Helping to place an elderly woman with dementia in a suitable local care home. Getting a driving licence for a lady who had been isolated in a rural location for five months waiting for DVLA to respond. Arranging suitable compensation for constituents cut off without water for almost a week.

Hundreds of cases on behalf of local people regarding housing benefits, passports and visas and difficulties with HMRC, to take a few examples. More than 13,000 emails received and almost 6,000 cases closed over the past 12 months.

At this time of year we pay tribute to the extraordinary people who work in the public service to keep us safe and protect us through the holiday period. They may be working in the NHS, in the emergency services, in the armed forces or in many other roles, and we owe them all our profound thanks.

But this year I also want to pay tribute to a team that generally receive no public thanks at all, despite the brilliant work they do. This is the team in my own Parliamentary office: Gill, Susie and Wendy in Hereford and Grant in Westminster.

I have been in MP for nearly 13 years, so it is astonishing to reflect that my Hereford team alone has an accumulated experience working with me of nearly 30 years.

That is a vast resource of experience and capability. All too often they and I are called into action by a constituent very late in the day, because other routes have failed. Sometimes, there is just nothing we or anyone can do. But in a very high percentage of cases we have been able to solve the problem, or make it much better.

And the remarkable thing is that all this is entirely apolitical. Of course, sometimes local people call or email my office to let off steam, and I will respond to them as effectively and diligently as I can.

But party politics makes no difference at all to the service we offer to constituents. We work with Herefordshire Council or Hereford City Council or Ross Town Council whatever their political affiliation may be, because our job is simply to deliver on behalf of local people. 

So as we head into 2024, I say thank you again to all those working for us during the holiday period; but this time round thank you especially to my own team.

It's my name above the office door, and I who am and should be held accountable. But my work would be nothing without your dedication, energy and enthusiasm on behalf of my constituents. Thank you so much.

And to all readers, Happy New Year!