Dear Friends

The year 2004 has flown by and here we are on the threshold of 2005. We wish those around us a “Happy New Year” and those more distant were wished the same in our Christmas cards. Will we, I wonder, be any better at keeping our resolutions than we were last year ? Probably not ! Nevertheless we start off again looking on the bright side.

In this parish, however, we can look forward to the dedication of a permanent memorial to the late Queen Mother during the Spring of 2005. The New Year will almost certainly see the arrival of a new parish priest for our neighbouring benefice of Kings Walden, Lilley and Offley. This will be great relief to those three churches because it will be almost two years since the Revd John Schild retired. In addition, the new appointment will be an asset to the Walden-Offa Group of rural churches.

In the country as a whole it seems that 2005 will be the year of the next general election. This will be good news to many in the parish. I say this because in my own comings and goings about the district I hear nothing but complaints about the current regime. Even so, any government has to face thorny problems. In 2005, whichever party wins, the ongoing threat of terrorism has to be addressed, and I am sure Christians should support any regime that takes all necessary steps to protect its people and territory.

A no less challenging issue for the year ahead is the fight against crime. Although crime in general has shown some decline, violent crime is increasing which in many instances is alcohol or drug-related. The government has tried to deal with all this by means of non-custodial penalties, eg. fines, community service, antisocial behaviour orders. These, in general, are not very successful. On the other hand, it is politically sensitive to imprison people for relatively minor offences if only on the grounds of cost to the rest of us. Attempts are being made to improve co-operation between police forces,