IT is sad to hear that Trowbridge firm Bowyers, is bringing to an end an era that has seen their sausages become a familiar site on shop shelves around the county.

Many people will be bemoaning this fact, after all Bowyers is a name that has become synonymous with Trowbridge over the 200 years it has been a part of the town.

However the company itself is making a deal that will extend other parts of the business and the sausages will still be made just not by Bowyers and not in Trowbridge.

But it is the job losses that will cause the most heartache in the town and surrounding villages and it is the job losses that should worry us the most.

For the workers the news has come, less than three weeks before Christmas, that in March they may no longer have jobs to go to and it is a similar story in many other firms up and down the country.

At Avon Rubber, another of the major employers in Trowbridge, many workers have been given a similar shock to those at Bowyers so much so that they were sent home for the afternoon to recover.

The company has announced plans to close its Trowbridge automotive works in 2003, with the possible loss of 285 jobs.

The reason is simply money the work can be done more cheaply abroad than in this country and the company needs to improve its profits.

We are hearing similar tales of job losses and industry cut-backs from around the country and abroad and it is difficult not to imagine that this could be the beginnings of a worldwide recession.

The events in Amercia on September 11 have exacerbated the situation and many companies have harsh choices to make and may still have to make more in the weeks and months ahead.

Businesses have to remain profitable and it is inevitable that at some point most companies will be forced to make job cuts. But this will be of little comfort to those facing the expense of Christmas without knowing what the New Year will hold for them.