This year has been a momentous one for our family, and with 2022 drawing to a close I am just so happy to be having this Christmas time in Somerset,  celebrating faith, friendships, family and all the good things in our lives.

Branching Out really has branched out this year!  As well as a new location, what I have loved is meeting with so many young people AND at such a variety of stages of their lives.  Each of you come with so many interesting ideas, stories and curiosities.  I just love the magnitude of VARIETY.  It is the differences of personalities, of interests, of strengths and of ambitions that I am always utterly so delighted and amazed by.

This Christmas, my hope and prayer is that the time at home for you will be a time of restoration, of joyfulness and also of rest from the rigours of school and university life.  My hope is that this season comes with a sense of hopefulness for you – where you start really dreaming about the things that really matter to you.  My hope is that you will become aware of what interests you, what lights that spark, what inspires you and puts a smile on your face.  My other hope is that you will see yourself through the eyes of those who love you.   

Know that you are valuable, are worth, are enough, are important and that you have all that you need to keep learning, striving, surrounding yourself with good and true friends, that you can make good choices for yourself and that you have what it takes to persevere and be resilient.  

Happy happy Christmas.  And a whopping THANK YOU for the conversations that I have had with so many of you.  Thank you for sharing your inner and most precious of stories with me.  Thank you for letting me offer guidance and ideas as you embark of new chapters – whether for school, university or work.  I love the work that I do and I love meeting with you.