November leaves us in little doubt that winter will soon be upon us and, although the temperatures are still quite high for this time of year, it is the leafy mounds and darker nights that never fail to remind us of nature's way. So Southport did us all proud recently when the Christmas lights were switched on in the now much enjoyed annual November event. Certainly it is a superb prelude to our Yuletide festivities and offers warming cheer and comfort to help us all through the long winter months ahead.

November is also a time for remembrance, a time when we remember our war dead who gave their lives defending the freedoms that we all take for granted every day; people like Major Matthew Titchener, whose name, quite rightly, has now been added to the town's war memorial in memory of his supreme sacrifice so that others would have a safer and better future.

This future is currently reflected in the numerous Southport improvements we are now able to enjoy, such as the exciting new “warm” ice-skating attraction on the Promenade created by Crossens businessman John Thorpe and his valued company, Plastics For Industry. Promised too is a 3 day pilot scheme for a Lord Street Continental Market which, if successful, may become an annual event. But embodied in all these enjoyments and freedoms are the memories of how hard and at what great cost they have all been won. It is therefore our duty to not only value but also to defend them, because, to the living, they are gifts enshrined in the valour of the fallen