It was great to join the fantastic Stretford community at the annual Friends of Victoria Park Christmas Celebration last Saturday- it’s an event I’ve been helping out at since 2007 – and there’s always a lovely atmosphere in the park.

There was so much for everyone to enjoy including the magnificent Stretford Brass Band, songs by Victoria Park Infant School, a tombola and hot food and drinks.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped to organise the event – it was great fun.

You can find out more about Friends of Victoria Park by clicking here.

On Sunday, I travelled to Manchester’s Stoller Hall to attend one of the Trafford Music Service Winter Concerts.

This year, I enjoyed hearing performances from the Infant Choir, Brass, Violin, Woodwind and Percussion.

I started playing the violin when I was at Heyes Lane Infant School, so it’s always lovely to see children starting their own music journeys- and they were all fantastic!

Click the link to find out more about the Music Service.

On Monday, I worked from my office at Trafford Town Hall where I had several meetings with colleagues and organised my week ahead.

During the evening, I visited Victoria Park Junior School in my capacity as a school governor for one of our regular meetings.  It’s always good to visit the school and catch up on what’s been happening there.

I then walked over to Gorse Hill Studios to watch a powerful performance, that was developed, written, and produced, by its young members. The focus of the evening was child exploitation.

The audience was a mixture of young people, parents, carers, and community members who were asked to help identify ‘red flags’ and to engage in healthy conversations around a very important issue.

I have visited Gorse Hill Studios on several occasions and applaud the work, help, and support this community organisation offers.

For further information click here.

I was based at Trafford Hall on Tuesday where I attended a couple of meetings before managing to get a tyre puncture on my cycle home…

On Wednesday, it was a pleasure to welcome Manchester United Museum’s curators to the Mayor’s Parlour at the town hall.

The purpose of the visit was to look over archives that tell a story about our shared history.

Several significant players, including the Busby Babes, have signed our guest books since the Town Hall was built in the 1930s – and between our archives we managed to create a vivid picture of the relationship between MUFC and Stretford Borough Council (as was) during the 1950s and 1960s.

We’re hoping to do more with our archives so watch this space!

I travelled to Stretford Public Hall Wednesday teatime following an invite to attend the Stretford Town Centre Forum Festive Social.

It was a good opportunity to bring businesses and community groups together as we strive to create of a sustainable future for Stretford Town Centre.

On Thursday morning, I joined a meeting hosted by Simon Hoare MP, Minister for Local Government, following the publication of the local government finance policy statement.

The Minister said he was keen to hear from us regarding the challenges faced by local government and we will certainly be setting out Trafford’s financial situation with officials at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

The situation with local government finance remains critical.

In the evening, I joined my colleague, Cllr Liz Patel, in Altrincham following an invite to join members of Altrincham BID to officially celebrate the areas recent success after being awarded Purple Flag status.

Essentially, this means Altrincham surpasses the standards of excellence in managing the evening and night economy.

Members of BID have done amazing work putting the application together and they showed Altrincham at its very best.

I then travelled to Trafford College’s Aspire Restaurant to attend a fundraising event hosted by the Mayor, Dolores O’Sullivan.

As ever, the students at the college prepared a fabulous meal and looked after all guests very well.

Dolores has chosen to support three charities during her term:

• Little Green Sock Project
• Trafford Domestic Abuse Services
• Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

To donate online click here.

On Friday, I travelled to Blackpool to attend the Association for Public Service Excellence’s Performance Networks Seminar.

I was invited to join a panel and give a presentation about: Monitoring Progress on Climate Change.

It was a fascinating event, and it was great to learn how other organisations are dealing with the impact of climate change.

As the Lead Member for the Greater Manchester Green City-Region, I know we’re doing a lot of work around meeting our net zero carbon 2038 goal.

I understand that there is still work to do, but by working collaboratively with key partners and organisations to build a cleaner and greener future.

Have a great weekend.

Tom.