Last week was amazing. First, I met a hero. Not some comic-book invention with super powers, but a real flesh and blood person

Last week was amazing. First, I met a hero. Not some comic-book invention with super powers, but a real flesh and blood person who'd done something extraordinary.You've probably read about him in the Mercury. Roger Hartwell is a postman in Worle who came across a woman collapsed in the road. Before he became a postman he'd served in the Marines, where he learnt first aid. His training clicked in and, even though her heart stopped and she had trouble breathing, he kept her alive while the paramedics were called. Without him, she'd have died.All of us wonder how we'd react if we were faced with a crisis. But Roger is very modest and matter-of-fact about what he did, even though he coped brilliantly. I just hope I'd be able to react as calmly and effectively as he did in those circumstances, and that there's someone like him around if I ever need help.But that wasn't all. Later the same day I went to open a new wood recycling centre in Oldmixon Crescent. They're a charity who pick up old lumber and furniture, clean it up and sell it. If you need garden planters, wooden furniture or just lengths of timber, they've probably got what you need. But they aren't just green, they provide jobs for former drug addicts to rejoin normal society as well. That's two birds with one stone. They reminded me of Emmaus, a charity in Bristol where I spent a week last Spring, who provide jobs for homeless people collecting, repairing and selling second hand furniture. Both charities create a stable, structured environment where addicts or homeless people can get used to the world of work. The results can be transformational. That's two meetings with extraordinary local people in a single day. Isn't Weston a great place?