Congratulations to all those volunteers – especially Jim Houldsworth – who put so much effort into securing Blackpool’s right to host this year’s Veterans Day.

This is a fantastic opportunity for the town. We have a large ex-service community here, and this will give them the recognition they deserve. It will also attract many thousands of people to the town over the nine-day period of celebration.

I remain disgusted at the events last November in Leatherhead where swimming pool users objected to injured veterans using the public pool for rehabilitation. To argue that a veteran who has lost a limb fighting for his country should somehow be banished from sight in case they ‘scare’ children is simply wrong. I hope Veterans Week will see the younger generation realise that veterans are not just the elderly who fought in the World Wars, but the growing numbers who have come home after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. They deserve our thanks and recognition for their service as much as previous generations.

It will also be very interesting to see if Gordon Brown really will make that journey up here for Veterans Day. It will give him a chance to see a town he has spent all his time turning his back on up to now! We should not forget how Gordon Brown has thrown away our hopes of the casino, and has completely failed to respond to the Blackpool Action Plan our Council and ReBlackpool put together. Waiting for Joan Humble and Labour to do anything meaningful for either Blackpool or Cleveleys is a waiting game none of us can afford to play. If Gordon does pay a visit, let’s hope it jogs his memory!