David Smith

As we head into the New Year its difficult to consider where we are going without some apprehension; maybe some of this comes with age and thoughts for the future of our young people.

As someone born in the middle of an air raid over Birmingham in 1940, I once asked my mother what her thoughts were of having a small daughter and a new born baby in times of a threat of invasion, her reply was "it was OK because we knew we were going to win".  So perhaps at a time when we seem to be heading into a major recession we need to believe that we will win.

The way forward is not to spend our way out of recession but to look at how jobs can be saved and made secure and our labour force got back into work and where necessary re trained into new skilled careers.

To fulfil this objective we must make sure our companies survive to lead us into a new future and provide new products and Industries that offer the Job security that will allow us to feel confident to spend without running up debts we cant afford to pay.

Christmas also brought us great joy, joy for the young family able to move to their new home in the village on Christmas Eve, joy at the news that our son had proposed to his girlfriend and she had said yes and joy at the prospect of our daughter and son in law presenting us with a second grandchild in the Spring.

Finally what a day I had with our two year old grandson at Thomas Land (Drayton Manor Park) it's a trip not to be missed.