging people to ask for a written quote upfront when buying funeral services to ensure they don’t get caught out by hidden charges.

With funeral costs on the rise in recent years, many people ask for a basic funeral quote in the hope that it will be the most cost-effective option. But to avoid any unpleasant surprises when the final bill arrives, it is essential to clarify what is included and which goods and services have to be paid for as extras before booking anything.

Gillian Banks, Trading Manager at Age UK East Riding said, “Before purchasing a funeral always ask for a written quote which outlines all the costs. Make sure that you clarify upfront exactly what is included in the price and that it covers all the services you require. A cheap offer at first sight can turn out rather more expensive if you have to pay extra for many additional items.

“Those who want to protect themselves against future price rises should consider a funeral plan.“

HUMBERSIDE police have warned village residents to be on the lookout for any suspicious activity after a spate house burglaries.

On Wednesday October 10 thieves entered a property on Foston Lane, North Frodingham by smashing a double glazed upvc window with a rock and opening the window from the outside. The french doors leading into the ground floor living room were also smashed to allow access to the house.

The broken windows and doors will cost thousands of pounds to repair and replace.

A gentleman’s wedding ring, two gentleman’s signet rings and a telephone router were stolen from the scene.

It is believed that the thieves also made a failed attempt at entering the property through a ground floor, conservatory window which was attacked with a tool, possible a crowbar or a large screwdriver.

Police are pursuing several lines of enquiry but ask anyone who has any information about this burglary to contact the police on 101 and quote crime reference number 1935135.

During the day on Thursday October 11 a semi-detached house on the A614 in Thornholme was approached while the owner was away.

Thieves entered the house by smashing a small glass panel in the front door.

The house was searched and several items were takren including two sets of diamond earrings, a silver and mother of pearl wristwatch with gemstones on the numerals, an xbox games console, a Nintendo wii games console and an Apple Ipad.

Forensic evidence being investigated and retailers dealing in second hand jewellery have been made aware of the stolen items.

If you have any information about this burglary please contact the police on 101 quoting the crime reference number 1935552.

Overnight on Saturday October 13 a decorative, metal sign was removed from a house on Applegarth Lane in Bainton.

The sign is described as being a circular, black and yellow AA road sign with a winged crest at the top.

Written onto the sign is; “Driffield, Bainton, Market Weighton, London” with their mileages.

Whilst the owner of the property was in bed an unknown offender moved a pile of logs to stand on so that they could reach and remove the sign which was attached to the gable end of an outbuilding which faces the main street.

The sign had been carefully removed so that there was no sign of damage to the outbuilding.

Anybody with any information about this theft is asked to contact the police on 101 quoting the crime reference number 1935897.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust has been named as one of the Yorkshire and the Humber’s best employers in the regional final of the National Apprenticeship Awards and National Training Awards 2012.

The finalists and winners were announced at a high profile joint awards ceremony organised by the National Apprenticeship Service at Leeds College of Music.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service won the BAE Systems Large Employer of the Year Award in recognition of the success of its apprenticeship schemes which they operate mainly within their non-emergency Patient Transport Service which takes patients to and from their hospital and treatment centre appointments.

Diane Williams, Locality Director for the Patient Transport Service at the Trust, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have received this award. The commitment and enthusiasm of our apprentices have energised an entire workforce and by establishing this scheme we have been rewarded with some great staff who otherwise may not have had the opportunity to join the ambulance service.

“We are committed to the training and development of our workforce and our apprenticeship schemes are another important step in ensuring a future generation of ambulance staff.”

