WHEN Kevin Davidson was involved in a serious road accident in Lincolnshire a week before Christmas, his family feared the worst.He was in an induced coma for a week, and suffered a catalogue of injuries that really left him fighting for life.

WHEN Kevin Davidson was involved in a serious road accident in Lincolnshire a week before Christmas, his family feared the worst.

He was in an induced coma for a week, and suffered a catalogue of injuries that really left him fighting for life.

However over the Christmas period itself, his family received their own miracle as first he came round - and was then able to be transferred from Boston to Ipswich Hospital so it is much easier for people to visit.

Now they are able to look forward to the day when he leaves hospital and they are able to spend Christmas as a real family again.

No doubt for the Davidson family, Christmas of 2009 will always be a time they look back on in future years with very mixed feelings.

But as they prepare for Kevin's return home, it is only natural that they should feel great relief that a Christmas miracle is bringing the head of the family back home to them.

AS Woolworths shut its doors in Ipswich for the last time on Saturday, there was an inevitable feeling of sadness among shoppers and concern among the staff who are losing their jobs as one of the icons of the high street fades into history.

The store closures continue in Felixstowe, Woodbridge, and Stowmarket over the next few days - and by the end of the week Woolworths will be no more.

There can be no sharper sign of the problems facing the economy as a whole and the retail sector in particular than the closure of one of the best-known stores in the country.

With the future looking uncertain for other stores like Zavvi and the Officers' Club - which are both in administration - these are worrying times for many retailers.

Post-Christmas sales may attract the shoppers over the next few days - but how they cope once Christmas has gone and the bills start coming in could be much more critical to their futures.

Woolworths has now gone. Will it be the last retailing giant to bite the dust?

SIR Bobby Robson has always been a fighter and his army of fans around the country and in Europe will be delighted to hear his up-beat attitude as he continues to battle cancer.

His appearance when receiving the Freedom of Durham a few weeks ago shocked many people as chemotherapy has taken its toll on his trademark shock of white hair.

But the fact that he remains determined to be around for next Christmas with his family will gladden the hearts of all those who are willing him on in his struggle against this disease.

He may now live in the north east and be raising funds for a cancer centre in Newcastle - but the people of Suffolk still retain a great deal of affection for the man who put Ipswich on the European map.

They will all want to wish him well and to look forward to his continuing to battle on throughout 2009.