YOUR County Gazette’s been around for 180 years – and devoted reader Alan Debenham has been scouring its pages for more than a quarter of that time.

As well as enjoying the newspaper for the past 47 years, Mr Debenham, a one-time district councillor and Green campaigner, has regularly fired off letters to Postbag and been the subject of numerous reports.

And he’s keen to join in our anniversary celebrations. We’ve been asking readers to send in articles about anything they wish in 180 words and here’s his contribution – a humanist prayer for all.

"Oh, marvellous Mother Nature,
Which controls all life on Earth,
Praise be your holy name!
Thank you for my wonderful birth!
Give us this day our daily bread,
But help us consume only our needs,
Banish capitalist and materialist greeds.
Let us love you and our 
planet
In a spirit of ecological oneness!
Make us global peacemakers
Against all militarism, warfare,
And weapons of mass destruction;
Defenders of evolution’s biodiversity
Upon which all our lives depend;
Fighters for sustainable lifestyles
Against man-made climate change,
Global warming, resource depletion,
And pollution of soil, sea and air.
Oh Mother Nature, we worship you as our only true God, 
Paying homage to your power and glory forever and ever.
Peace Be Upon You! (Or ‘PBUY’ instead of the meaningless ‘Amen’)."