Happy New Year: Kingston leaders deliver their wishes for 2015

"Everyone at Kingston College is looking forward enormously to 2015. Looking back there was a lot to be pleased with over the last year and we are very excited about the year ahead.

We are particularly thrilled about our new building on Richmond Road and the new school at the Kinston Centre and there are lots of other developments that are coming through.

We are very pleased to be a part of the family of institutions making Kingston a great place to live and work. I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year."

Kingston Mayor Ken Smith

May I first wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year.

And, to all those volunteer organisations who work within the royal borough a very special thank you.

May I also pay tribute to the organisations that promote harmony amongst all races and hope that together we can go into 2015 with a better understanding of each other.

On behalf of all the residents of the royal borough I would like to thank all those who worked over Christmas Day; the police, ambulance service, fire service and Kingston Hospital doctors, nurses and staff with a special mention to the A&E department who I know were very busy on Christmas Day.

Kate Grimes - Kingston Hospital chief executive

"My first thought is that this year has gone really quickly but we have managed to do a great deal.

We have consistently been one of the top five best performing A&E departments in London and the whole Hospital is coming together to make sure we keep our patients moving through the hospital, are treating them in the most appropriate place and making sure we plan well for them to go home.

We have recruited more than 200 nurses over the last year and will continue to bring in more nurses during 2015.

Over the next year we will also start to make some improvements to the hospital estate and will continue to focus on dementia.

We are running a major fundraising appeal to make our wards more dementia friendly and to create a dementia centre and would like as much support from the community as possible.

2015 is set to be another busy year for us and I’d like to thank all our staff and volunteers for everything they have done and also our patients and the community for all their support. I wish everyone a very Happy New Year!"

Tony Drakeford - Surrey Comet nature columnist

It has been a wonderful year for wildlife in 2014 but this winter seems to be much colder than the last. We have a lot of ice and frost on the ground which can cause problems for wildlife, especially in ponds, but hopefully we will not be snowed under.

In 2015 I would like to see an increase in the number of butterflies in our gardens. But my main wish for the New Year would be to hear the sound of the Song Thrush once again. It seems to be disappearing and I haven’t heard the song in over a year now.

They usually appear in mid-winter and I shall be looking and listening out for it in 2015.

Rev Robert Stanier - Vicar of St Andrew's and St Mark's parish, Surbiton

There are a lot of people around here that look like they are fine but if you scratch the surface they may have had bereavement or lost their job and life is quite hard for them.

My hope for the New Year is that neighbours reach out to each other.

If it is real help it will at first be inconvenient for the person giving it but my prayer for 2015 is that we overlook the hardship that helping someone else might cause us, in the short term it is harder to help those in need but in the long term we will all be happier.

If it is real help it comes when other people need it rather than when it is convenient.