DON'T panic, don't panic. A familiar phrase, especially from the mouth of the anything but unflappable Cpl Jones in "Dad's Army".

MINDLESS vandalism has reared its ugly head again in Forres, this time in a residential area of town.

AS we pointed out last week, traffic on the A940 Grantown road is already very heavy and set to get worse.

THE arrival of British Summer Time brought little change to Forres. In fact, having enjoyed a spell of lovely weather, winter decided to have a final say and make a re-appearance.

ONCE more, doubts have been raised over the future of the new Nimrod MRA4, and with it, inevitably, that of RAF Kinloss itself.

NOT that many weeks back, we said that change – any kind of change – was hard to cope with.

THERE was good news for three Forres companies last week when they were named as winners in the Grampian Food Forum Innovation Awards.

CHANGE, any kind of change, is hard to cope with, especially as we get a bit older and more set in our ways.

HERE in Forres, new homes are nothing new. We have become accustomed to new housing estates mushrooming on the outskirts of the town or blocks of flats growing out of the ruins of former businesses.

AFTER three years in the melting pot, Moray councillors gave a partial nod of approval to the Moray Dolphin Hydrotherapy Pool at their meeting last week.

AFTER nearly three years of discussion, delay, questions and more questions, Moray councillors will today (Wednesday) decide whether the long-awaited hydrotherapy pool proposal should go ahead.

THE benefits enjoyed by the Forres area thanks to the proximity of RAF Kinloss and, to a lesser extent, RAF Lossiemouth have been well documented.

A COLLECTIVE sigh of relief went up from Findhorn folk last week when it was learned that the public toilets at North Beach had been saved from permanent closure.

MUCH has been written about the future of the Forres Hydrotherapy Pool, still waiting for the green light from Moray Council.

AFTER months of skirting round the edges of the massive pothole outside the shops in Fleurs Place, residents in the area could soon be in for some welcome relief.

THE four councillors who represent the extended Forres ward have given a collective thumbs up to the proposed hydrotherapy pool for Forres, with conditions.

ONE of the real success stories of the last couple of years or so has been the enthusiasm with which the public has embraced the idea of a hydrotherapy pool for Forres.

A HAPPY, healthy and peaceful New Year to everyone. Last year at this time we had a look ahead at what Forrres and district could expect in the 12 months now behind us, and perhaps we ought to recap....

BY THE time you read this, Christmas will have come and gone and all we'll have left is the crumpled wrapping paper and the turkey bones.

WE TEND to think of ourselves as pretty much removed from some of the worst criminal practices that blight parts of the UK, but it seems we are deluding ourselves.

THE switch-on of the Forres Christmas Lights went ahead as planned last week. A lot of behind-the-scenes slog carried out by a small band of volunteers, has guaranteed that the High Street is bright and welcoming.

LEANCHOIL Hospital often features in the pages of the "Forres Gazette" with letters from individuals who have been confined there, praising nursing staff for their kindness.

THEY say a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.

FLOODING never seems to be far from the agenda in Forres and, indeed, the last two weeks have been no different.

FORRES remembered those who have given their lives in service to their country over the years on Sunday - with a steady procession of services of remembrance and wreath laying ceremonies taking place all over the area.

THERE were fireworks everywhere on Saturday night when Forres Round Tablers staged their excellent annual bonfire and display in Grant Park, according to many who attended, the best there has been to date.

WE'VE all heard the term lager lout and can easily enough conjure up a picture of what the word means to us. But not too long ago the term litter lout was just as well known, and his or her actions were just as unacceptable to society.

THE need for good dental health, dinned into most of us from an early age with promises of a few pence from the tooth fairy and dire warnings of our teeth falling out, hasn't gone away.

CHANGES in the Scottish Enterprise structure means the local authority and the local economic body are working in partnership to bring further economic prosperity to Moray. This can only be good news, with meetings already being held with business leaders and others in the area.

THE Forres rumour mill has been suggesting for some time that the town’s Royal British Legion Club is closing down at Christmas. As it happens, the rumour-mongers are wrong, but as ever, there is a little bit of truth behind it.

CONGRATULATIONS ARE due yet again to the Forres in Bloom committee and Moray Council's parks department for another marvellous achievement on a national stage.

GIVE yourselves a pat on the back, Forres. For the fourth year running, the royal burgh has been voted the best medium-sized town in the Beautiful Scotland competition, and no-one who has visited the town this summer will disagree with the judges' decision.

A QUIET corner of Kinloss which has been in need of a facelift for some time is set for a million-pound-plus redevelopment.

FOR 100 days, Forres runner Paul Rogan pounded his way along the highways and byways of such places as Belarus, Siberia, Mongolia, China and the USA.

BUS provision in the Forres area has been hitting the headlines this week, with unwanted changes to services.

