It’s fair to say Wednesday’s General Election announcement took many of us by surprise, coming so soon after the recent local and mayoral elections. It’s also very welcome news as we all get a chance to elect a new government. I’m looking forward to getting back out on the campaign trail as I know that a Labour Government will have a much better relationship with local councils than the current Government. Although we will enter another pre-election period shortly, which will impact some of the things we can do as a council, Trafford aims to continue with business as usual as much as possible.
And it’s certainly been a significant week in the council calendar as we moved into a new municipal year and elected a new Mayor of Trafford, Amy Whyte, who took over from Dolores O’Sullivan on Wednesday during the Council’s AGM. This is always a special, and often emotional, meeting as we welcome a new Mayor and thank our previous Mayor. Dolores has been a wonderful Mayor, carrying out hundreds of engagements and raising lots of money for charity. She embraced the role and thoroughly enjoyed it. She also had a very supportive consort in Joan.
On Monday this week Dolores and I hosted school children from St Matthew’s CE Primary School at the Town Hall. We really enjoyed giving the children a tour of the building, sharing some of its history and answering questions. We also enjoyed hearing messages of peace from the children and making Peace Mala bracelets. I really enjoy hosting school visits at the Town Hall and hope to do more this year.
Prior to the Council AGM on Wednesday, I had the opportunity to have some meetings with colleagues from Trafford’s Labour Group. In the morning I met with our Armed Forces Champion, Cllr Judith Lloyd, to discuss plans to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings. Later that day I met our newly appointed Community Cohesion Champion, Cllr Eve Parker, to discuss how we can ensure Trafford remains a great and inclusive place to live. Eve will bring a wealth of experience to this role and I look forward to working with her.
Once we had welcomed our new Mayor, she took on the role of chairing our council meeting- and she has made an excellent start. I know Amy will bring so much to this role and she is going to have a brilliant year.
At the council meeting we also took the opportunity to celebrate Trafford Council’s 50th Birthday. This included showing a special video to mark the anniversary, a lovely mini-exhibition of Trafford artefacts, and a motion to council. The best part of the celebrations was having Cllr Barry Brotherton lead them. Barry was there at the start of Trafford Council in 1974 and remains a hardworking local councillor, good friend and colleague. He made a great contribution that evening and you can watch the highlights here: https://www.youtube.com/live/vZkht7cCoMw?si=bLzekDr67yna_qat.
On Thursday I had several meetings at the Town Hall but also attended the unveiling of a Blue Plaque for women’s golf pioneer, and Stretford resident, Lilian Saatweber. It was lovely to hear about the impact Lilian had on establishing women’s golf over a century ago. It’s important we celebrate our heritage and you can see this plaque displayed outside UA92’s building opposite Lancashire County Cricket Club.
Finally, at the end of an eventful week, I joined Andy Burnham, Kate Green and other Greater Manchester council leaders at an ‘away day’ where we took the time to consider the opportunities we have across Greater Manchester over the year ahead and to focus on what we’d like to achieve for the residents across this weekend. After an exciting week, it promises to be an exciting year!
