With the nights drawing in and Winter Festival lights going on in Chippenham, it is my hope that their glow might do more to illuminate issues of great social importance than merely lure a beleaguered public into parting with its hard-earned cash.

Parents, being so stressed from working all year in order to afford Christmas presents, and from spending less quality time with their families, are guilt-tripped into compensating their children.

Ironically, the presents are probably made by equally stressed and oppressed workers in distant Chinese factories.

Well, in Chippenham at least, I am proud to report that the town council and its team, headed by Emma and David, have worked hard to ensure that not only will the lights attract the shoppers, but also that a cross-section of community groups will have their issues illuminated.

This year, the town has tried to be as inclusive as possible and has endeavoured to cover all the bases, by providing events and activities ranging from a party in the Neeld Hall for the wonderful Rise Trust, to a tea dance at the Consti Club in honour of our senior citizens.

This year our young people at Kandu Arts have decided to support the homeless initiative Doorway, and Nicola Milne’s heroic efforts to raise funds for neo-natal baby units. The wonderful gingerbread grotto that she, her family and friends have constructed in Emery Gate will act as HQ for a raft of initiatives designed to raise money for this venture.

Our young people and facilitators, the museum, the library and artist Alex Moran have been busily working for weeks, constructing all manner of stars for the inaugural winter arts trail ‘Follow the Star’ which will be launched at the grotto on Saturday.

With the bake-off hosted by the Angel Hotel and mince pies from Scoffs, Revolutions and Sara-Jayne’s Cafés helping to swell the funds, this is truly a community working for a higher purpose.

The Winter Festival means different things to different people and for some it merely accentuates their sense of displacement and isolation. The homeless and the lonely find this time of the year particularly challenging, as do children in care.

We at Kandu work alongside social services, foster carers, schools and other agencies involved in the lives of these looked-after children. Children in care understandably find the Winter Festival season one of the hardest times of the year to navigate, along with their birthdays, as it often brings home the cold reality of their situation.

Without wishing to put a dampener on a festival that has been celebrated for thousands of years, I want to speak up for the voiceless and try to highlight some underlying realities.

It may be useful for you to read the very enlightening report Wiltshire Uncovered compiled by Wiltshire Community Foundation.

The report is well researched and cross-referenced, covering the most significant areas of life in Wiltshire.

Using freely available data with research and contributions from relevant organisations and professionals, it will go some way to informing you what life in this beautiful county is really like. Although optimistic, the facts speak for themselves, with statistics aplenty. It would take a very unsympathetic soul to ignore the findings and not want to do more to contribute to a more equal society.

One of the more shocking findings is that in some areas of Wiltshire nearly half of the children are living in poverty. The chapters concerning children in care should give us all pause for thought and help us focus on what is really important, the well-being of all our inhabitants and let us all show gratitude to the brave souls who dedicate their lives to that cause.