DURING the summer recess I have had a week in mid-Wales and a week in Suffolk with my family.

The highlight for me was superb bird watching.

In Wales, two red kites resting disconsolately in misty rain and lazily gliding from one fence post to the next displayed their gorgeous colours far more vividly than when flying overhead.

On the coast in Suffolk a wide variety of summer visitors - warblers, waders, terns and raptors - were gathering for their seasonal journey south.

Back home I have visited several more of our industrial and service businesses and have been delighted to see that Wyre Forest firms can compete with the best in their fields.

Although Brintons and Victoria - to mention only two of our carpet manufacturers which I have visited so far - keep up our traditional high quality industry, I have purposely visited firms in other spheres because to survive as an industrial area Wyre Forest must diversify.

Firms I have visited include Ceramaspeed, Klark Teknik, Morgan Ceramics, OGL, Purac, Sealine, Titan Steel Wheels and Thomas Vale.

I am grateful to all of them for making me welcome and for telling me about their difficulties and successes and demonstrating so clearly the dedication to quality, innovation and technological advance that is essential for survival when competing with lower labour costs in other countries and fighting the stifling bureaucracy that exists here.

I have had another meeting with Harriers chairman Colin Youngjohns and colleagues at Aggborough.

It is all too clear that Lionel Newton's warning last season is still appropriate and stark in its possible consequences.

If gates at Aggborough do not exceed 3,000 people the Harriers will not be able to afford the players to maintain a place in the Third Division. This year's figures have been disappointing - down to just over 2,100 at one game.

Other Third Division clubs manage gates of 3,000 to 10,000!

No one is prepared to bank roll the club any longer.

Local firms are helping as much as they can through sponsorship and advertising.

We must all think of an afternoon at the Harriers as entertainment for the family or as an opportunity for corporate hospitality despite the attractions of Wolves and West Brom.

If the players could feel more people from Wyre Forest and perhaps the rest of the county supporting them in addition to the loyal band who do so through thick and thin, we might see a change from the drawn matches that we could and should have won.

Visit a game or two and you might get hooked on following the fortunes of some of our players who have the potential for scoring goals and for causing real excitement anywhere on the field.