Mayor’s Christmas message: ‘Focus our efforts on doing what is best for our community’

Season’s greetings to Westbury.

As we enter the Christmas and New Year season it is perhaps a time to look back and reflect on what has happened this year. To say that events in the United Kingdom and abroad have been momentous would still seem to be something of an understatement. There is no doubt that these events will have some profound effects on all of us, some fairly immediately and others which will occur in the future about which we can only speculate.

However we will have little or no ability to have an influence on many of these changes. Therefore we should focus our efforts on doing what is best for our community and all the people in it.

We must strive to ensure that Westbury remains the friendly, open and safe society that it has always been. Indeed I have spoken to many people new to the area who cite these qualities as the reason for settling here.

One of the ways we can reinforce these values is by taking part in community activities, be they localised or community-wide.

Our “Christmas in Westbury” event is now in its 11th year and has been expanding year on year and covers events all over Westbury. I do hope that as many of you as possible will take part in these events and hopefully make new friends in the process.

Obviously Christmas is a time for families and rightly so. But I hope that all of us are able to think about reaching out a hand to help others who are less fortunate.

I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy, prosperous and above all peaceful New Year.

Stephen Andrews,
Mayor of Westbury