A dog with a difference

Meet Tilly, a springer spaniel. But no ordinary springer spaniel you understand.

Look a little closer and you may just 'spot' why she's special. Got it? No? Keep looking...

Yes, knew you'd get it in the end! Tilly is our very own 'HeartDog' - a dog who really does wear her heart on her sleeve - or in this case on her back.

We're indebted to BHF supporter and teacher Susanna Gates for sending us this splendid photo of Tilly. She says: "Perhaps you may want to use her or the image in a campaign.

"She is especially appealing to children! She spends her day under my desk at school and is loved by the children in the class."

Thanks Susanna. I'm wagering this won't be the last we'll see of 'HeartDog' - so stay tuned.

Anyone else out there with pets - or anything else for that matter - featuring unusual appearances of heart-shaped markings? You know where to come

Ashleigh's a heart hero

Teenager Ashleigh Robson learned life-saving skills on one of our HeartStart UK emergency life support courses - and just three days later used what she had been taught to save the life of her three-year-old cousin Summer Horton (both pictured above).

Read more about this amazing story on our website

Glossy, informative, entertaining ...and free

Our autumn heart health magazine has just been published and as usual it's packed with must-read features, vital advice, recipes and more.

We've got a new 'ask the experts' team ready and willing to answer your questions. Keep them on their toes by emailing them your heart health queries at hearthealthmag@bhf.org.uk

Or you could just enter the prize draw for a great prize that could help you stay in shape.

Best of all it's free - sign-up online to get your copy

But I hate broccoli!

Yes, it can be pretty tough encouraging kids to eat healthy foods.

Children are constantly bombarded by clever marketing tricks aimed at making junk food so much more enticing than, well broccoli.

That's why at the BHF we're challenging the food industry's influence on children.

We want a 9pm watershed ban on junk food advertising on television and we want to see statutory controls to reduce children’s exposure to other junk food marketing, particularly online.

Plus, we're continuing to vigorously support traffic light food labelling.

Now, broccoli really is a great vegetable but don't worry if that's a hard one to sell at the dinner table.

We've come up with some of our own clever top ten tips on how to get children to eat more healthily.

Happy eating!

Donate your furniture & electrical items to the BHF

Are you doing a Christmas clear out and looking to donate your furniture or electrical items to charity?

Then look no further than the BHF!

We have over 40 Furniture and Electrical Stores (F&E) located across the UK and we need your help to raise £1 million.

Our F&E stores sell quality furniture and electrical items and you can help us by donating your unwanted items.

Kicking off the campaign, TV star and popular DIY presenter Tommy Walsh is urging people who are clearing out items before Christmas to donate unwanted goods such as sofas, dining furniture, TV's, fridges, and even ovens to the BHF.

"It would be great to help the BHF to reach their goal of an extra million pounds by Christmas.

"I would encourage anyone who has good quality furniture or electrical items at home that they simply don’t want or don’t use to donate them to their local BHF F&E Stores today."

Find out more about our F&E stores today

Helping to tackle heart disease

Former Tottenham Hotspur and England footballer Darren Anderton (far right in photo), now captain at AFC Bournemouth, is the latest player to lend his support to a British Heart Foundation campaign.

Hot on the heels of Manchester Utd and England midfielder Michael Carrick's support for our Pick Up The Beat campaign, Darren has joined an appeal to raise £60,000 for an echocardiograph machine at the Dorset Heart Centre.

Read all about it right here in the (aptly named) online Bournemouth Echo

And in case you're wondering what an echocardiograph machine is or does, find out now on the BHF website

All about statins...

Our Heart Help Line is taking a lot of calls on the issue of statins at the moment, and hardly a day goes by when the cholesterol-lowering drugs are not the subject of newspaper headlines.

We have also produced a comprehensive online guide to the heart drugs that everyone's talking about - so why not read it now and arm yourself with the real facts about statins from the BHF.

A gift from the (drummer's) heart

A huge thanks to drummer Martin Bulloch, of popular - and very good! - rock band Mogwai, who has auctioned his old pacemaker on eBay and raised an impressive £271 for the BHF.

Martin has raised not only money, but also awareness of the issue of heart disease with an audience you would not normally expect the BHF to be able to reach. And that is such a really important contribution too.

So, with thanks, we say go check out the fabulous Martin and Mogwai on their MySpace page - right now!

Autumn, it's for walking

So you love walking?

Well we've got the very best walks, plus you can also raise some money too for the British Heart Foundation into the bargain while you're doing it.

What's that? Show you the walks? Of course, they're all here

A growing issue

Obesity is in the headlines again, with a report from Oxford University professors predicting that within 15 years 86% of men will be overweight, and within 20 years 70% of women.

Government ministers are also, reportedly, particularly concerned about the widespread use of unhealthy 'trans-fats' - which have been linked to coronary heart disease - in fast food.

Our website has a wealth of information on healthy eating and how to maintain a healthy weight for both adults and children alike, with a special section on how to keep children healthy

Healthy eating was also among the subjects of our latest BHF podcast for our TV advert The Beat which is well worth a listen.

