As we approach Christmas 2016 I thought that I would share a few thoughts with you.
This year has been an important year for the Bateman’s. I won my seat on the City Council again in May.
It was a very strong result and I want to thank the people of Wednesfield North for having their faith in me. I will do all I can to ensure you are not let down!
Mary and I want to thank the armed forces, police, fire service and ambulance and NHS staff, and the Volunteers, who do so much for our community day in and day out.Especially the men & women who serve both the country, and help us preserve our way of life here in Wednesfield North and Wolverhampton, and for those who will not be able to sit down with their families as we ourselves will.
Christmas is a time for families and the love and warmth families engender within each other. This has been a challenging year for many of us, but Mary and I will face this Christmas as we have faced past Christmases. We will have a heart full of memories to share and we will remember our family and friends, some of whom are no longer with us, but we will remember them over the festive season, as we always do!
The house is warm and the decorations are up. There are lights in the front garden on the old cherry tree which looks like a ‘lollipop’!
We will enjoy the growing band of children that are being born into our family, and we will use Christmas to have fun, play games, and of course remember the spiritual meaning of Christmas as we face up to the future.
This year we have seen a new arrival into our immediate family, just a few weeks old Isla Rose Winchurch will join us for her first Christmas. Isla will cause much ‘baby talk’ on her very first Christmas Day.
This will be a day when 22 of us will sit down for Christmas at my niece’s – Nicola and husband Bryn’s home. The 8 children under the age of 8 will no doubt throw a spotlight on what Christmas is all about, what it will NOT be is a quiet Christmas!
So can Mary and I offer all of you reading this message, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
