A new direction for Bury South

Wishing everyone a very happy New Year and all the very best for 2010.  I am starting the new year by welcoming Baroness Sayeeda Warsi back to Bury South on Monday morning so I will write an update about her visit next week.  Off to friends for dinner tonight to see in the new year.

There seems to be a little respite from the ice and snow with the rain coming down today.  Last night I visited friends in South Manchester where even though the temperature gague on my car told me it was one degree warmer had little effect on the side roads which were even more icy than those around here.  Today I joined the thousands of bargain hunters in Manchester City Centre – my daughter managed to find the one shop that did not have a sale on!  My intention had been to go out leafletting but will see what tomorrow brings!  Still catching up with paperwork and emails oh and I suppose I will not be able to avoid having a go on my daugthers’ Wi Fit for much longer!

Wishing all the readers of my blog and residents of  Bury South a very merry Christmas and for those who do not celebrate it an enjoyable break.  I am taking a couple of days off to spend with my family and then on Sunday out to deliver the remainder of my Lifestyle magazines weather permitting.  I also plan, as I do every Christmas break, to spend some time sorting out old papers from meetings etc but we shall see what happens!

The past 3 days have not seen the best of weather and the gritters of Bury MBC have been out most of the day and night to grit the roads to try and keep traffic moving and to refill grit bins.  I have received many phone calls, texts and emails about the lack of gritting and that people are struggling to get out of their roads.  It is a very difficult time and the staff of the Council are working really hard to keep things moving along.  As far as I am aware they have been responsive to all enquiries and I can only apologise for those who are struggling to get out of their roads.  Fortunately many schools have now broken up and work places are winding down for Christmas.  The refuse collection has also been affected and I know that coming up to Christmas this may cause a lot of difficulties to residents.  I do wish to thank all the staff who are trying their very best to keep the roads clear not only in Bury but also the neighbouring Authorities that I have had to drive through on my way to work this week.

I seem to be so busy lately that my blog is suffering as a consequence.  Well first of all happy belated Channukah to all my Jewish readers.  I celebrated Channukah with my family as well as the memberof the Nicky Alliance Day Centre where I work.  On Thursday morning (the 6th day of Channukah) I was particularly pleased to be invited to the lighting of the candles in the Mayor’s Parlour where pupils from Bury and Whitefield Jewish Primary school lit the candles and sang to the Mayor.  The Mayor then kindly took the pupils on a tour of the Council Chamber which was certainly a lot quieter than the meeting that had taken place the previous evening!  On Friday morning I went along to the Radcliffe Girls and Boys Club to catch up with Marj and Mike and to meet Ann McCracken from O2 who have kindly donated £500 from their ‘It’s your community’ Fund to pay for broadband for the computers recently donated to the club by Microsoft.  As I was walking round with Ann it suddenly hit me at how much we have achieved there over the past 6 months.  One Racliffe Councillor wrote in the paper only this weekend that the funding for this project was from Tory Head Office but this is certainly not the case and is indeed an insult to the generous donations made by the many national companies and local companies and tradespeople and the hard work and dedication of the hundreds of volunteers who have worked tirelessly to get this done. 

My next major project in Radcliffe is to be the cleaning up of the Radcliffe canal in conjunction with British Waterways and the Bury, Bolton and Rochdale Canal Society.  Following the article in the recent ediction of The Advertiser I am delighted at the response from local residents who have come forward to help with this project.

Last night I attended a fundraising dinner on behalf of UJIA (United Israel Jewish Appeal) at the Hilton Hotel in Manchester.  The guest speakers were Colonel Richard Kemp and Abassador Dan Gillerman.  The evening was well attended by over 350 people and I was delighted to sit next to the daughter-in-law of the late Chaim Bermant whose column I used to enjoy reading in the Jewish Chronicle.

Today I attended the Bury South Ladies Christmas lunch at the Conservative Club in Prestwich – thanks to Kathleen and May for organising yet another excellent event.

Just after noon today I joined local residents and concerned users of the Civic Suite to form a human chain around the Longfield Suite to show solidarity for its future.  I was at the car park side of the suite but from the number of people present I believe that a chain was almost formed around the entire suite – around 150 people were needed to complete the chain.  Under a Conservative Government residents such as those who were present today would be able to take over the running of the Longfield Suite themselves giving local people a chance to efficiently run local facilities.  I have made strong representations to the Leader of the Council over the future of the Longfield Suite.