I had a musical start to the week.

On Sunday, I was delighted to attend the borough’s much-loved Trafford Music Service as they begin their series of summer concerts.

It was great to hear the remarkable infant choir in addition to musicians playing ukulele, brass, woodwind, and percussion.

Thank you to the music teachers for the dedication and encouragement you provide Trafford’s talented young musicians.

Later that day, I was fortunate to celebrate UA92’s Class of 2023 during their, Greatness Unlocked Graduation Ceremony, held at Emirates Old Trafford.

It was a privilege to see the students embrace their graduation day – and I’m confident they will all have very bright futures ahead of them.  Congratulations!

The following day, I caught up with admin and meeting prep before joining my colleagues from the Council’s Executive for a meeting at Castlefield Viaduct.

It is such an impressive structure and already a thriving ‘sky park’.

It was such an interesting and eye-opening visit – my colleagues and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The reason for visiting was to start considering how we connect up urban green spaces, like the viaduct, with other parts of Greater Manchester, including Trafford. Further information about Castlefield Viaduct can be found here.

On Tuesday, I was delighted to host the relaunch of the council’s Trafford Partnership and Strategic Partnership Strategy.

A substantial amount of work has gone into reshaping a core set of priorities which we can focus on and add value to the work we are doing within our organisations and volunteer groups. I was so pleased to see so many local organisations at the event and am excited about what we can achieve by working together.

Further information about Trafford Partnerships click here.

The following day was spent in meetings while in the evening I was joined by Trafford’s Mayor, Dolores O’Sullivan, at the Town Hall where we hosted a visit from Longford Cub Scouts.

It was a great evening- especially the Q&A session that followed the tour. It was a good opportunity to hear from the Scouts and a chance for them to quiz me on what we do as a council and how local democracy works.

On Thursday, I travelled to Manchester to join members of the Greater Manchester Waste and Recycling Committee.

This was the first meeting of the committee this year resulting in a packed agenda. I won’t go into individual items in my review, however, further information can be accessed here.

I returned to Trafford in the afternoon to attend other meetings as well as hosting an ‘Advice Surgery’ in my capacity as ward councillor for Stretford and Humphrey Park.

It was back to business on Friday as I attended various meetings.

As always, have a great weekend.

Best wishes

Tom.