IN this week’s Cornish Times, in shops from today (Friday), we lead with South East Cornwall food firm Ginsters’ delight that some of its products receive star billing in this year’s surprise Christmas No.1 single.

YouTube sensation and Celebrity Dad of the Year LadBaby’s humorous song has turned band Starship’s 1985 hit ‘We Built This City on Rock and Roll’, into ‘We Built This City on Sausage Rolls’. The song, which beat Ariana Grande to the top spot, specifically urges people to ‘pick up a Ginsters’ – and all profits from sales of the record are going to a trust which runs more than 400 UK foodbanks.

We also report that in Ginsters’ home town of Callington, students have prepared special Christmas hampers for local families in need.

Meanwhile, the young Saltash star of the Oscar-winning film The Silent Child is again in the spotlight too, now taking centre stage in a heart-warming TV ad over the festive season.

Also bringing cheer to local families are Liskeard residents who created a special colourful festive scene in their street – we have pictures.

We also have more colourful photographs from local school Christmas productions, together with eight pages of pictures from the Cornish Times archives showing how central our newspaper has been to the life of the community for more than 160 years.

In other news, Cornwall’s fire chief has spoken out over the ‘inadequate’ rating given by fire inspectors over response times in the county. We also hear that Cornwall’s recycling and waste collection schedules are to change in 2020 in a bid to increase low recycling rates.

Liskeard’s Public Hall has reopened after a £275,000 refurbishment – we look at the improvements made and also at some of the discoveries about the building’s past made during the work. There is also another historical mystery for readers to solve regarding an ornate table in the council chamber.

Torpoint and Rame Peninsula residents have been grilling the ferry manager over the recent reliability problems – and the town’s mayor has emphasised how vital the service is for the economy.

Local people are being invited to view plans to extend a local pub and restaurant into a hotel and leisure complex, while some Saltash residents think a scheme to demolish and redevelop another historic pub will be a tragedy.

Also in this week’s edition we have farming and equestrian news, details of forthcoming festive season antiques sales and Nature Watch writer Ray Roberts has turned his eagle eye and photographic lens on the intriguing pecking order of his garden’s bird feeding station – though not all of its clientele is feathered.

Other regular features include the New Year week’s TV choice and latest books columns.

Find all of this in the latest issue of the Cornish Times, on sale from today (Friday) – and a very Happy New Year to all of our readers.