How to be a Bloc head, with BHF Shops

Wow, you never know what you might find in one of our 550 BHF Shops across UK high streets - but we'd wager you never thought you'd find one of these. A genuine Soviet Bloc miltary peaked hat

In fact we like it so much we've decided to feature it on our special BHF Shops eBay online store, along with dozens of other collectable and vintage items which the good folk of the UK (or maybe in this case the former USSR?) have generously donated to us.

Just the ticket for a Doctor Zhivago fancy dress party? Perhaps. But at just £3.99 it's a superb piece of Soviet Bloc military memorabilia in its own right anyway.

Not up your street? Why not take a look at the many other fascinating and collectable items on offer in the online eBay BHF Shops store now

Happy virtual shopping!

Cholesterol - it's hot

The most searched-for term on the British Heart Foundation website right now (and for a good few weeks actually) is cholesterol - although perhaps understandably it's not always spelled correctly!

We suspect the current popularity is due to the fact that it's been such a hot topic in the media recently, so we're happy to be able to give you the hard facts about it in our comprehensive section on cholesterol

We've also got a great booklet on the subject which you can download here - we hope it helps answer your queries.

If not, please feel free to contact us and we'll do our best to get an answer.

Is skipping breakfast a good way to lose weight?

Hmm, well it kind of seems plausible, doesn't it?

How about eating at night? Is that likely to make you put on more weight or, if it's a good time to eat, lose it? Surely the stricter the diet, the more successful it will be - won't it?

So, what exactly are the truths - or myths - about dieting? So many questions! But only one place to check out the hard facts - read our informative Top Ten Common Dieting Myths

Survivor Alec's starring role

A big thanks to everyone who came along to our 2007 Annual Meeting in London yesterday, the first of three events taking place across the UK this month. Further details here

The meeting featured our special Heart Heroes Awards for outstanding contributions to the work of the BHF from our volunteers, supporters and others, plus a great performance from the Bayswater Blasters school choir.

One of the undoubted stars of the event was heart attack survivor Alec Keep (above right), who told how seeing one of our Doubt Kills campaign posters had saved his life. His dramatic story was both moving and, yes, at times funny. And it had the audience totally gripped.

If you don't already know Alec's story, you simply must read it or hear it. Find it now on our Annual Review 2007 website or listen to it on our Doubt Kills podcast

So why is there a lion on your egg?

If you don't know the answer to this seemingly random question, it's possible you may be suffering from a condition common to most modern day supermarket shoppers - namely, severe Food Labelling Confusion.

Although we may well have heard of 'traffic light' food labels and the like, more often than not we simply don't know whether to stop, get ready or go when it comes to the products we're faced with on the supermarket shelves.

But an end to (most of) the confusion is here, with our great new British Heart Foundation Top Tips Guide to Food Labelling. So why is there a lion on your egg?

Check out our guide for the answer now before you, er, check out...

Shop to your heart's content

This compact trampoline looks like a great way to stay active without even having to leave the comfort of your own home.

It's one of the great new products in our recently-launched Online Shop - packed with loads of healthy living style items.

It's well worth taking a wander through its virtual aisles - and for every item you buy we get a contribution to help our vital, life-saving work.

Flu - have your say

The nights are starting to draw in, and the flu season is approaching.

For many people it's not an issue, but for those with heart conditions flu can be potentially fatal.

That's why heart patients of all ages are offered anti-flu jabs for free, but the fact is that not all of them go ahead and get one. The reasons why aren't exactly clear.

So the Department of Health, together with the British Heart Foundation, is currently running a special flu survey to discover why people don't take up their flu jab.

The results will inform a new campaign later this year to encourage people to have the jab. If you think you help take part in the survey then you'll find it online here

Your experience and answers could help to save lives...

For sale - one used pacemaker

People do buy some strange stuff on eBay, but we're guessing that you haven't seen or bid for one of these before...

Martin Bulloch, who is drummer with popular rock band Mogwai, and suffers a heart condition, is auctioning his old pacemaker online to raise money for us.

Yes it sounds bizarre, but in fact Martin's done this for us before, raising more than £200 in 2003 from the sale of the pacemaker he had before this one.

This time around the auction has already reached more than £250, and there's still more than a week to go. So don't miss out. If you're a Mogwai fan, or a fan of the BHF, or even a fan of neither, get bidding on eBay now!

Or you might like to read more about Martin, Mogwai and the BHF on our main website

BHF goes on tour

We're taking our Annual Meeting - titled Together - on the road to London, Birmingham and Glasgow this month, and we'd love it if you were able to come and join us at one of the sessions.
More details here

If you can't make it along to one of the meetings then you can read more about the last year in the life of the BHF in our excellent new online Annual Report

Michael Carrick signs up for the BHF

We got a huge boost for our Pick Up The Beat TV campaign and for World Heart Day yesterday, when England and Man Utd footballer Michael Carrick turned out to show his support for the work of the British Heart Foundation.

Midfielder Michael was appearing on behalf of the Football Association, who have teamed up with the BHF to help promote the central message of our campaign which is that by doing 30 minutes of excercise a day you can help prevent the risk of getting heart disease.

Michael's TV interview was featured extensively throughout the day on Sky Sports News, and you can read more about his backing for our campaign and World Heart Day on our main website here