November comes again with the excitement of bonfires and fireworks, especially for the children.

November, and we remember with pride those who have given their lives over the years to keep this nation free and to help those nations who were threatened with annihilation. For those too young to have memories of wars we can teach them that war is never good but is sometimes necessary to retain the right to freedom. We can all be thankful that, for the moment at least, the threat of war with Iraq has been averted and pray that it will continue to be so.

We want to offer our appreciative thanks to Sandie and Wyndham Rose at the Coltishall Post Office for all their help in having a “drop envelope” for the Marlpit at the shop for the past few years. Sandie and Wyndham are sadly leaving the Post Office and Store and moving away from Coltishall and Horstead. We wish them much happiness and success with their future plans. We understand that the new owners of the Post Office are willing to continue to help us and we wish to say thank you to them and Welcome.

Bah Humbug! Your editors have observed that in our area in recent years at Christmas there has been a paucity of festive lighting. Santa himself might be forgiven for landing his sleigh on Coltishall Airbase runway since that is generally the only place lit up. Your editors are therefore asking that both businesses and homes make an effort to decorate their properties. Let's have a Christmas light display that will cause Santa to stop long enough in our area for a few more presents to drop off his sleigh. We can't offer you financial inducement but we can offer you recognition in the Marlpit magazine and photographs on the Marlpit Website.

We would like to thank Suzan Farrow for responding to our appeal and for providing us with some old photographs.