ARTS FOCUS by Matt Holland: Did you have a merry Christmas? Let's hope so. Were you reminded once again that, whether we are old or young, woman or man, we cannot live on tipples, turkey and treats for the tastebuds alone?

After eating and drinking your fill, celebrating and resting in appropriate measure, did you long for some of life's other key pleasures?

The festive season is a good time to remind ourselves that, as well as indulging our belly and our frolicsome bits, it is no bad thing to nourish the intellect, the spirit and the emotions.

Enjoying good music, delighting in dance, experiencing life through drama and losing yourself in a good read are all key activities for a full life.

And in 2001, this first year of the new millennium, there has been plenty of choice hereabouts for anyone wanting to live a full life through the arts.

For example, to celebrate its 30th birthday, Swindon's biggest theatre, the Wyvern, brought a number of sizeable, nationally acclaimed productions to town.

One of these was the spectacular English Youth Ballet presentation of Tchai-kovsky's The Nutcracker, which proudly featured scores of the best dancing talent from in and around Swindon.

Late April also saw the second Swindon Jazz Festival in full swing.

As if to prove that making live, funky music is not only a night-time thing, the Jazz Festival offered musical action all day and every day over a long weekend.

The musical mood and festival frolics were taken into summer by a fantastic series of outdoor concerts in the Town Garden Bowl.

First of these was an evening titled African Hi-Life, performed by 12-piece Zimbabwean band, Imbongi.

Their vigorous and highly-charged music had everyone off their seats and dancing on grass! And in May, at an arts festival of a different kind, but also with an international feel to it, you could enjoy good conversation with Booker Prize-winning novelist Ian McEwan, hear a thought-provoking talk on the role of education by Professor Ted Wragg, and discover the subtle secrets of the French troubadours in the Art of Loving Honourably.

In other words, there was plenty going on in Swindon in 2001, not only to nourish hearts and minds but also to show how much this town values its cultural pursuits, and the arts in particular.

And what's more, plans are already in place for a feast of good things in 2002.

For example, hot off the press is the Arts Centre's winter and spring programme, ready to burst into new year action.

Before January is out you can enjoy no fewer than four musical treats at this homely and intimate venue.

A series of wisely-chosen acts cater for a wide range of tastes and include Gordon Haskell, currently charging up the popular music charts, and the Newbold Piano Quartet playing Dvorak and Schumann.

And before we know it, acclaimed writers, speakers and performers will be converging on the town for the ninth Swindon Festival of Literature.

Not only does this popular 11 day event offer outdoor storytelling and fun for all the family, performance poetry with a competitive edge and writing workshops to write home about, but also choice words of wisdom.

Words of wisdom , we hope, from former leading politicians such as Mo Mowlem and Margaret Thatcher, actress turned author Sarah Miles, terrific fantasist Terry Pratchett, controversial columnist Will Self, breezy broadcaster John Hum-phreys and many other authors.

Clearly, this is a town that recognises the importance that the arts play in all our lives, hugely enjoys the fruits of artistic endeavour and will doubtless support its many worthwhile and thriving arts organisations in the coming year, as it has in the past.

We know it makes sense and hope that those in the unenviable position of setting arts budgets do too.

Let us wish them the wisdom required for tricky decision making, and to everyone, a happy and arts-filled New Year!