DEAR editor,

I am grateful to the Penarth Times for enabling me to say goodbye to the people I leave behind when I leave Penarth later this month to rejoin my family in England.

Those who know me well are only too aware of how protracted this farewell has been; the time involved has at least eased some of the pain of leaving so many people who have become dear to me.

I leave Penarth with huge regret, but also huge gratitude to all the friends, neighbours, colleagues, shopkeepers, service providers and members of the community as a whole who have made the years spent here so enjoyable and fulfilling, and who in recent months have helped in countless ways to make my increasing immobility bearable and eve at times pleasurable.

Without you all, too many to mention, I would have had little contact with the world outside my own home. I am channelling the ensuing frustrations into keeping a journal recounting the experience of becoming an increasingly inactive member of the community, the contents might well come as a surprise to those who have not yet had the same experiences.

Penarth is a lovely place to live in, especially for those who are physically mobile; it can be a challenging place for those who are not. I regret, resent even, having had to give up being part of the "cafe culture" here and no longer being able to frequent some of the independent shops in the town, since in both cases access to or in the establishment presents insurmountable problems to anyone not able to climb over a high threshold or to manage stairs.

These are passing regrets, however, and will not dim the memory of a leafy, lively, lovely town to have lived in.

I wish you all well, and look forward to returning as a visitor, following long delayed orthopaedic surgery, with a spring in my step once more and again able to shop "in the French way", socialising with everyone I meet.

To all of you, forever people in my life, I bid au revoir, not adieu, and a very happy Christmas.

Ann Whitfield

Lavernock Park

Penarth