I was fortunate to spend some time at home in Old Windsor with family and friends over Christmas and the New Year. I hope you, too, had some time to break the routine.   A change is as good as a rest and I’m convinced that there’s nothing better than having a break from the usual routine once in a while to recharge the batteries.  I now feel energized to be back in Parliament. 

It was good to have some space to reflect, because the last parliamentary session was, whilst enjoyable, incredibly hard work under difficult circumstances.  Tough decisions had to be made, in order to start rebuilding for the future, but I am glad that the Coalition Government had the courage to take them.

As well as being with family, it’s always enjoyable to be at home in Windsor as it gives me more time to chat with local residents and organizations and catch up on the gossip.  In addition, the flow of incoming correspondence does not diminish during the festive season and with around 500 pieces of correspondence arriving on my desk each week it was good to have a little more time to research issues and keep on top of the local workload.  So I spent a lot of my break hearing people’s concerns and trying to figure out ways I could help; especially when so many residents are anxious about common issues, such as the planning proposals for Binfield and Warfield and central Windsor!

So as Parliament returns, you can no doubt tell I am energised and ready to continue fighting hard for local residents.  I’ll be doing all I can to make ensure that legislation reflects the needs of local communities, such as the Localism Bill.  Above all I am looking forward to representing the Windsor constituency with the energy and determination it deserves in 2011.