Nik Butler: Horsham's heart lies safely in its community

Rather than waiting for the inevitable end of year round up I wanted to follow in the tradition of everything occurring earlier each year and write a little about this years experiences.

It has been a year of communication in being told that we have a choice just as long as we choose that already decided upon for us.

It has been a year of lost jobs and departing business whilst distant oil cartels eye our green and pleasant land with interest.

It has been a year of outrage and protest with all the noise and anger of a strongly worded letter or two but quite possibly without shifting the inevitable avalanche of new houses and development.

2013 may have been a drier year than previous but it still leaves one feeling just a little wet and miserable as the gap, between society and those we gave charge to manage, feels greater than ever before.

If anything it seems that Christmas and New Year is coming as a relief for those who want to put a bad year behind them and consider what fresh starts are available.

We are not Whoville, despite the the governing grinches best plans to disrupt our good spirits, we will not gather in the Carfax and sing ‘Fah who foraze! Dah who doraze! Welcome Christmas’ and no heart will grow two sizes that day.

This is not to say Horsham in and of itself is without a heart. I have seen Facebook groups gather to answer calls for aid and assistance. Giraffes have stood and lead children astray informing us of local and national needs which should be met.

Public events have gathered us, entertained us, informed us and left us with a sense of pride in the distinctive nature of our town and our district.

As snows gather on the horizons I fully expect many of us will journey once again onto that privately owned and graciously loaned field of snowbound entertainment.

In all of the headlines and developments we may constantly need reminding that it is the people and groups of Horsham that define its character and tone.

There is no building, no frameworks and no corporation which define the heart of Horsham better than its own community.