MANY of us are already making early preparations for the festive season that lies ahead.
But the families of members of the Yorkshire Regiment do so knowing their loved ones will not be there to share it with them.
Around 300 soldiers from the 1st Battalion will begin deploying to Iraq today where they will spend Christmas and New Yea
r as part of a six-month tour.
They are going there to help mentor and support the Iraqi army as British forces look to complete the security handover to local troops.
With Britain scaling down its military operations in Iraq, this will probably be the last time these soldiers will be sent to the troubled Middle Eastern country.
Undoubtedly they will encounter danger along the way, but their presence is vital if local forces are to ever get a grip on the factional violence that has already claimed thousands of innocent lives.
The days, weeks and months to come will be a difficult time for the wives, husbands, partners and children they leave behind.
But as hard as the separation is to bear, they know just how vaulable their loved ones' work is.
All they, and we, can do is pray that every one of them comes back home safe in six months' time.
Scary encounterIT is important that the younger generation learns the lesson that it is wrong to form an opinion of someone based solely on their appearance.
Never judge a book by its cover, goes the old saying. And it's as true today as it ever was.
So who better to take that message to West Yorkshire students than Earl Kenneth Kaufmann?
The motivational speaker, who has changed his name to The Scary Guy, says the fact that he has tattoos covering 85 per cent of his body helps him to get the message across that it is what is on the inside that is most important.
No doubt this striking speaker made the students at Wakefield College sit up and listen.
Even if few of us would relish the prospect of meeting him on a dark night.
Heroic rollWHEN Brenda Wright saved the life of another young girl she was given a guinea and certificate by the Lord Mayor of Leeds.
Three-quarters of a century later, at the grand old age of 91, Brenda has taken another trip to the Civic Hall to see her name on the Leeds Roll of Honour where it was first etched in 1934.
The Roll of Honour celebrates ordinary people who have done extraordinary things.
Doubtless the events of that day are as fresh in Brenda's mind as they were all those years ago.
What a proud day for Brenda and her family to see her name on the wall of the Civic Hall.
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