The following planning applications which relate to the Driffield are have been submitted to the East Riding of Yorkshire Council:

Non Material Amendment to Planning Approval 08/01574/PLF - increase eaves height on East and Elevations by 0.525m - 5 Northfield Road Wetwang

Remove 11 Sycamore trees due to poor condition and suffering from die back - Leven Park Lake View 49 South Street Leven

Submission of details required by Condition 13 (archaeology) and 14 (electromagnetic interference) of planning reference 11/04435/PLF - Towthorpe Manor Farm Towthorpe Road Towthorpe

Proposed amendment to change the hipped roof to a gable to the rear of the two-storey extension further to planning approval 12/02915/PLF - 1 Bryan Mere Bishop Burton

Erection of a dwelling (Revised scheme of 12/03134/PLF) - Land South Of 64 Northfield Road Driffield

Erection of No.2 wind turbines (height 25.8m to hub and 36m to blade tip) with associated infrastructure (amended scheme 12/02105/PLF) - Sleights Farm Lowthorpe Lane Nafferton

Redevelopment of site to create 4 no. dwellings to include conversion and demolition of existing buildings - Glebe Farm 6 Main Street Wetwang

Demolition of buildings - Glebe Farm 6 Main Street Wetwang

Erection of general purpose agricultural building - Happy Lands Farm Dringhoe

Erection of single storey extension to rear following demolition of existing - Laurel House 69 Main Street Skidby

Variation of Condition 5 of planning permission 2/97/0098 to allow use of property for holiday accommodation - Grooms Cottage Silver Street, Huggate.

Ash Tree due to being too big for the garden also T2 and T3 Silver Birch and Copper Beech crown reduce as too big for the garden - 67 Main Street Etton.

Erection of single storey extension to front and two storey extension to side - Honeysuckle Farm Bewholme.

AN EXPANSION in community transport will enable people to travel more easily between towns and villages.

Community transport (CT) operators in the East Riding will increase their service to give residents better access to healthcare, shopping and other activities.

The East Riding’s four CT operators provided more than 4,000 passenger journeys to health facilities in 2011/12 (financial year 1 April 2011 – 31 March 2012), and this is projected to increase to nearly 7,500 in 2012/13.

The four operators in the East Riding are: Goole GoFar, North Holderness Community Transport (HART), Beverley Community Lift and Nafferton Community Minibus.

Skipsea resident Chris Walker said: “We are all extremely grateful that HART have responded to our suggestion and are adding this service.

“The residents of Skipsea, Beeford and Bewholme will be able to access the doctors and dentists in Hornsea without having to rely on lifts from neighbours. It will also be good to be able to support the local shops in Hornsea.”

Councillor Jane Evison, who is Chair of the Holderness Area Rural Transport and the council’s portfolio holder for economic development, tourism and rural issues, said: “Community transport serves a real need, particularly in the more isolated rural areas, and it is good news that services are growing in the East Riding.

“It is clear that a lot can be achieved by working together and with the sterling efforts of our volunteers.

“I also urge people looking to further develop community transport to contact the council’s rural team who are able to offer their expertise and support.”

To volunteer visit www.ervas.org.uk or telephone 01482 871077.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council, with its partners, is preparing a strategy which is aimed at supporting and empowering vulnerable families and helping them to improve their lives.

The work is a response to government legislation.

The council is keen to hear both from parents/carers who have been involved with services designed to support families (whether provided by the council or another organisation) and from those who have had no or little involvement with these services but would have liked more assistance.

In this way, the council hopes that the support available can be developed and improved, maybe by doing some things differently.

The council wants to hear not just from families who may be experiencing financial difficulties but also those where children’s life chances could potentially be lessened because of a vulnerability such as risk-taking behaviour or a disability.

All views will remain confidential but will be used to shape the documents and may be anonymously quoted.

If you would like to share your views, please contact Katherine Stoney,volunteering officer, Youth Support Service, on (01482) 392835 or katherine.stoney@eastriding.gov.uk by 26th. October 2012.

There’s good, there’s bad, there’s very, very bad ... and then there are the Bailey brothers.

No-one does gangsters like the inimitable Martina Cole and she’s on top form in her new thriller which takes us on another jaw-dropping journey into the unforgiving heart of London’s ruthless crime world.

It’s 20 years since her debut novel, Dangerous Lady, swept us away with its spectacular spotlight on gangland violence and this lady plans no U-turn from her unflinching portraits of East End criminals.

Cole’s latest blockbuster features a notorious family torn apart by violence and betrayal but ultimately bound by an unspoken code of loyalty, by blood and by a burning desire for revenge...

