CHRISTMAS is over and after the seasonal excesses of too much food and drink, most people make a few well-intentioned New Year's resolutions.

This year the Citizen asked a few well-known faces around town what their hopes and thoughts were for 1998.

Fylde Mayor Dawn Prestwich had a resolution which anyone fighting the battle of the bulge will glumly identify with. She said: "Like a lot of people I want to get back into my original dress size in the new year.

"So many mayoral functions and dinners have had their effects," she confessed.

Mayor of Wyre, Leonard Jolley, couldn't agree more.

He said: "All the mayoral merry making and festive celebrations have meant the old waistline has expanded somewhat, so 1998 will definitely mean diet time for me."

Only Blackpool Mayor Fred Jackson insisted he wasn't a great believer in making New Year's resolutions but added that if he was making one it would be to show greater tolerance and compassion to those in need.

An idealistic tone set in among the respondents as Dawn Prestwich chimed in with her hopes for 1998 to be a year of greater understanding between people to make the world a happier place.

Even the celebrities became wishful, with Bernie Nolan star of Jack and the Beanstalk at the Grand Theatre, saying: "My hope is for 1998 to be a year of world peace."

Fylde funnyman Mick Miller injected a note of comedy saying his biggest hopes for 1998 were to stop smoking and get a new wig.

And the grand lady of the Pleasure Beach, chairman Doris Thompson, looking forward to her 95th birthday this year, was easy to please too.

She said happiness was to see "friends and acquaintances enjoy health and prosperity in the coming year and for me to continue with my daily visits to the Pleasure Beach."

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