Magical lantern installations today at Winterfest in #Swindon town centre

It was fantastic to welcome Ed Miliband to Swindon yesterday to look at some of our newly retrofitted Council houses in Parks. We're investing £30mil in council houses across the town to make them more energy efficient- lower energy bills for residents & reducing carbon emissions

At today's Buckhurst Youth Festival and official opening of the new Sports Pavillion, new home to Swindon Robbins FC, refurbished with money from the Parish & Borough Council with Abdul Amin @heidialexander.bsky.social @cllrmikedavies.bsky.social

Popped out for a visit to the newly opened Buckhurst Skatepark with Parish Council colleagues Trish & Steve - it looks awesome! A great example of the Labour-led Parish Council and Borough Council coming together to deliver for the local

A different perspective, literally, at yesterday's @swindontown.bsky.social game vs MK Dons. Brilliant to get pitch side and look back at my usual seat in the Don Rogers. A difficult listen to the Roll of Honour, where the names of all the Town fans we've lost this season are read out.

Out with fellow Walcot and Park North Councillors Jamal Miah & Abdul Amin in the Kingswood Avenue area of Park North today , supported by the @swindonlabour.bsky.social team. Not sure where Spring has got to, however!

Delighted to catch the end of the magical cherry blossom display at Swindon's Town Gardens during my morning run. It's still looking good and we'll worth a visit if you've yet to make it this Spring

Happy New Year to the Nepalese community in #Swindon! It was an honour to attend their New Year celebration over the weekend and to meet the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Nepal. Many thanks to the Nepalese Association of Wiltshire for their hospitality.

A really busy Residents Advice Surgery in Parks yesterday. Big thanks to fellow cllr Abdul Amin who held the fort so I can leave slightly early to make the 12.30 kick-off at the County Ground!

Swindon Town 5-4 Bradford City! One of the most Bonkers Games in my 40 years of watching @swindontown.bsky.social Both teams deserved to win for their battling performances Great to hear both sets of supporters singing Stephen Darby's name and to see the support for the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation

Out this morning delivering an update from myself & Walcot and Park North Councillors to residents in Park North. It also contains an invitation to attend our monthly Residents Advice Surgery this Saturday (12th) 10.30-12.00 at The Shop in Cavendish Square

Overall positive Swindon Borough Council last night, passing motions on youth voice and helping residents live longer Ward colleagues Jamal Miah & Abdul Amin both spoke on the youth voice motion, highlighting the brilliant new Youth Centre -The Base- in Park North - co-designed by young people

A busy Saturday morning with ward colleague Abdul Amin attending a Parks residents' coffee meeting at St John's, Parks, Swindon organised by @heidialexander.bsky.social before calling into the Swindon Hindu Temple to see their exhibition on Hindu culture. Home to listen

Brilliant event yesterday to celebrate local Interns for National Supported Internship Day. Supported Interns are young people with an ECHP There are 8 Supported Interns at Swindon Borough Council - they've made a huge impact on the people they've worked with & contribution to the organisation

A fantastic opening event for The Base - our new youth centre in Park North - yesterday. Good to be in the business of opening up new youth centres in Swindon Amazing, including a recording studio, gym equipment and a state of the art coffee machine to train young people in barista-skills

Busy morning litter picking in Parks -thanks to Keep Swindon Tidy for organising Then out to Eldene with @cllrmikedavies.bsky.social cllr Mariane Le Coyte Grinney for a spot of door knocking and a demonstration of the street sign cleaning tool which I may well be asking to borrow soon!

Good to be out knocking on doors with fellow Walcot and Park North Councillors in Old Walcot yesterday. Good to hear that the re-surfacing work in Queens Drive isn't causing any annoyance to the residents we spoke to

A pleasure to attend my first Iftar event this evening and to learn more about the meaning of fasting and other Ramadan rituals. It was lovely to see the Council Chamber full once more with Swindon Borough Council colleagues and members of the many communities who make up #Swindon.

A successful trip to London today with Cabinet colleagues to present our Heart of Swindon document at 10 Downing Street and at a House of Lords launch event. Heart of Swindon is our high level vision for a regenerated town centre, adopted after feedback from Swindon residents

Quite an experience attending my first Holi event today - thanks to the Swindon Hindu Temple for inviting me. It was certainly raining colour and brilliant fun. Called in on the way to the Swindon game -probably caused some confusion arriving at the County Ground with a largely bright pink face!!

