Each year, on 27th January, Trafford Council holds a Holocaust Memorial Day Service. The service is a very important part of our civic calendar, as we remember the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered during the Holocaust and the millions more murdered under Nazi persecution. At this years’ service, we heard from Leah, who shared her father, Ziggy’s, story. Ziggy survived a ghetto, concentration camps and a death march. It is difficult to comprehend what he went through, but he went on to live a long life and Leah shared photos of him surrounded by his loving family. Sadly, Ziggy died last year, but I am so grateful to Leah for sharing his story keeping his memory alive.
I am also grateful to the schools involved in the service. The theme of Holocaust Memorial Day this year is Bridging Generations. We heard younger people tell us about time they had spent with Holocaust survivors, as well commemoration through poetry and song. We also heard students describe their contemporary experience of coming to the UK. All of this helped support the idea of Bridging Generations. Finally, I was grateful for the words and contributions offered by both Rabbi Dovid Lewis and Rabbi Danny Bergson.
Later in the week I joined the latest Trafford Faith Action Network event. I’m so proud of the work my colleagues Eve Parker and Waseem Hassan have put into making the Faith Action Network such a success. It is inspiring to see so many faith representatives together in one room. The theme of this session was sport, where we considered all the sporting opportunities we have in Trafford and the critical role faith communities have in working together with local sport organisations.
I’ve attended several other meetings this week, with themes including our Adult Services, Stretford Town Centre, and the budget. On Wednesday we had a meeting of Council. Over the course of the meeting we discussed the Council’s draft budget (reminder of some context here). We also discussed housing and the availability of public toilets. A range of topics but each important.
Earlier on Wednesday I had a catch-up meeting with Matt Bagwell from Deep Green Energy. I last saw Matt at an event last summer where we showcased harnessing energy from a data centre to heat the pool at Move Urmston. At our meeting this week, I was provided with an update on that project and we also discussed the potential for Deep Green to support planting, carbon capture and nature recovery in the Borough.
The green theme continued into Thursday morning where I attended the official opening of Greentec Auto in Trafford Park. This is a business that extends the lifespan of EV and hybrid batteries, therefore reducing waste and carbon emissions. Greentec Auto is bringing 40 high-quality green jobs to the area, and the business has already forged close links with local schools. It’s great to welcome this investment to Trafford, learn more about the business model and see a group of fantastic students from Lostock High School attend the opening ceremony too. This was the second time this week that I had the pleasure of speaking with Lostock High students- they are such brilliant ambassadors for the school.
Finally, from a Greater Manchester perspective this week, I chaired the latest meeting of the GM Food Partnership Board where we discussed sustainable food places and food procurement amongst other things. And on Friday I joined Mayor Andy Burnham and my Greater Manchester colleagues in Stockport for January’s Combined Authority meeting. I was there to present Greater Manchester’s Interim Recycling and Waste Plan. However, more importantly it was good to see Andy Burnham after an eventful week. Andy is a huge supporter of us in Trafford, for which I’m always grateful. He continues to have an inspiring vision for Greater Manchester and is a great example of showing what can be done in politics to build a better society.