I enjoyed starting this week -and month- with a trip to the Stoller Hall in Manchester to see one of the winter concerts arranged by Trafford Music Service. We’re very fortunate to have such a fantastic Music Service nurturing so many of our talented children and young people. I enjoyed listening to the Saturday Symphony Orchestra, Junior Voices, Senior Guitar Ensemble and the Jazz Collective. A huge thank you to Ruth and her team at Trafford Music Service for inviting me to the concert and for everything they continue to do to support our young musicians.
I spent much of Monday at one of the Council’s engagement events for our employees. We had two of these sessions this week and they are a good opportunity to bring people together, discuss key challenges and opportunities we face, and have the chance for a question and answers session. On Monday evening I met with the Executive at the council as we prepared for the final meeting of Executive Committee later this month. During the meeting we also had the chance to catch up with the Chief Executive of Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Caroline Simpson, and an update on all the activities that are taking place in our libraries across Trafford.
My Tuesday started with a briefing about bus franchising in Trafford. We are now a month away from the re-regulation of buses in our part of Greater Manchester- a move many of us have been looking forward to for a long time. A decent, integrated public transport system is something we’re committed to delivering in Greater Manchester and I look forward to reaching the next milestone in January. Following this I had a couple of meetings focussed on some of our regeneration projects and then a meeting with members of our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) team. The day ended with a meeting with my Labour Group colleagues. During that meeting I was delighted to learn that Trafford Council had been named ‘Best Council’ at the 2024 Walk Ride GM Awards, which were also taking place that evening.
On Wednesday I had a virtual meeting with colleagues from across Greater Manchester before attending the second employee engagement event of the week- which included a fantastic presentation on all the work we’re doing around promoting digital inclusion.
The following day I based myself at Altrincham Library for the first part of the morning before joining a SEND Roundtable event in Hale that had been organised by local MP Connor Rand. I joined my colleague Cllr Karina Carter and senior officers from the Council at the event where we heard the lived experience of parents and carers. We are on a journey with our local SEND provision and I know that Connor will be doing all he can to advocate for the legislative changes we need to see that will help improve the support available to our children and young people.
I returned to the Town Hall on Thursday afternoon for my weekly meeting with the Chief Executive, a catch up with Deputy Leader Cath Hynes and a meeting with Liz Cooper from Lancashire County Cricket Club. I then headed over to Waterside Arts Centre in Sale to see their Christmas show this year- The Bear, which is based on the Raymond Briggs story. It was a lovely production and very popular with the audience of all ages.
Finally on Friday I had several meetings at the Town Hall including a second meeting of the week with Connor Rand. This was a general catch up and the opportunity for Connor to raise matters residents in Altrincham and Sale West have been contacting him about. It’s always a pleasure to host Connor at the Town Hall and see how hard he is working on behalf of the residents he represents.