Real purpose of Christmas begins when it’s all over

HAPPY New Year 2026.

- Hilton Dawson

All the very best to you and yours.Every New Year starts with a celebration and this one is mine. This is my 295th column of 850 words for The Journal so those mathematically inclined will be able to calculate that my 100th word of today’s effort is my 250,000th published word in this format.

Congratulations to anyone who has managed to stay the distance of a quarter of a million words, over almost 13 years. I am sure that your resilience and perseverance will be acknowledged by the editor.

Here too are my grateful thanks to everyone for putting up with me.

It’s a funny thing, measuring out your life in numbers. I think of all the court reports and advocacy, local history presentations, leaflets and social media and entries in Hansard. Then, of how many coals my forebears shovelled, the hundreds of years of family catching fish, the children my parents and grandmother must have taught.

Some new numbers came out last week in a report from the splendid Ashington Community Litter Project. Their multicultural volunteer team removed 4,560 bags of rubbish from the town’s streets in 2025, at an average of 12.5 bags every day. These local heroes are the epitome of North East community spirit, selflessly serving their fellow residents, seeing a job that needed doing and getting on and doing it themselves. Making a huge difference not just through their impact on the urban environment but on community wellbeing and self-esteem. Great work.