Awards season has arrived

Awards season has arrived

This week we’re preparing for the third annual Our Town Awards, an event that has fast become one of the main events on our calendar.

It’s an amazing way to celebrate the contributions made by our communities and the people and organisations that really go the extra mile to improve the lives of those around them.

Please keep an eye out on our channels later this week as we announce the winners and help to tell the stories behind their nominations.

You may have seen this week that Leigh has been included in the government’s vision for towns funding.

While we welcome this investment spread over the next decade, our concerns remain about the government’s levelling-up system, especially in light of the significant budget cuts we have had to endure over the last decade.

We have our own strategic regeneration framework for Leigh that outlines our long-term vision, building on the significant investment of the £2m Youth Hub, £2.5m at Pennington Flash and the regeneration of Leigh Town Hall. We’ll await further details following this announcement.

The Leigh Leopards and their on-field successes have been a regular feature in this column throughout this year and so it is right to acknowledge that their season came to an end last week.

To have reached the play-offs in their return to Super League and to have secured the Challenge Cup for the first time for more than half a century in such amazing fashion is nothing sort or remarkable.

Well done to everyone at the club and we will look forward to next season.

In the meantime, the action does not stop at Leigh Sports Village given that the Women’s Super League season kicked-off last week and Manchester United play their first home fixture on Friday night.

This season also sees United competing in the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the first time, which is another sporting spectacle for us to look forward to.

Now that October has arrived it’s starting to feel a lot more autumnal and we’re in the lead up to the winter months.

Last year we launched our first network of Warm Welcoming Spaces as part of our Here For You cost-of-living campaign.

In the coming weeks we’ll be announcing the locations for this year and as always we’re encouraging residents to get in touch with us if they are struggling with any aspect of the rising cost of living.

For more information visit Here for You.