26 June 2026

Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed your week.

I had a wonderful weekend celebrating Armed Forces Day at Stockton Waterfront. I honestly couldn't believe how wonderful it was. To see the hard work of so many people come together was amazing.

At one point, I stood back and looked around, to see community cohesion at its best. The joy and happiness on people's faces, young and old. Laughing, dancing, chatting, relaxing and just taking in the beautiful surroundings. My family were there over the weekend and the play areas got a seal of approval from my two little nephews, although they asked if I could make the big slide go faster! Saturday will go down as one of my proudest days, and I would like to thank everyone involved.

Sunday, I returned to the park and joined in the dog walk with Enzo and lots of other residents with their furry friends.

After a long, busy weekend, I had a quiet start to the week. On Monday evening I caught up with my colleagues from the Labour Group.

Wednesday, I caught up with Mike Greene, Chief Executive, for our usual meeting to discuss issues, update on progress and we reflected on a successful weekend.

I then met with the Health and Wellbeing Board for a deep dive session on community health.

Later in the day I met with Cabinet members and senior colleagues for a briefing before attending Council.

On Thursday, I attended the Association of North East Councils for the Leaders' and Elected Mayors' meeting at Teesside University. This gives the twelve local authorities in the region the opportunity to discuss shared issues, and we use our collective efforts to develop plans to tackle them.

Today I am travelling to Teesside Airport to attend Cabinet with the Tees Valley Combined Authority.

Later in the day I am meeting with Andy McDonald MP, for our regular update meeting. After this, I will be attending a friends wedding.

I'm lucky enough to live within walking distance of our wonderful waterfront park and if the weather cools down, I will no doubt be walking around with Enzo.

Whatever you are doing, I hope you have a lovely weekend.