AS we enter purdah prior to the General Election could I just thank all your readers who have contacted me over the years and thank you for providing me with my regular column. It has been an extraordinary privilege to have served as our member of parliament. It has engendered within me a deep passion and I hope a deep understanding too of a strangely shaped 550 square mile patch of some of the most beautiful countryside in the world. Central Devon has no obvious centre or main administrative heart – but then perhaps that is a part of its genius. There is no one point that pulls harder than any another – yet it seems to me that its scattered towns, villages, hamlets and farmsteads still collectively speak powerfully of something touching and special — a kind of decency —something so often and sadly absent elsewhere. Having been an MP has given me a special sense of local people — I have met many many thousands over the years and interacted with them in a variety of ways — from surgery appointments to public meetings to business and voluntary organisation visits to dropping in on our schools, hospitals, churches, GP surgeries, fetes, scout groups, pubs and much else. From welcoming constituents to Westminster to sitting around the kitchen table with our farmers I have gained a great insight into the people who make up this extraordinary constituency. I have tried to represent everyone equally – although I appreciate that I will of course have failed to satisfy all. That is always the way. But then, win or lose, I will also know that I gave of my best and stayed true to what I thought was right for our country and this most special of places. Mel Stride MP for Central Devon