IN this week’s Cornish Times, in shops from today (Friday) we lead with the heart-warming story of a seven-year-old boy who has told his mum that he wants to give up his Christmas Day to help feed the homeless.

She says Menheniot Primary School pupil James is ‘one of a kind’.

We also hear that staff and trainees at HMS Raleigh have been donating food and other items to Torpoint’s foodbank.

Keeping with the Christmas theme we have three pages of school nativity pictures – as well as a unique picture of five generations of the same family who came together to welcome the birth of the latest addition to the family.

We have more pictures from a week-long trip to London that school pupils from South East Cornwall enjoyed.

A Liskeard youngster has become the face of the National Autistic Society’s Christmas campaign, while a dyslexic author hopes that a book she has written featuring her husky dog Mia will help inspire youngsters struggling with learning.

Local activists have held a protest on the Torpoint Ferry – appropriately in atrocious weather conditions – calling for action on climate change. The same mode of transport is also in the news, along with the Tamar Bridge, because further steps have been taken towards an increase in charges for motorists using these crossings to and from Cornwall.

We have features for the farming community in our Farming and Equestrian section and, while we often hear the saying ‘Mighty oaks from little acorns grow’, Ray Roberts shows us in his Nature Watch column that both the nuts and trees come in a number of varieties – as do the strangely shaped galls made by insects on their branches.

We also have our usual books, festive TV choice and recipe columns in this week’s packed edition, in shops from today (Friday).