Hasn’t 2011 gone quickly?

Christmas is only four sleeps away – or perhaps one if you’re something of an insomniac.

Last year I asked Santa for a fat bank account and a thin body but somehow he got them in reverse. Oh well, let’s hope Santa doesn’t get stuck in the chimney this year and can help bring smiles to the faces of the little ones.

On a serious note, what a different kind of year 2011 has been. Throughout our region some businesses have closed, but whenever a business closes it is an opportunity for a new player to fill the void. The ebb and flow of people and business is the stuff of life and it is so in all communities, not just the Eastern Riverina.

On behalf of all the team here I would like to thank everyone who has helped us in some way to produce the Eastern Riverina Chronicle (ERC).

Thank you to the contributors who send us material all year round – it could not happen without your help.

Whether it be sport, social, or any other subject you have all been wonderful and the paper could not exist without you all.

Thanks also to our sponsors and advertisers – given the economic situation you have been fantastic.

A paper can look good, it can be full of very useful information, but without you, the reader, it is, proverbially, only yesterday’s fish and chip wrappers. Without our communities reading the ERC and using it as a vital tool in getting their message across to the people of the shires it would be nothing.

Your opinions are desired and count. It is great to be the repository for different points of view, regardless of the topic.

If I have left anyone off the list of thankyous please don’t be offended, just let me know. Write me a letter, drop me an email. After all, ERC really does belong to all of you – don’t forget that.

And so, in conclusion - I’m often hearing the words “remember the reason for the season”. Some have one interpretation some have another, but whatever you wish for I wish it for you too.

Merry Christmas and see you all in 2012

Justine Isherwood

Managing Editor