Mail Column  

I wrote last week in my column about the Veterans Minister coming to Hartlepool and meeting with people from Hartlepool who had served in the Armed Forces. I ’d written that Hartlepool is a strong military town and I certainly had evidence of that in the days after my column was published in the Hartlepool Mail. I have never been stopped quite so much by people in Hartlepool about an article I ’d written. I was stopped in York Road after buying five pork pies from Morrell ’s – yes five, but in my defence they weren ’t all for me. I was stopped at the match on Saturday, where somebody thanked me for acknowledging the importance of veterans. This all demonstrates to me, if proof were needed, that we in Hartlepool are very proud of our military, and wish to acknowledge the debt of gratitude we all owe the brave men and women who have served in the...