December editorial

A bumper edition of the Pump results in high praise from the Editor to all the contributors

Hello again,

Welcome to your Christmas Village Pump. You will quickly see that we have a record publication this month; we dare not make it any bigger or it wont fit our electric stapler! I don't think our Subscription Secretary would be prepared to stitch each of the copies together!

I am delighted to see that many of our regulars have taken the trouble to provide information to readers on their Christmas activities and opening times. Pump readers are urged to take advantage of the many superb offers available throughout December and the Christmas period. To quote the old maxim regarding local services "Use it or Lose it!"

There are some minor changes to our information pages; new times for the Youth Club and the cancellation of the Gooderstone Branch Surgery. If you spot other errors, please let me know so that we can correct them for the January edition.

Inevitably, this edition has a distinct Christmas flavour. I hope you will all try Ray Garrett's Quiz on Page 13. You may wish to save it and solve it as a family after your Christmas lunch. If you can answer all the questions please pass your completed quiz sheet to me with your name and telephone number and you will be entered into a draw for a bottle of wine.

As we reach the end of yet another year, the longed promise domestic building programme in Stoke Ferry seems to be getting under way. Planning applications have been submitted for the wood yard and for the Lynn Road site. Just how much of a burden these extra dwellings will put on our already over-stretched utilities and services we will have to wait and see. Luckily, the Stoke Ferry Parish Plan should be published before building starts in earnest. The Plan, coupled with the Village Design Statement, indicate the strong views held within our community on how our village should develop!

For this last edition of 2006, may I take the opportunity of thanking everyone who has contributed over the past year to the development and success of The Village Pump. This includes those who provide the articles or advertise, those who put it together and deliver it and you the readers who buy it.

May you and your loved ones have a very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year.

Ray Thompson