The Bailey brothers are gangsters determined to make their mark in the world. Peter and Daniel are chalk and cheese in many ways; Peter’s calm exterior belies his ruthless nature while his half brother Daniel’s penchant for spectacular violence is legendary. Together they are unstoppable.

From the late seventies they rule London’s East End and, when their sons join the business, it seems that no one can touch the powerful Baileys. However, it’s never easy at the top because there is always someone waiting to take you down, and sometimes it can be those closest to you.

Meanwhile, Daniel’s wife Lena is determined to shield her youngest child and only daughter Tania from the Life. Teenage Tania loves her father but is fully aware that he is a dangerous man with two sides – a loving husband and father, and a sadist who can cut off a man’s fingers without flinching.

But when a terrible tragedy occurs, revenge takes the Baileys into a quagmire in which they will lose all semblance of reality and Tania’s eyes are opened to their world in a way that forces her to make an irrevocable choice, one that will determine her future.

Brimming with menace, graphic scenes of violence, devilish twists and turns and yet intricately laced with home truths and some astute psychology, this is a gripping story of the Life, told as only Martina Cole can.

(Headline, hardback, £19.99)

HIS Royal Highness Prince Andrew’s visit to Bridlington today has been cancelled.

The Prince was due to arrive in town by helicopter in time to present awards to the winners of the Duke of York’s Community Initiative at a ceremony at the Spa at 2pm.

But the weather has forced the Prince to remain grounded in London where he is due to attend a prior engagement tonight.

Lord-Lieutenant of the East Riding, the Hon Susan Cunliffe-Lister will now present the awards at the ceremony which is still due to proceed as planned.

Prince Andrew has also been forced to cancel his visit the JSR Cookery School, at Southburn, near Driffield which had been due to happen at around noon today.

•For the full story see this Thursday’s Free Press.

A SALE held in aid of the RNLI will be held to raise funds to promote saving lives at sea.

The event will be held in the Bell Hotel Driffield on Thursday 1 November at 1pm.

All proceeds will go towards continuing the life-saving work done by the Lifeboats.

POLICE are seeking witnesses to a single vehicle road traffic collision which left a Driffield teenager with serious injuries.

The inclident happened on Friday October 19 at approximately 4.25pm as a silver Vauxhall Astra mwas travelling along Pockthorpe Road away from Kilham towards Driffield.

A police spokeswoman said: “For reasons not yet known, the vehicle left the road and came to rest in a field.”

No other vehicles were involved.

“The 18-year-old Driffield man who was driving the car, and was the only person in the vehicle, sustained serious injuries - including bruises and lacerations to head and body and internal bruising.”

He was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary where he was detained for treatment.

The road was closed for several hours and re-opened at 9pm.

Anyone who witnessed the car leaving the road or saw it before the incident is asked to contact Humberside Police on the non emergency 101 number quoting log 460 of 19 October 2012.

Driffield Rotary Club is organising a fun way to raise money to help fill Santa’s sack for children at King’s Mill School, Driffield.

On Saturday, November 10, popular teachers Liesel Cobby and Louise Hebblewhite will visit the school to lead a one hour Zumba session, followed after a drinks break by a one hour Yoga session. The event starts at 10am and tickets, which cost £10, are available from the school, 01377 253375, e-mail:kingsmill.specialschool@eastriding.gov.uk All proceeds to Santa’s sack.

A 20-YEAR-OLD male has been given a penalty notice and fined for the possession of a class B drug.

At 9.45pm on Sunday October 14 an NPT officer was carrying out a routince check of a static vehicle.

On approaching the Audi A4 estate which was parked on Eastlands in Nafferton the officer was overwhelmed by a strong smell of cannabis coming from the vehicle.

A search was carried out and an amout of herbal cannabis mixed with tobacco was found in the males left-hand trouser pocket.

He admitted that the cannabis was for his own use.

Independent children’s books publisher Nosy Crow reckon they really do have something to crow about, and their autumn titles are certainly guaranteed to attract flocks of younger readers.

Nosy Crow publish high-quality, commercial fiction and non-fiction books and innovative, creative apps for children aged from 0 to 14 from both well-known authors and illustrators and new talent.

They pride themselves on great illustration, great design, great audio, great video, great animation and really great writing.

