At the end of a very difficult year for everyone involved in dealing with COVID-19,Councillor Cecil Meiklejohn, Chair of Falkirk Community Planning Partnership, expressed her sincere thanks to everyone involved:

“At the heart of any community is kindness and this year, more than any other year in living memory, has seen kindness demonstrated by so many towards our most vulnerable neighbours and residents.

Individuals and organisations have been stretched to an absolute limit and with the introduction of Level four restrictions, the need for support is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

That said, what we have witnessed over the past nine months has been remarkable and demonstrates the resilience of all our communities and all the individuals and organisations that have offered support throughout.

All community planning partners such as NHS Forth Valley, Police Scotland, CVS Falkirk and many others have joined forces with individuals and dozens of community groups to support those who need our help most throughout the pandemic. This spirit of working together has got us through the most difficult of experiences.

As chair of the Community Planning Partnership I want to thank every single person, including the staff of the Partnership organisations, every volunteer, every business and other people who have responded to the pandemic with kindness in helping their local community and recognise that their efforts and determination is to be applauded.

We remain somewhat unsure how next year will progress but given the level of support we have seen throughout our communities over the past nine months, we can be confident that kindness will be at the heart of how we come together to overcome our collective difficulties.”