Other members of the royal family, including the duke of edinburgh, this years traditional Christmas Day broadcast by the queen put the focus on the theme of inspiration. Here it is in full. Band plays god save the queen. There was a time when british olympic Medal Winners became Household Names because there were so few of them. But the 67 medals at this years games in rio and 147 at the paralympics meant that the gb medallists reception at Buckingham Palace was a crowded and happy event. Throughout the commonwealth, there were equallyjoyful celebrations. Grenada, the bahamas, jamaica and new zealand won more medals per head of population than any other countries. Many of this years winners spoke of being inspired by athletes of previous generations. Inspiration fed their aspiration, and having discovered abilities they scarcely knew they had, these athletes are now inspiring others. A few months ago, i saw inspiration of a different kind when i opened the new cambridge base of the east anglian air ambulance, where Prince William works as a helicopter pilot. It was not hard to be moved by the dedication of the highly skilled doctors, paramedics and crew, who are called out on average five times a day. But to be inspirational, you dont have to save lives or win medals. I often draw strength from meeting ordinary people doing extraordinary things volunteers, carers, Community Organisers and Good Neighbours Unsung Heroes whose quiet dedication makes them special. They are an inspiration to those who know them, and their lives frequently embody a truth expressed by mother teresa, from this year saint teresa of calcutta. She once said, not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love. This has been the experience of two remarkable organisations, the duke of edinburghs award and the princes trust, which are 60 and a0 years old this year. These started as small initiatives but have grown beyond any expectations, and continue to transform young peoples lives. To mark my 90th birthday, volunteers and supporters of the 600 charities of which i have been patron came to a lunch in the mall. Many of these organisations are modest in size but inspire me with the work they do from giving friendship and support to our veterans, the elderly or the bereaved, to championing music and dance, providing animal welfare, or protecting our fields and forests their selfless devotion and generosity of spirit is an example to us all. When people face a challenge they sometimes talk about taking a deep breath to find courage or strength. In fact, the word inspire literally means to breathe in. But even with the inspiration of others, its understandable that we sometimes think the worlds problems are so big that we can do little to help. On our own, we cannot end wars or wipe out injustice. But the cumulative impact of thousands of Small Acts Of Goodness can be bigger than we imagine. At christmas, our attention is drawn to the birth of a baby some 2,000 years ago. It was the humblest of beginnings, and his parents, joseph and mary, did not think they were important. Jesus christ lived obscurely for most of his life and never travelled far. He was maligned and rejected by many though he had done no wrong. And yet, billions of people now follow his teaching and find in him the Guiding Light for their lives. I am one of them because christs example helps me see the value of doing small things with great love, whoever does them and whatever they themselves believe. The message of christmas reminds us that inspiration is a gift to be given as well as received, and that love begins small but always grows. I wish you all a very happy christmas. Band plays a Christmas Intrada by alfred Reed Christmas is a time for family, but if you dont have one, it can be difficult. The poet lemn sissay knows exactly how that feels. He was fostered as a baby but when he turned 12, his Foster Family gave him up. He spent the next five years in and out of childrens homes. Thats why each year he organises special christmas dinners for young people whove left care. Jayne mccubbin went to meet him as he prepared for one of those dinners in hackney in north london. Not everyone has someone at christmas. This isnt my. Youre better with words. Im better with words. Lemn sissay understands this. Author, poet, broadcaster, orphan. There was nobody there. You were on your own . Yeah, i was on my own. If i visited a friends house, i often felt i was the boy with no family who was going to visit families, you know . Jingle bells, jingle all the way. Here in hackney, hes getting ready for one of his care leavers christmas dinners a project that has grown from one city to five cities in four years. All of the gifts here have been donated by strangers, and all the parties will all be run by volunteers. Do we really not know the words tojingle bells . The only reason we do the christmas dinner is so that those young care leavers go away with a memory that they can look onto next year. Thats all christmas is its the making of a memory for you to look onto next year. So we all come around the christmas dinner table and we all remember, we did this last year, and it was incredible. For a lot of care leavers, the memory was a bad one from the year before. We are creating memories. This is his passion, and for the team, that passion is infectious. This is amanda, who is sorting everybody out. Am i right . We have 20 volunteers 60 young people, four hairstylists, artists, musicians, Social Workers coming down to do a really amazing Christmas Day for young people. Its gonna be amazing. This is sabrina, who is the hair woman and stylist, and she is pretty incredible as a care leaver myself, i know how important it is to give self esteem and to feel like people care. This incredible man is ryan. Ryan is going to be the chef for the evening. When i was 14 i went into temporary foster care for a weekend, and it sort of turned into nearly five years. Christmas is about family, and not everyone is lucky enough to have it. The best part of the day was sitting down and having a meal with everyone, getting to know people. Messages from previous dinners showjust how much they mean to care leavers. Everyone looks happy. I wont ever forget this day everything was spot on. Amazed by it, amazed by everything. I hope they have one next year as well and that is totally the plan. All Merry Christmas wonderful. Now for the weather. All change we are restarting the weather and just in time for post christmas the cold weather arrives. After this mild day. Not quite record breaking, but close. 15. 6 is the record set around 1916. Today we got up to 15. 1 degrees. The stories to the north and across the summit of the scottish highlands, the winds are raging at 100 miles an hour. We have gales across the pennines and wintry showers in the north. This is all changed now, it is fresher and sweeping in pushing away all like into the continent. That is a cold front going all the way down. Boxing day. Storm conor is still with us, but to the south, a different story. If your plans tomorrow for A Walk In The Park or a sporting events, a lovely day. The winds get stronger until we get here, that is when they get ghosted. Some of these temperatures are 10 degrees lower compared to what we had today. For example, look at this. In aberdeen, around 15 degrees today. A lot Colder Weather for tomorrow. A beautiful picture there. I forgot why apple about there, but never mind. Here is the High Pressure on tuesday. That is all very well and good, but the problem with travel through tuesday and wednesday is that with beautiful, clear blue skies in the daytime and A Touch Of Frost in the morning, there could be some dennis patches of fog on wednesday. This could be anywhere across england and wales so if youre travelling between christmas and new year, bear in mind in the morning it could be pretty nasty. Weather fog persists it morning it could be pretty nasty. Weatherfog persists it could struggle. It could be a little on the tricky side. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your Christmas Day evening. This is bbc news, the headlines the queen pays tribute to what she calls Unsung Heroes. Such as carers and the volunteers, in her christmas message. I often draw strength from meeting ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Volunteers, carers, Community Organisers, and Good Neighbours. Meanwhile, she misses the Christmas Day Church Service at sandringham as she has a heavy cold, the duke of edinburgh and other royals attend on the norfolk estate. At least 11 bodies have been recovered from the black sea after a Russian Military plane crashes, killing 92 people on board
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