From unruly witchy grannies to pea-hating princesses, there is something for every young taste in a wonderful selection of picture books whilst older readers can get to grips with the adventures of a very quirky family and the flip side of friendships.

The Princess and the Peas by Caryl Hart and Sarah Warburton

Told in hilarious rhyme by award-winning author Caryl Hart, a rising star in the children’s book world, and illustrated by the talented Sarah Warburton, The Princess and the Peas will strike a chord with all those little ones who’d really rather not encounter a pea – or anything resembling a vegetable in fact.

Lily-Rose May will do anything to avoid eating her peas and is certainly not going to fall for any of her father’s tricks of pea smoothies or cupcakes (and who can blame her?). The doctor diagnoses a very serious case of Princess-itus and packs her off to the palace to live the charmed life of a Princess.

But, unfortunately for Lily-Rose May, life as a Princess isn’t all it’s cracked up to be…

Witty, winsome and wonderful, The Princess and the Peas is an original and truly captivating take on the classic fairy tale. Charming, funny and lively artwork proves the perfect match for rib-tickling rhymes and hidden jokes.

The ideal book for fussy young eaters and their harassed parents.

(hardback, £10.99)

Whizz Pop, Granny Stop! by Tracey Corderoy and Joe Berger

And if it’s witches that make your broomstick fly, the brilliant children’s author Tracey Corderoy and illustrious illustrator Joe Berger have come together again for another fantastic instalment from the little girl whose granny is (whisper it!) a witch.

In a theme that will no doubt be familiar to lots of children, the little girl in Granny Stop is having a birthday party and is keen to discover the merits of doing things herself (without the help of Granny’s magic).

And while a home-made cake and dress might not be perfect, when you’ve made it yourself, that’s all that matters!

This visually exciting picture book is a riot of colour and action. The adventures of a group of big, bold characters are sure to steal youngsters’ hearts and all is revealed with Corderoy’s trademark funny rhyme. Beautifully produced, Whizz Pop, Granny Stop! is perfect for little people who are keen to be independent.

(hardback, £10.99)

The Grunts in Trouble by Philip Ardagh and Axel Scheffler

The seven-plus age group is a key stage in reading development so books that tempt with both story and pictures are worth their weight in gold.

Author Philip Ardagh and illustrator Axel Scheffler press all the right buttons with a new series featuring the outrageously comic Grunt family and their hilarious ragbag assortment of neighbours.

Mr and Mrs Grunt, who are neither clean nor clever, live with Sunny, their adopted (in fact, abducted son, he was stolen from a washing line when he was a baby) in a donkey-drawn caravan somewhere or other at some time that is a bit like now but not exactly now.

Sunny is an odd-looking boy, what with his left ear being higher than his right ear and that kind of sticky-up hair which never goes flat, even if you massage glue into it, tape it into place and then jump on it.

Not far away from wherever it is they live resides Lord Bigg of Bigg Manor, Bigg-hater Larry Smalls, Mimi the Bigg Manor boot boy (yup, she’s a girl) ... and a swarm of bees.

Not surprisingly, this unusual family find themselves in frankly improbable but very funny adventures involving bendy railings, double-barrelled shotguns, full-fat yoghurt and a beard of bees.

Children will love the antics of this amazingly weird family and the extra special illustrations that bring the story to life. The adventures of the Grunts are set to run and run...

(hardback, £7.99)

My Best Friend and other Enemies by Catherine Wilkins

For girls in the age nine-plus category, Catherine Wilkins’ funny but wise story about the ups and downs of friendship is sure to touch a nerve and win plenty of sympathy votes.

Jessica and Natalie have been best friends since their finger-painting days. They have shared everything, including a sense of humour that has led to some of the most hilarious times ever.

Nothing can change that, not even the arrival at school of new girl Amelia who is out cause trouble, big trouble.

But friendships can be tested and when Natalie goes off with Amelia, Jessica finds herself left out of all the fun including trips to fast-food outlets, cheesy boy-band gigs and crazy sleepovers. Worst of all, she’s not invited to join their secret gang, Cool Awesome Chicks (C.A.C.).

