A few weeks ago, as part of a campaign that they were running, the Messenger asked me what I liked about the local area and what made it special. I said that for me what makes our area different is that, on the whole, people here are well-educated, interested and, overwhelmingly, are prepared to give something back to the local community. I’ve been reminded of this an awful lot recently, because almost everything I’ve been asked along to has involved people who have given up a huge amount of time to make a project or an event succeed. In how many areas, for instance, do you still find events like the Altrincham festival and parade, or the Sale Lions Fete at Worthington Park? Unfortunately in many areas, events like these have now died out; it has become far more difficult to pay for policing, to close roads and to get adequate insurance in today’s increasingly litigious society. People who organise these events are doing so in the face of a series of obstacles which would make lesser individuals throw up their hands in despair. It is not just the organisers who make these events work; as I watched the Altrincham festival parade make its way through the town centre this year I was tremendously impressed by the time and effort spent making the floats look wonderful. Schools such as Cloverlea, Broomwood and the Bollin had made a huge effort and the children and staff looked fantastic. At a time when there are more demands than ever on the time, energies and resources of schools and parents it is really commendable that they are prepared to make such an impressive contribution to a community event. The sense of community was very much in evidence when I visited Cecil Road’s street party in Hale this summer – no half-hearted effort this – people living there enjoyed the event they staged for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee so much that they decided to do it again, and again. The whole street was swathed in bunting which volunteers stayed up late at night to hang, and everyone got involved bringing tables and chairs and food and drink, they even trusted their MP to judge the best-dressed wheelie bin competition, and to cut the celebratory cake. If Cecil Road is the friendliest road in Hale, then a contender for friendliest road in Oldfield Brow must be Hillcroft Road; this year they decided to put on their own ‘Big Lunch’ and commandeered a strip of green space in the middle of the houses to erect canopies where you could eat, paint your face, decorate a cake or hold a bird of prey… or all of the above! The interesting thing to see was that with all the various attractions on offer, the activity that the children seemed to enjoy most was the fact that the street was closed to traffic which meant that they could run, play or cycle to their hearts’ content. Like the street parties themselves, it was something which harked back to days gone by and something it would be lovely to see more of. My old biology teacher at Altrincham Grammar School was Fred Talbot, and I bump into him from time to time; most recently it was when he was performing the grand opening ceremony for the new sunken garden at Denzell Gardens next to the Devisdale on Dunham Road. Again, volunteers who give up their time to help the community had worked wonders. Friends of Denzell Gardens and the Devisdale have transformed the gardens into something quite lovely and worth a visit over the summer. The English summer would not be the same without beautiful gardens, summer fetes and events where the community can gather together (even if it means getting very wet) and we are particularly lucky that in our area there are so many people who are prepared to give their time and energies to ensure that we can continue to benefit from them.