IT’S that time of the year again when we are all running about spending money.

Presents, outings, parties, and food and drink will swallow up all our ready cash during the next couple of weeks and also mean that January credit card statements will drop on the mat with a very heavy thud.

We might think we are being generous to others by fighting our way around shops to seek out suitable gifts but the reality is that most of us are looking after ourselves and our immediate families – a comparatively small group of people.

It’s primarily selfish spending and I’m getting to think too that a lot of it is pretty wasteful.

By middle age and after most of us are lucky enough to really own all the essential items of life – except those that a lottery win would allow us to acquire!

Unless you are a buyer of extraordinary imagination and skill, I reckon 70 per cent of what we purchase as presents ends up either in the back of cupboards or being passed on to someone else next Christmas.

Which brings me to a band of people we should all salute not just in the winter, but all year round.

I’m referring to those who give up that precious asset, time, to help others for no financial reward.

In a time of recession when everyone finds it more difficult to make ends meet, it must be extra hard to devote many hours to unpaid work.

The people most deserving of our admiration are not those who are motivated by religion. Not that there is anything wrong with performing deeds that benefit others because you believe your faith says you should. It’s just that doing something because you will be better looked upon by your God isn’t, to my mind, as laudable as doing it without expectation of any future reward at all.

Whether you are working with the Samaritans and lending a welcome ear to troubled fellow human beings, or helping charities that work to make life more pleasant for the sick and elderly, you have my highest regard.

Even moreso if you put yourself at physical risk like those individuals in organisations such as Pendle and Rossendale Mountain Rescue.

There’s a big difference between enjoying a summer weekend hike on our superb Lancashire fells and spending long hours in the sort of weather this time of the year brings trudging up hill and down dale searching for people who have gone missing.

This winter, the Gannett Foundation, set up by our parent company to aid just such voluntary groups, has recognised the value of the work of this particular group of volunteers by awarding them a grant to replace their ageing all-weather gear.

It is thoroughly deserved as also is a big round of applause for all those who volunteer their time and energy to help others.