Last Saturday the Harriers were superb, first on the ball time and time again in the air and on the ground and John Williams’ splendid goal was richly deserved by the whole team. The heartbreak of the equaliser in the dying minutes did at least have the silver lining of the financial rewards of a replay. The draw for the fourth round putting the winner of the replay against West Ham gives us just the stimulus needed to beat Wolves at Molyneux and then to go on and avenge our defeat by West Ham so many years ago.

Before Christmas I visited Birchen Coppice Middle School as everyone was devastated by the unfair portrayal of the school following publication of the league tables. As on previous visits I was moved by the obvious care for, and dedication to, their charges shown by Mrs. Wendy Taylor, the Head, and all her staff. I was pleased to read the letter from Julien Kramer (18 December) saying categorically that league tables are unfair to Birchen Coppice Middle School because they fail to recognise added value. He also drew attention to the recent OFSTED report which among other things praised the school for good leadership and management, good behaviour by pupils and good teaching all of which contribute to the rising standards and good achievements by the end of Year 8. The report also drew attention to the excellent pastoral care provided by the staff.

I attended a presentation evening of the Royal and Ancient Order of Buffaloes who had assembled a vast collection of Christmas goods and toiletries for the patients on the GP ward at our own hospital. We were all pleased to hear from Sister Linda Dye that the ward is very busy and continues to provide real Kidderminster care to its patients.

On Christmas Eve I visited the Worcestershire Young Carers Headquarters and met two of the young carers from our own community. I learnt about the immense responsibility and the limitations on their lifestyle under which these young carers labour. The organisation provides support and relaxation that they would otherwise not receive.

An update from BT about Broadband tells that_

• Chaddesley Corbett has achieved the required number of registrations

but there are three remaining areas listed where local campaigns are necessary to reach the set trigger level.

• Arley so far has only 14 registrations towards a trigger level of 100,
• Blakedown 101 towards 200 and
• Wolverley 90 towards 500.

I have enquired why Wolverley has this apparently inappropriate trigger level. Unfortunately this is not only related to the number of residential and business customers but also to the cost of installing Broadband equipment which is high for Wolverley. (Nearby places, such as Clent, are only just starting to ask how to go-about registering)

I hope local campaigns will lead to achievement of the trigger levels for all areas.