AWARDS: Recognise the businesses

It is just as important that such people get recognised when the Northumberland Business Awards process begins.

If someone feels that they get excellent service from any particular business, from a craft bakers in Blyth to a bookshop in Alnwick, then they should take the opportunity to complete a nomination form.

Small business owners deserve a pat on the back and a thank you as much as the owner of a large business.

I’m surprised that the local healthcare trust didn’t release more information about the causes of the virus outbreak which closed a noticeable amount of wards at Cramlington and Wansbeck hospitals recently, given that information about the problems comes out via a variety of sources.

If people don’t receive official clarity, there is all sort of information on the intent, which may not always be true and may increase people’s worries.

Given the amount of money that Countrylife Homes has invested in the Greystoke development, you can understand its enthusiasm to promote the project.

I assume that people who turn up for a site visit will be given a timescale for the finishing of the landscaping work because the overly large holly hedge and the trees in need of some expert TLC still remain as obvious a problem as they were at the start of the project.

Once the landscaping work is finished and the property is fully occupied, as with the McCarthy and Stone development next to the Telford Bridge, we can then judge how well the architects’ vision and the end results of the builders’ work look.

We can then ponder on how long it will be before another new development, with even more storeys, is built in Morpeth.

It’s a long time since builders were not encouraged to build higher than the established properties already in the town.

My late maternal grandmother began her planning for next year’s Christmas by buying cards in the post-Christmas sales.

I’ve never been that organised.

However, as they day draws ever nearer that the 2017 Christmas cards head to a local recycling box in Morpeth, I do still regard Christmas cards as an important tradition to hang on to.

I have thought about the cards that didn’t arrive for a mixture of reasons, from the sad to the puzzling, but it’s more about the positive aspect of receiving cards from, and giving cards to, people who you often have little contact with in the year.

I’m sure you will have thought about such people at Christmas just gone, and will do so again next Christmas.

Robert Pollard

Northbourne Avenue

Morpeth