PEOPLE power came to the fore yesterday in two dramatic incidents.

A group of quick-thinking residents are rightly being called heroes after lifting a car off a boy who was trapped underneath.

In another show of triumph over adversity, residents stopped two historic trees from being axed when they mounted a protest.

Both events are examples of what can be achieved by community action.

Lifting a two-ton car takes a huge amount of effort and if it was not for the actions of several bystanders, Cody Smith may have suffered serious injury or even death.

Likewise, people felt strongly enough to preserve the environment by safeguarding the future of two 160-year-old beech trees.

Residents, children, councillors and a retired minister rushed out to stop a tree surgeon from cutting down the trees in the grounds of a United Reformed Church.

Laura Rigby, six, even pleaded: “Don’t cut the trees down because it is killing God’s creatures.”

Both events clearly demonstrate that community spirit is alive and well in East Lancashire.