Hurt but determined not to take it lying down, Jessica has a plan, and a secret weapon – her felt-tips. The pen is mightier than the sword, after all, and having a sense of humour wins Jessica far more friends than she loses.

Every girl knows the misery of being dumped by a friend and Wilkins’ warm, witty and perceptively honest story is guaranteed to charm and inspire.

(paperback, £6.99)

Olivia’s Enchanted Summer by Lyn Gardner

The fourth book in Lyn Gardner’s thrilling and colourful stage-school series transports us to the excitement of the legendary Edinburgh Festival.

Aimed at the nine-plus age group, Gardner’s books sparkle with action and drama as young readers follow the adventures of a group of girls who dream of making it big in the world of stage and screen.

School’s out for summer and Olivia Marvell, daughter of the famous Swan Circus high-wire walker Jack Marvell, and her friends are going to be spending August in Edinburgh, home to the world-famous Fringe Festival.

They can’t wait to get there, to stay in the beautiful city and soak up the festival atmosphere, while the Swan Circus performs every day to wild applause and rapturous reviews.

But the run doesn’t go smoothly, the circus ends up homeless, it keeps raining and there’s a thief on the prowl determined to steal the show.

As the festival draws to a close, can anything turn Olivia’s soggy summer into an enchanted one?

Gardner, a theatre critic for The Guardian, has created a thoroughly entertaining series with its enticing mix of adventure, stage dreams and feelgood fun.

(paperback, £5.99)

Tesco is pleased to be supporting Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 as the two join forces to launch Stand Up To Cancer in the UK. The Stand Up To Cancer campaign originated in the US and has since raised an incredible £100m for cancer research.

The highlight of the UK campaign was a night of live television on Channel 4 on Friday 19 October and Tesco stores across the country supported the day by holding fund-raising activities in store.

Tesco’s Beverley store joined in by holding a hula hoop marathon. Staff member Rachael Hiscott led the way by hula hooping for an incredible five hours with shoppers and staff encouraged to challenge her.

A fantastic £237 was raised with all money going to Cancer Research UK, Tesco’s charity of the year

* Cancer Research UK is Tesco’s Charity of the Year for 2012. We are aiming to raise £10 million to help more people survive cancer and keep more families together. Cancer Research UK is the world’s leading charity dedicated to saving lives through research

Katherine Howe had a real problem on her hands when she basked in the glow from her dazzling debut novel, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane... it was always going to be a tough act to follow.

Fortunately, her writing has lost none of its magic; The House of Velvet and Glass, an absorbing and atmospheric historical novel, retains that sense of mesmerising wonderment which earned the author so much critical acclaim three years ago.

Her debut examined the thorny issue of Salem witchcraft, and this time Howe sets her discerning sights on spiritualism and the long shadow cast by the sinking of the Titanic.

Subtle, sophisticated and written with Howe’s trademark elegance, this richly dramatic story of a young Boston woman’s desperate attempt to connect with the mother and sister she lost in the 1912 disaster melds history and romance with frissons of thrilling fantasy.

Multi-faceted themes of mother/daughter relationships and a country on the cusp of war and change jostle with the battles between science and the supernatural, freewill and fate.

Three years after the Titanic sank, Sibyl Allston, who comes from a wealthy Boston family, is still haunted by the deaths of her mother and sister while what is left of her family drifts apart.

Her father Lan Allston, a man mysteriously silent about his personal history, is wrapped up in his shipping business and her dissipated brother Harley, a student at Harvard, has been sent down and is now living at home with Dovie Whistler, a less-than-respectable actress.

Hoping to heal her wounded heart and obtain reassurance that her mother’s spirit is at peace, Sibyl seeks solace in the parlour of medium Mrs Dee who promises to contact her lost loved ones.

But, under the guidance of Dovie, Sibyl is introduced to the opium dens of Boston’s Chinatown and finds herself drawn into a strange new world where she can never be sure that what she sees or hears is real.

In fear and desperation, she turns to Harvard psychology professor Benton Jones despite the unspoken tensions of their shared past. He is determined to help Sibyl by revealing that Mrs Dee is a fraud but Sibyl is now convinced she has the gift of ‘sight.’

