At this season it is natural, and right, to look back and reflect on the year that has passed.

And I suppose that for all of us those reflections bring to mind a mixture of images. Some of them are personal, about our families and everyday lives.

Some of them, perhaps, are about the world outside our living rooms, and how that has affected us.

As Judy and I look back on the year beyond the walls of Government House, we are struck by one particular theme that has run through it, like a golden thread through the complex tapestry that is Bermuda. That theme is self reliance. It is as if Bermuda had decided that 2003 would be the year to show the outside world what it could do.

Hurricane Fabian dealt us all a terrible blow. Property can be repaired or recovered; lost lives can never be replaced. The Earl of Wessex ? Prince Edward ? was moved by his meeting with the relatives of those who were lost from the Causeway; and shared in mourning them when he laid a wreath on the water in their memory. But I know how much he was encouraged by the spirit shown by the pupils who lost their school in St. George's.

For the storm also brought out the best in us. What a great job was done by the Police and Regiment, Parks and Environment, Works and Engineering, alongside many others. The maturity of a country can be seen in the quality of its people and institutions. Bermuda's citizens and institutions have been tested over the last year as never before.

And they have come out well in other ways too. In July we showed just how strong our parliamentary democracy is in Bermuda. Not many countries can claim that everyone registered, three quarters of them voted, and no one challenged the outcome.

Our many visitors have praised the way in which things work in Bermuda. It didn't take long for them to start coming back after the storm. This autumn Bermuda successfully hosted a conference to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1953 Churchill summit, a large group of Commissioners of Corrections from the Caribbean and a goodwill visit from the Flagship of Wisconsin, the tall ship . All this within a few weeks of the storm of the century. Sporting events, including the Gold Cup yacht racing, went ahead ? and how good it was to see Bermudians holding their own against Olympic standard competition.

Meanwhile Bermuda's cultural life has been as rich as ever. The Bermuda Festival again showed how this small island can mount first class displays of both local and visiting talent. And there have been some excellent exhibitions of the visual arts in our galleries: we were delighted that a group of artists who painted in Government House gardens, for instance, mounted a highly successful exhibition in the Dockyard Arts Centre in November.

Our Bio Station celebrated its hundredth year of pushing forward the frontiers of marine knowledge, an extraordinary achievement for an institution based in such a small and remote island. The Regiment's Band and Drums, and the Gombeys, brought the colour and vibrancy of Bermuda to the heart of Scotland, and to the hearts of hundreds of thousands of spectators, at the Edinburgh Tattoo.

As the year started to draw to a close, we were delighted to honour a number of exceptional Bermudians at a bravery awards ceremony here in Government House. And in this special season, the National Trust walkabout in St George's and the Christmas Boat Parade in Hamilton Harbour have given us, and thousands of Bermudians, huge pleasure.

This remarkable island isn't a perfect society, we all know that. Peace and tolerance are important in any society and are what we all strive for. Bermuda deserved the Peace and Tolerance award of the Friends of the United Nations, which we received at the UN earlier this month, and Judy and I were pleased to take part in the tennis match that promoted it last July. We still have some way to go before we are, as I put it last year, at ease with ourselves and an example to the rest of the world. But this has been a year when all of you can say, we are proud to be Bermudians; and when I have been able to say, I have been proud to be Bermuda's Governor.

Judy and I send to you and your families our very best wishes for the holiday season, and for a peaceful and tolerant New Year.