When Marmite was little more than a kitten he disappeared from his house in West St Helen Street. The family went in search but none of the neighbours had seen the black and white cat.

A couple of days went by and the bell ringers at St Helen’s Church were practicing when their youngest member went up to the bell tower to check scrabbling noises they had all heard.

Up there he saw a poor frightened cat, and told the others not to ring the bells. He clambered across near the bells and managed to get hold of the cat, took it down and released it outside.

Marmite re-appeared back home and the family were surprised and delighted wondering where he had been. He was very hungry.

Thanks to Isaac for this true life story from the Belfry, and to Jon for a picture of Marmite as a kitten.

The RSBP are inviting people to spend an hour watching and counting birds in the garden, or a green space nearby – as part of a national survey. There are very few birds in our garden – the neighborhood cats make sure of that.

In search of a green space, I met a dozen or so members of the Green Gym who were litter picking along the Ock Valley walk. The walk is still shut but they had arranged access with the Town Council.

The most frequent birds were tits.

Then there were blackbirds.

And robins. These pictured birds have probably got used to being fed near the bench where I sat – they came so close. Other birds stayed further away: crows, magpies, ducks, pigeons, and probably more unusual species I didn’t spot.

At St Helen’s Church this morning Mr Crusty the Donkey was there to help with a big Nativity Tableau with lots of young children dressed as angels and shepherds.

On the Market Place there were two other donkeys, Jack and Charlie, also from the Island Farm Donkey Sanctuary.

I see in the recently published book about Pollyanne, from the sanctuary, that Jack arrived very poorly and emaciated, and it was touch and go whether he would make it through the night. His pulling through was a turning point in setting up the sanctuary.

Polyanne was not in town today but has been on previous occasions. There are two pictures inside the book of Polyanne at the Reynolds Way shops. She walked from there to a church service at Preston Road Community Centre. It’s a busy time of year for donkeys.