I RECENTLY had the honour of performing at the Greater Manchester Mayor's inaugural Winter Wonderland charity ball.

The event, held at the Mecure Hotel and organised by Nighat Awan, Nazir Afzal and Kalyani Ghandi, was to raise funds for the GM Mayor Andy Burnham’s, homelessness charity A Bed for Every Night.

After my performance at the champagne reception, which was filled with the who's who of Manchester, Val and I took our seats for a beautiful meal and to watch the main event.

I was pleased to bump into my good friend, Joe Gallagher. Joe is one of the most successful boxing coaches in the world and he had a couple of his world champion boxers with him, Callum Johnson and Anthony Crolla.

Paul Butler and Sam Hyde also backed the event.

It was nice to see them all there supporting our city.

Raquelle and the Rebel Sounds performed first for the 600 or so audience members, then it was my turn to sing some rat pack classics before X Factor's Rebecca Ferguson finished off the live entertainment.

In between there was a raffle and an auction, with bids starting from £1,000!

The night was a total success, raising a staggering £90,000 for the homelessness fund and I was very proud to play my part in the evening.

Val and I went along to the Sale Town Christmas lights switch on event at the weekend, organised by the Sale Town Partnership, Sale Waterside Library, Emporium M33 and The Square shopping centre, which was a lovely family day event.

We started at Emporium M33, which is in Tatton Road opposite the town hall, and I have to say what an absolutely beautiful Aladdin’s cave it is.

I'd like to thank the owner Scott Lyons for the lovely warm welcome we received, including a glass of prosecco and a tour of the three floors of about 45 concessions ­— it really was our highlight of the day.

As well as all the shops, there was even a cosy café and craft beers!

After watching the fabulous Irish dancing at the library we dashed across to the square in time to see the lights switch on.

The tree, which this year was sponsored by Linder Myers and emporium M33, looked great and the children loved getting involved with the countdown to switch on which was presented by BBC radio hosts Phil Trow and Sam Walker, along with Sale community champion Gaynor Mullin-McGlashan who pressed the lights button!

A lovely day out in Sale and I’m looking forward to this Friday where I'll be presenting and performing at Timperley Welcomes Christmas.

See you there!