As children and young people return to schools and early learning centres full-time, I would like to thank all of our dedicated teaching and support staff as well as the wider teams across the council who have all worked tirelessly to ensure the schools were ready to welcome pupils back to their education.

Everyone has worked extremely hard to get us to this point and I would urge parents and carers to carry on following the advice to ensure we keep moving in the right direction.

Many of the council’s services continued to operate during lockdown with staff adapting to working from home to continue to provide vital services to our residents.

It’s through times like these that we see the very best in people and how committed and dedicated our employees are.

While this pandemic has brought us many unforeseen challenges and heartbreak, it has also brought some unexpected highlights, pushing people towards staycations and enjoying the beautiful scenery we have right here in Scotland.

Many of us choose to spend our holidays in a foreign country and this pandemic has meant we are instead enjoying all that Scotland has to offer.

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We are very fortunate to have beautiful beaches, stunning scenery and fascinating history right here in West Dunbartonshire and all across Scotland, which many families have explored this year instead of venturing abroad.

This change in people’s holiday destination has been welcomed by the industry following the closure of all hospitality sectors during lockdown.

I hope those of you who have enjoyed a ‘staycation’ this year will continue to support the industry in the future.

The council is fully supporting the national Shop Local campaign which is encouraging people to remember the local shops who served us so well during lockdown.

Local shops, many of whom are family run businesses, rely on residents to keep their business trading and keep our high streets alive.

The personal service received by shopping local, simply cannot be matched online.

So I would ask you, if possible to continue to shop local and keep our small independent businesses going.