JUST a reminder that Christmas is just around the corner; and here is a Christmas picture to prove it! I can hear you asking: "Has he finally flipped? Has Gent gone daft?" Perhaps it would be better if you didn't answer, especially the second question.

But in fact, this photograph, shown to me by Mrs Barbara Gledhill (nee Hilling) of Bury Road, Bolton, was taken on Christmas Eve, 1953, at a pantomime at St James's Church, Darwen. Mrs Gledhill is the young assistant, and the magician was Kenneth Ashburn, of Sandy Lane, Darwen (he now lives in Leyland), and she was helping out because the regular assistant was ill; as a result, she stayed with the act for four years!

Mrs Gledhill says that at the time, Kenneth worked as a tailor's assistant at Burton's in Darwen, doing magic in the evenings (he was a member of the Magic Circle). Later, though, he turned professional, and did a number of years performing in Las Vegas. Interestingly, though, the couple have just got in contact again after 42 years.