In her last talkback column, sports editor TERESA PHILLIPS reflects on some sporting highlights - and looks forward to the future.

WELL, after 13 years, I'm packing up my Basil Brush photos and Coronation Street mouse mat and moving to pastures new.

And I can't depart without saying a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to the Advertiser/Messenger during that time. It is because of you that the sports pages contain so much information on a wide variety of sports.

As well as football, rugby and cricket, we've highlighted lesser known sports including polocrosse and octopush.

Of course, it is the on and off the field antics of Bromsgrove Rovers FC that tend to dominate the back page - and occasionally the news pages! - from August to May, and I was lucky enough to follow the Greens during their most successful period, when they finished second to Wycombe in their first season in the Vauxhall Conference and reached the FA Trophy quartet final.

A return to England's non-League elite appears a long, long way off for the Victoria Ground club, but hopefully experienced boss George Rooney can steer them back to the Dr Martens Premier Division - which would undoubtedly attract more support both from townsfolk and local businesses.

Some people say there's nothing going on in Bromsgrove and Droitwich Spa, but sportswise there's so much to look forward. As our Sports Performance Fund profiles have illustrated, there is a lot of a young talent here that needs to be nurtured. Let's hope their smiling faces will be filling the sports pages for many years to come.