IF you have read this headline and think you’ve heard it before, well, you have. Truth is, I was floundering on what exactly to put in this week’s column because my head is full of strange and conflicting thoughts from the year that’s been.

It’s been a year with some really enjoyable moments but at the same time, there’s been more lows than the last month’s weather forecast for several of us in the incredible NCB Radio team.

Although, as for the title, if you guessed ‘Here’s Where the Story Ends’ as the reference, you’d be correct, although as NCB Radio approaches its 15th year of broadcasting, our story very much isn’t coming anywhere near to its end.

Anyway. Souvenirs from a terrible year. If our memories serve us correctly, we’ve got one more column before Christmas, so that will probably be more festive reflections or perhaps the annual tirade against the merciless monster of Christmas music.

We’ve waxed lyrical before about the subject of the real, beating heart of the Bodmin community and this week is going to be no different but we’re going to expand things a bit.

For all our japery about hating Christmas music and “stealing Christmas”, you cannot deny it is one of a few occasions that bring people together.

In an increasingly hostile, algorithm driven and radicalising world we all seem to inhibit online to different degrees of nervousness or dehumanisation, isn’t it lovely to see that there are still moments beyond that where people come together to just enjoy an occasion?

Whether it’s the lights we’ve seen ourselves in Bodmin, Camelford, Holsworthy and Wadebridge to name four of several, the switch on events in Liskeard and Looe we read about in last week’s entry from our friends at Liskeard and Looe Radio or elsewhere across Cornwall and beyond, isn’t it great to see our towns lit up for the big day?

Even our Grinch-in-chief concedes that Christmas is a terrific way to bring people together and it can sometimes be forgotten that it was only five years ago that we were all kept apart in case we gave granny a disease instead of a new hearing aid.

Special mention should be made for the volunteers, groups, town and parish councils and committees who work tirelessly to make their communities look spectacular at Christmas. It isn’t an easy job and more often than not, they could welcome more helping hands so get in touch with them if you have something to offer.

Okay, it seems we got sidetracked and our plan for many souvenirs ended up being just two. It happens.

So let’s end this column with this. A mention to the Bodmin Royal British Legion (RBL).

Bodmin’s remembrance events are genuinely spectacular in their scale and attendance and we were delighted to hear that their Poppy Appeal raised £18,000 for the RBL. So let’s end with a cheer to the volunteers and community groups who made it happen.