A Christmas message from the Redditch Borough Council Mayor, Cllr Ann Isherwood

"What a year it has been for all of us!"

"A wonderful year and yet it has also been one of struggles and disappointment for all in one way or another. We can often feel that life is hard and unfair and we are the only ones that feel let down by someone or something."

"If its not health its finance, if its not finance its family, if its not Family its health and it goes on and on doesn’t it. Going from one thing to another."

"I have often looked to others to make it right for me, make the pain stop, make everyone care about each other, but they can’t…sometimes we just have to ride it out and wait till it passes it always does. Isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing… "

"I love Christmas as it reminds me of what really is important…in the last 63 years I have had perfect Christmas’s… not many perhaps one or two but I treasure them…and I have had a couple I wish I could forget. But, one things for sure there will always be another Christmas."

"Christmas is really what we make it. I have had the most frugal Christmas’s when my children were little and wondered how we were going to provide…but we did…sometimes we had more than enough and was able to help others who hadn’t…my most special Christmas’s where were I put others first."

"We can’t make it perfect for everyone but we an make it better…so with that in mind I would love to share my most favourite quote from Howard W Hunter Born: November 14, 1907 Died: March 3, 1995"

"This Christmas mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologise. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others."

"Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth."

"Speak your love, and then speak it again."  ~ Howard W. Hunter

"I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a better New Year...lets move on from the past and look forward to a better future."

Redditch Borough Council Mayor, Cllr Ann Isherwood