Madam, I would like to thank all the people who gave me such good support during my year of office as Mayor. It helped make it a very enjoyable experience that l will never forget.

Special thanks go to those who contributed to my chosen charity, Macmillan Cancer Support. When the final figures are totted up the total raised will be nearly £l5,000.

A hefty slice was a "windfall" from my stepdaughter donating the proceeds of a special sponsored triathlon held in London being assigned to the Ross committee. Nevertheless, owing to the work put in mainly by my wife, Sue, over £8,000 came from local contributors for which we are very grateful.

Whilst Mayor I followed the tradition of being non-political. However I am now free to give a personal view on the forthcoming by-election on May 27th to choose someone to fill the vacancy on the Ross Town Council following the resignation of John Davies. We had hoped to avoid the cost of holding an election to elect someone for only a year but this became impossible politically. So I would like to endorse the Liberal Democrat candidate - Caroline Utting.

Some people will ask 'Caroline Who?' But not the members of the Ross Town Plan steering group or the Association of Ross Traders( ART).

Caroline is secretary of both these organisations, where she does a magnificent job. As a member of the town plan steering group l can honestly say that without Caroline's contribution the whole project may well have foundered. She is also a key figure behind the success of ART. Not only is Caroline a very committed hard-working, but, more importantly, she is also full of ideas and suggestions. For that reason I believe she would make a very good member of the Town Council—a younger fresh face with new ideas. Much needed in a Council that is trying to play a more active role in the town.

After a year of hard work as Mayor, l am anxious that the Town Council continues to seek more control locally in promoting the interests of Ross, as envisaged in the Town Plan report.

The new Mayor, Jo Lane, is a true Rossian and will l am sure be very keen to promote the town. Caroline would provide good support. I will be taking a bit of a breather.

However I will continue my work as chairman of the Ross Sports and Leisure Federation, treasurer of the Town Plan steering group and as a Town Councillor.

So bad luck to any long suffering readers who hoped they had seen the back of me.

Cllr John Edwards