Sybil and Benton are drawn into a world of occult magic, of truth and lies, and into a race to understand Sibyl’s own apparent talent for ‘scrying’ before it is too late. Because looking into the past and discovering what will happen in the future might be a curse rather than a gift...

Howe’s harrowing but enthralling story seduces with its meticulous research, elements of dark danger and suspense, compelling themes and breathtaking twist in the tail.

A seriously good book from a seriously good writer...

(Penguin, paperback, £7.99)

A distraught pet lover has been re-united with her cat - following an appeal in the Driffield Times and Post.

Several weeks ago, we told how Freddie went missing from the home of Janet Chappel’s parents on Adelphi Street.

Through articles in the paper, on the web and via Twitter and Facebook, we asked people to watch out for the treasured pet.

At first there was silence, followed by several false sighting until Freddie was finally found down Wansford Road at The Beeches.

Janet explained: “I was phoned by two different households saying there was a cat matching Freddie’s description hanging around, taking food from their bird tables.

“I went to look and actually spotted him at the farm opposite their houses.

“He was really scared and wouldn’t let me catch him.

“Someone borrowed a cat trap for me, which worked a treat once loaded with chicken.”

She said: “I wanted to say thankyou through the paper to all those people that rang me with sightings.

“There are to many to mention each individually, but everyone has been fantastic keeping a look out for him. The chances are that some of them may well have been Freddie, but by the time I got to them, any cats that they had seen were gone.

“It was great, as all the people who rang had seen it in the paper, and most of them had cut his photo out to make identification easier.

“My special thanks must go to Julie and Mike Clegg who had the time and patience to keep watching him for me, and by feeding him encouraged him into their garden, where the trap was actually put, with great success. It was great team work by the residents of The Beeches and Anne Bennett who got the trap for me. Without their help i am sure Freddie would still be running wild.”

It shouldn’t happen to a woman... particularly when she is the editor of a leading national newspaper.

Eloise Elliot is marking her milestone 30th birthday in The Daily Post’s conference room surrounded by mangy-looking helium balloons, dismal egg and watercress sandwiches and an uninspiring bunch of semi-strangers.

They do say that no man is an island and Eloise has always been happy to be the exception to that rule – until now.

Much-loved Dublin writer Claudia Carroll can’t put a foot wrong with her funny, sunny novels which are guaranteed to brighten up the darkest of winter days.

Her latest wry romp reads rather like a feelgood fable, a sort of modern fairytale with the power to energise, enchant and entertain, and perfectly pitched to appeal to all those lovers of love stories.

Carroll’s research took her to the offices of The Irish Times where the then editor Geraldine Kennedy gave her an eye-opening crash course in the day-to-day realities of juggernaut journalism.

The result is a sparkling story full of lovable characters, irreverent, earthy humour and a gently unfolding love story that will melt the heart of all true romantics.

Eloise is married to her job as one of the youngest newspaper editors in Ireland. She’s respected and revered by her peers and she’s at the top of her game but, as her big birthday approaches, she is unexpectedly hit by a long, sharp pang of loneliness.

Realising she has no friends, no ‘significant other’ and rarely sees her family, Eloise suddenly has a ‘road-to-Damascus’ moment. She makes a lightning-quick, clear-headed decision to have a baby – not with an elusive ‘Mr Right’ but with a sperm donor.

One successful trip to the sperm bank and almost three years later, Eloise is the adoring mother of a gorgeous little girl, Lily, but juggling a high-powered job with motherhood is not easy and when she finds herself without childcare she sends an SOS to her sister Helen in Cork.

However, it’s when Lily starts asking about her ‘daddy’ that Eloise really starts to feel under pressure. ‘I do have a dad and one day he’ll come for me,’ Lily belligerently tells the other kids at pre-school.

Eloise decides there’s nothing for it – she’s going to have to find Lily’s father. After all, she chose the perfect donor so surely there won’t be any surprises ... or would that be just too good to be true?

Carroll’s quirky, clever story flows with the effortless ease that has become a hallmark of her writing. A cute and cuddly winter warmer for all chick-lit fans.

(Avon, paperback, £7.99)