LORD LIEUTENANT

We will get through difficult times

020 was not the best year for many of us; a statement of the obvious you are quite rightly thinking as you read.

Yes, the news is filled with terrible stories about the virus and by now there are very few of us who are untouched by the pandemic.

There is no shortage of bad news when it comes to Covid-19 and it’s hard to stay positive and be optimistic about the future.

And yet, I can’t help but push the negative stuff to one side for a moment and reflect on a few of the heartwarming things we have all experienced.

There are so many stories of people doing good things.

Just remember how all over West Sussex, and nationally, local groups of volunteers came out of nowhere to help those who are most vulnerable, and they are still active in our towns, villages and in rural areas.

And what about individuals who doggedly made hundreds of items of PPE at home, in schools and colleges or after work in the evenings when frontline workers were struggling for supplies.

I watched the faith based groups reach out and reassure so many, and the folk who rose to the occasion by expanding food banks and opening new ones.

Remember how hundreds of thousands volunteered to assist the NHS – and the Thursday night clapping for our health workers?

We all came together. We should acknowledge as well those workers who ‘just kept on doing their job’ as one said to me, and continue to do so.

Our bin men, postal workers, supermarket and local shop workers, Sussex Police, the fire and rescue service, ambulance crews and health workers, teachers and childcarers, council workers, delivery drivers, those who provide public transport - the list goes on and on.

The hospitality sector has been desperately hit, but the generosity of hotel and restaurant staff who have kept on providing meals and accommodation for the homeless and those struggling has been unbounded.

As the Queen’s representative I sincerely thank you all.

We all have bad days - I miss my family hugely - but I know we all have to be patient.

It is a truism that even the worst storm passes eventually and we will get through these difficult times.

It saddens me that there is real hardship in our county, but the human spirit is extraordinarily strong and resilient.

By looking out for each other and showing kindness even when we are feeling grim ourselves we can keep going.

It is hard not to worry and to be happy right now, but we can still smile, even behind a mask.

So that is why I believe we should wish each other a much happier new year.

We have a vaccine, we have hope, we can look forward to things getting better in 2021.

Yes, certainly there are still some tough months ahead but we will keep going, the joy in life will return.

And those small acts of caring we show each other make such a difference.

We can do this.

SUSAN PYPER Her Majesty’s lordlieutenant of West Sussex