By Ash Rangasamy, Community Builder for Paignton Town & Clifton with Maidenway

Do you remember those magic eye pictures that were all the craze about 30 years ago?

The ones that were just a splattering of random colours and grainy dots, but if you squinted, tilted your head and adjusted your vision, all of a sudden you could peer behind the messy scribble and a hidden gem would emerge.

Not just a hidden gem, but a 3D one at that! In the chaos of pixelated shades and ugly colour, something quite beautiful lived – and I still don’t understand them.

Well, that’s what the last year has been!

A giant magic eye picture. An ugly sore of a year that hurts your eyes and just looks like nothing but turmoil and disarray!  And it was.

Do not for a second think I’m about to say it was a year of roses and sunshine! Because it absolutely was not!

But, if we squint… there was some magic last year.

We as a nation, we as a community, we as friends and family and neighbours and colleagues, we stood together.

We laughed, cried and worked together to get everyone through this awful time.  We checked in on neighbours. We walked pets for loved ones. We delivered food and medication to those who didn’t have or couldn’t get. We came together as a nation every week and screamed and cheered for our NHS warriors!

We were millions of souls acting as one voice saying ‘we will get through this’.

That’s the magic picture!

Underneath the corona cloud, there were a million umbrellas being put up by each and every one of you helping us all stay dry!

The last 12 months have shown us that together, we are a force to be reckoned with!

And that’s the fighting spirit we need to bring forward into this new year with us.

Although the fog is clearing, we’re not out of the woods just yet.

But by golly does this year not stand a chance. We are going to continue pushing forward together, rebuilding together, creating new things together.

Together, we are unstoppable. So I implore you, keep going!

We’ve done so well. We’ve fought so hard. There’s just a few more rounds to go and we will get to the end of this. Together!