I do hope you and your family had an enjoyable break over Christmas.

I was certainly relieved that we didn’t see a repeat of the previous year’s Christmas Eve flooding in Wiltshire.

Time to spend with my family during the break has done me the power of good, and I’ve returned to work with renewed energy for getting the job done for people in our part of Wiltshire.

It’s worth reflecting at the start of the year on some of the progress we made here in 2014.

Construction started on the new Wiltshire College in Chippenham, for which I helped to secure a Government grant, even pressing David Cameron to release the funds at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Work also began to install lifts to provide step-free access at Chippenham station and to dual the A350 north of Chippenham, both funded by grants set up by a Liberal Democrat Transport Minister in Government.

In the summer, extra funding was announced as part of our Local Growth Deal to extend the dual carriageway further south, to the A4 and redevelop Chippenham station to improve local transport links.

2014 was also the year the number of jobseekers in the Chippenham constituency fell to less half what it was in 2010 when I was first elected to serve as the local area’s Member of Parliament in the House of Commons.

I wasted no time in getting back to work at the start of the year, holding surgeries in Chippenham and Bradford on Avon, and speaking to local residents on the doorsteps in Melksham over the weekend.

As we head into 2015, my focus will continue to be on creating opportunity for everyone.

I’ll be pursuing all possible further ways to secure new rail services that could serve a re-opened Corsham railway station, and pressing all political parties to commit to protect funding for our schools in the next Parliament – just as the Liberal Democrats have done.

We have come a long way since 2010, getting the job done here to build a stronger economy and a fairer society.

In 2015 our ambition should be to go further, moving from recovery to renewal and ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to get on in life.

My next constituency surgeries will be at The Pound Arts Centre in Corsham tomorrow (Friday), from 10am to 11.30am; and at Melksham Town Hall on Saturday,from 10am to 11.30am.