ON Saturday evening Bill and I greatly enjoyed the Trafalgar dinner held in the Blackburn Cathedral crypt.

The company and the food were good, especially the apple crumble, which was almost as good as those my mother used to make.

I really do think that Blackburn is very lucky to have such a grand and convenient facility right in the town centre, complete with parking.

And the extra big bonus is that you are, or at least you feel that you are, helping the cathedral.

Immaculate uniformed Royal Marines, plus all the great and good, were there.

The councillors who attended looked very smart and well turned out, and it made me very proud of Blackburn, and of the people that do the very hard job of keeping our town on a strong and even keel.

I think we are apt to take our councillors for granted, forgetting all the hours and effort that they put into what I am sure must be a very time-consuming and sometime thankless job.

Earlier in the week, Andrew and I had gone to London to listen to Boris Johnson speaking at the Imperial College and I am sad to say the entire trip was a bit of a disaster.

The seats we’d purchased weeks ago — and you could not choose where to sit — cost £25 each, and by the time we got there, we were up in the gods, so the stage and sound seemed to be miles away.

Needless to say, not being able to see or hear much, we left.

I have to admit it was not the most successful of days, though we did get one of his signed books, so perhaps all was not lost, but after the seat fiasco I have to admit I have lost the urge to read it.

So after that big disappointment, our Saturday evening, spent in good company at our own cathedral, was a lovely, lovely bonus.

I am once again suffering and I mean suffering from a bad attack of tinnitus but I have to grin and bear it, as evidently there is no cure.