Mayor of Kenilworth Cllr Richard Dickson has been reaching out to the town through his monthly column with Kenilworth Nub News, his first piece for 2021 comes in the form of a video as he discusses the year just gone and the year ahead

The video can be accessed at the top of this page.

Here are Cllr Dickson's words:

Not long ago a poet wrote "there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in."

Now, as we look forward to 2021, these may seem dark and difficult times for many people in our community. Covid-19 has disrupted life for us all and, sadly, it will continue to do so for a while yet. But, good news, the local vaccination programme has started.

The speed at which Covid-19 has disrupted life has been frightening. To some degree it's masked the other great disruptor, the climate change emergency.

In 2021 in Kenilworth there'll be much we can do to reduce our carbon footprint, to change the way we move around the district, opting for more active forms of transport, and to change the way we consume the earth's natural resources, including using less plastic.

The end of the transition period in the UK's previous relationship with the EU means that, as we start the new year, there is a huge amount of change to which, somehow, as a result of the government's deal, our local employers and indeed each of us will have to respond. 

Locally in Kenilworth we should see work start in 2021 on the building of our new school, the biggest-ever investment project in the town. Scheduled to open to 2,200 students in September 2023 this is a massive opportunity to build learning facilities fit for the next 50 years or more, fit for the young people of whom we are so proud. 

Less welcome to almost everyone in Kenilworth is the ongoing HS2 construction work. Again, somehow, together we'll have to respond, but it'll will need HS2 Ltd and its contractors to engage constructively with us about their plans.

At the start of another year, I'm very conscious too that sadly for one family not far from here their vision for 2021 is just to see their cousin in law home safe with her family. After being held hostage for more than 1,700 days in Iran, in 2021 our government must surely at last negotiate the release of the British citizen Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe.

As we enter 2021 there is cause for hope. I see it in the care that ordinary people in local community groups like the Covid-19 Support Kenilworth charity bring to us. I see it in the energy of new retail businesses in the town like Coffee on the Corner, Forrest and the Pre-Loved Emporium that have opened in Kenilworth.

I see it in the focus of our chamber of trade's pre-Christmas #SupportLocalKenilworth mantra, which we need now to sustain all year round. I see it in the longing that people have for better leadership and for reform of our outdated systems of local and national government.

The poet was right, even in dark times there is a crack through which 'the light' can shine. At the start of another year, the challenge for each of us - privately, with our neighbours and friends, and in our work - is to be that light. If we want things to be better in our world, we have to be the change ourselves. 

Thank you for what you are doing to keep the town's light shining bright. I wish you a happy 2021.