WHEREVER one looks these days it appears that anti-social behaviour, particularly among younger people, is making the headlines. The spate of recent shootings in English cities and the tragic death of 11-year-old Rhys Jones in Liverpool, have served to heighten the realisation that society has changed.

IT WAS always going to be a thorny issue. From the moment it was announced that Forres was to change from being a three-ward, three councillor set-up to one extended ward with four councillors, the question was being asked. Just how is that going to work?

FORRES should have a new health centre and hospital facility by 2010 – maybe earlier – but it is unlikely.

PUBLIC transport – it either works for you or it doesn't. For years now, we have been exhorted to leave our cars behind and use the bus, but for many people that just isn't possible.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT that Scottish Executive Ministers have given the green light to the Burn of Mosset Flood Alleviation Scheme hasn't exactly sent flood-threatened residents delirious with delight.

SPEAKING about the sun shining on Forres Theme Day must have incurred the wrath of the weather man, as the rest of last week saw nasty rainy and chilly conditions.

THE heavens smiled on Forres Theme Day at the weekend, sending buckets of sunshine to dry up the previous day’s downpour.

FORRES Highland Games was held in Grant Park at the weekend and a good time was had by all, with the weather staying dry for most of the time.

JUST over 10 years ago, Forres was hit by a destructive flood which left all those affected praying they wouldn't be faced with such a situation again.

THINGS haven't slowed down much around Hollyrood since the SNP won control of the Scottish Executive back in May, and this Saturday will be no different.

RARELY do changes occur without some form of protest following. Whenever well-loved, familiar practices are updated or varied, when rules or regulations change, voices will be raised against it.

FORRES is to have another supermarket, or discount food store, as the latest addition to the town's retail fraternity prefers to call itself.

IN FIVE or six years from now, fast jets will be using RAF Kinloss on a daily basis, following the relocation of some of the RAF Lossiemouth Tornado fleet.

WITH ENERGY, in all its guises, high on the political agenda at the moment, in both Holyrood and Westminster, the minds of the great and the good have been given over to deciding what's hot and what's not.

MORAY COUNCIL has set a date for the planning inquiry into whether Lidl should be allowed to build a discount store on the Greshop Industrial Estate on the outskirts of Forres.

WHILE we wait to find out exactly what is going to happen with our MSPs at Holyrood, our home-grown "cooncillors" have already settled in and started earning their salary.

THE dust has settled on last week's elections, but there are still lots of issues outstanding.

BY THE early hours of Friday morning, we’ll know who is going to represent Moray in the next session of the Scottish Parliament.

FOLLOWING the media frenzy that surrounded last year's by-election for the Moray seat in the Scottish Parliament, events over the past week or two have been positively placid.

WITH NEARLY half the sitting members calling it a day come the May 3 election, Moray Council HQ is going to be a strange sort of place until all the newcomers get to know each other.

WHEN THE chips are down, there's nothing like a nice warming meal to keep you going. However, if it's chips you're after, Forres House Community Centre is no longer the place to go.

NEWS emerged this week that a green burial site is being considered for Findhorn on a piece of ground on the edge of the dunelands, which would form a natural progression for members of the Findhorn Foundation, who wish to return to nature when they die.

AROUND Europe this week they are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the birth of the European Union. Well, most people are celebrating, some are rueing the day the Treaty of Rome was signed and the EEC or Common Market was founded.

FOR the second time in little over six weeks, the Forres community is in mourning for yet another road traffic accident victim.

NEARLY 10 years have passed since Forres was hit by devastating flooding which laid waste to much of the west end of the town.

A ROW HAS broken out over the provision of disabled access to the top floor of the Forres House Community Centre.

LAST YEAR'S Nimrod crash in Afghanistan was extremely painful for everyone living around RAF Kinloss. There is no getting away from the huge sense of loss that hit the area when the news was announced.

THE anger surrounding Moray Council's proposed closure of the Forres House Community Centre pre-school playgroup refuses to go away.

YET again, Moray is facing one of the highest Council Tax rises in Scotland. At 3.6%, only South Ayrshire stands above it at 3.9%.

NEARLY two weeks on, the terrible sadness and sense of loss surrounding the deaths of two local youngsters in a car crash still hangs over the community like a dark cloud.

FROM the time the first news flash announced that two people had died in a car crash on the Forres to Grantown road on Friday evening, people began to fear the worst.

GOOD news, really good news, is hard to come by, so when something worthwhile happens, we should celebrate the occasion.

ONLY TWO weeks into the new year, and Forres has been buzzing with a variety of mixed news.

IT ALWAYS takes a bit of time before life gets back to normal following the festive shutdown.

A HAPPY, healthy and peaceful New Year to everyone! Overall, 2006 was a bit of a bummer all round, so what does 2007 have in store?