As well as the two bank holidays we get this month (yay!), May can really bring things into bloom, whether it's your freshly planted lavender or budding personal life.

This month's all about new beginnings, weddings, birthdays and, of course, barbecues (weather permitting!). To celebrate the start of the summer, the guys ‘n’ gals at GoneDigging HQ have put together their favourite beverages...

Tim Porter – Graphic Designer

“I’d opt for the personalised Rosé wine and Chocolates – it’s the perfect gift for my wife to apologise when I do something wrong.”

Steve Maddison – Corporate Sales Manager

It’s National Smile Month, the UK’s biggest oral health campaign. Looking for an offbeat gift that’ll make a loved one crack a smile? We've got a whole section on our site, dedicated to peope who like a good 'ole smile. Part sweet, part sassy and part stylish, we present you with our giggle-worthy gifts...

Geek Alert Personalised Mug

Treat the nerd in your life to a gift as geeky as they are with this Geek Alert Mug. Whether they spend all day immersed in computer games, engrossed in comic books or glued to the internet, this mug will make them grin like a Cheshire cat. They’ll smile even more when they see their choice of beverage printed underneath the words ‘Make me a...’.

Unless you’ve been in a coma for the last week, you’ll know that after 26 years in charge at Old Trafford, Sir Alex Ferguson has retired as manager of Manchester United. At this point, we could waffle on about his 13 Premier League title, two Champions’ Leagues, five FA Cups and plenty more besides. And we could look at how David Moyes will fill his shoes. But where’s the originality in that? Instead, we’ve come up with a list of retirement gifts for the big man…

Manchester United Football Book

The Manchester United football book starts in the early part of the 20th century and finishes right up to date. It’s made up of reprinted newspaper reports from the Daily Mirror that focuses on United’s biggest achievements. As such, it creates a reportage history that we’re sure would really stoke Sir Alex’s love of history and football. And because United have been so ridiculously successful, there’s also a book dedicated solely to their exploits in Europe.

Can you envisage a world without sandwiches? Where we solemnly sit down at lunch, incapable of devouring this functional food shaped to post straight into the mouth? Whether the Earl of Sandwich invented this beautiful gourmet delight or not, it stands to reason that this bread-based lunch time snack is one of Britain’s greatest food creations on the planet. It’s just as well there’s a week dedicated to them.

The British Sandwich Association is there to uphold the rights of the perfect British sarnie and in honour of British Sandwich Week 2013, we’ve spent an unhealthy amount of time salivating over the greatest the world has to offer between two slices of bread.

If your dad gets a kick out of doing adrenaline-fuelled stuff, then send him off on a gift experience day this Father's Day. GoneDigging has loads up for grabs, including driving experience days such as racing around the tracks in a supercar, white water rafting, clay pigeon shooting, to name just a few. Here’s a look at what’s hot in terms of daredevil Father’s Day presents...

Airkix Indoor Skydiving

Let Dad experience the incredible rush of free fall without then need to jump out of a plane with an Airkix Indoor Skydiving experience. Kitted out in a specialised flight suit, your dad will step into the airflow and get a good dose of freefall in a specially constructed wind tunnel.

Yep. May is National Share-a-Story month. It’s no secret that children of all ages love story telling. So it’s time to open the pages of a good book and get kiddies reading. By listening and telling stories, not only can you help improve a little one’s language skills, you’ll also help them develop communication and social skills, and build confidence in their own thoughts and imagination.

Organised by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups, National Share a Story Month was founded in 1965 with the aim to promote children’s interest in books and reading, getting involved with libraries, schools and playgroups. So it’s time to enjoy some good old-fashioned story telling this May. Why not get the ball rolling with our personalised kids' books? Here are our top five:

Brief let me be. A short tale to make so as not to o’er wrought, but I urge this childhood proof because what follows is pure innocence. Younger and more vulnerable years did make me whose own hard dealings taught to suspect the thoughts of Shakespeare. Nor time nor place did then adhere to the Bard. Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise, but more to know did never meddle with my thoughts.

Thou had more time for vainer hours and fleeted the time carelessly, for one did never grasp the fellow’s work nor find the mind’s construction in the face. I did thus insist the language be intpinse and plump in a great abatement of kindness. I dare pawn down my life that he hath wrote this to feel my affection to his honour and to no other, but I did not mark it. My spirits and place had in his power to make this bitter to thee. He comes to bad intent, so thou did think of the day.

Did you know it’s UK National Coffee Week, the nation’s biggest celebration of coffee? Organised by the Allegra Foundation, it’s a time when the coffee and food service industry come together in an effort to raise some dosh for Project Waterfall, the charity providing clean drinking water to the poorest coffee-growing countries such as Tanzania in partnership with WaterAid.

In celebration of UK Coffee Week, we thought it right to put together a few facts about the stuff you love to drink...

FACT 1. In the beginning, coffee was eaten. African tribes mixed coffee berries with fat, which produced edible energy balls

Do a cheeky Google search on terms like ‘Father’s Day songs’ and you’ll get all sorts of results. You’ll get loads of classic rock. And you’ll also get songs with Dad in the title, which is why we’ve combined the two. But we’ve not stopped there. We’ve also thrown in some newer stuff to cater to dads of all ages. So from old rockers to Jeremy-Kyle stay-aways, we’ve got it covered in our Father’s Day playlist…

At GoneDigging, we bang on quite a lot about our original newspapers. We’re always telling you how they’re the real deal. How they’re not reprints or reproductions in any way, shape or form. And we’re always waffling on about the fact they’re as old as the date on their front page. This time, however, instead of just telling you about it, we thought we’d show you. Below we’ve taken a few snaps of some old newspapers using nothing but a mobile phone. There’s no photoshopping. No tweaking with the light. What we’ve got here is a true reflection of newspapers that are often well over 50 years old…