Exciting news

What a great way to kick off the weekend's #internationalwomensday celebrations in #Swindon! Thanks to NEPALESE ASSOCIATION OF WILTSHIRE (NAW) for organising a wonderful evening of entertainment, speeches and food at the Civic Offices today. Delighted we could open the Council Chamber to celebrate

Fair result at the County Ground this evening but frustrating to let the game slip twice. Think we lacked the legs after Saturday's heroics at Wallsall

Might be singing that if we beat Salford Tuesday night! Absolutely outstanding result from the Town away to top-of-the table Wallsall. Sounded like a real battling performance

Loved leaping through icy puddles to complete this morning's 15th anniversary Lydiard parkrun As ever, thanks to the @parkrunuk.bsky.social volunteers and organisers who make it possible to run Apparently Lydiard Parkrun was the first to be set-up in the South West! Wi

Pleased we got next year's budget passed at last night's Full Council so we can continuing delivering services to residents next year. This budget delivers £188 mil of investment in services for residents that will help us achieve our Swindon Plan of a Fairer, Better,Greener Swindon

Made it along to a couple of the amazing @festivaloftomorrow.bsky.social exhibitions this weekend. The Gaia installation was fascinating and absorbing and being enjoyed by visitors across the generations

Well deserved and hard-fought win for @swindontown.bsky.social today against a physical @chesterfieldfc.bsky.social side. Really hope Chesterfield player Tyrone Williams is OK

James is a great part of a revitalised @swindoncouncil.bsky.social and good to see we are working together. #BuildaBetterSwindon

Delighted to speak at this morning's #InternationalMotherLanguageDay event celebrating the diversity of language can advance understanding and inclusion. Proud that over 130 different languages are spoken in #Swindon. Thanks to the Bangladeshi Association Swindon for hosting today's event

😀 Swindon has been shortlisted in the #LGCAwards 2025. Our ‘Most improved council’ entry drew on feedback from residents, colleagues & the views of Ofsted & the LGA to evidence progress in improving services, strengthening engagement & our organisational culture. awards.lgcplus.com/2025/en/page...

Pleased and proud that @swindoncouncil.bsky.social has been shortlisted for this year's Most Improved Council award. Lots of work still to do but fantastic recognition for the hard work and dedication of council officers

Snowdrops out in Lawn Woods and Coate Water looking lovejy in the sunshine. Training program for next week's half marathon has gone predictably awry so I'm doing lots of last minute running around #Swindon!

Enjoyed what I think was my first ever Turkish coffee catching up with colleague Stanka Adamcova this afternoon at the Tulip Authentic Turkish Cafe in Havelock St, #Swindon Another interesting addition to the town centre

Waiting with Cabinet colleague Janine Howarth after some Labour Party door knocking in Park South for our bus back into town for a council meetings

Last night we officially launched the Swindon Borough Council mission to become a Borough Of Sanctuary It was a fantastic night with so many brilliant and committed people in the room.

Really nice for an almost full-set of Borough & Parish Walcot & Park North Councillors to be able to get together yesterday at Buckhurst Fields to chat about plans to develop and invest in facilities there.We're revamping the skatepark & sports pavilion & there will be a new the play/ sports zone.

What a night at the County Ground watching STFC! (At least what a last 10 minutes) Staying up to listen to the Ian Holloway post-match interview. Swindon Town 3-1 Tranmere Rovers. 3 late goals and 2 red cards

Auschwitz was at the end of a long process. It did not start from gas chambers. This hatred was gradually developed by humans. From ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder. Auschwitz took time.

An extremely moving event in Swindon today to mark #HolocaustMemorialDay Pleased to attend with Mayor Imtiyaz Shaikh , Cllrs Neil Hopkins, Rebecca Banwell-Moore & Tom Silberberg and to see lots of friendly faces from previous events

A lovely Afternoon tea at the Lydiard Park Restaurant yesterday a post-Christmas Christmas treat for my mum. The snowdrops are coming out in the park- a visit makes for a lovely January in #Swindon

Great work by @swindontown.bsky.social to win away at Newport. Now to watch the final of Traitors -delayed kick-off. That's a lot of excitement for one evening

A remarkably unwindswept picture from this morning's visit to Park North with ward colleagues @heidialexander.bsky.social & @swindonlabour.bsky.social Several useful conversations on the doorstep &picked up some casework to help with. Finished with a really useful chat at Walcot Community Shop

Really excited to tour round the Lyndhurst Centre in Park North- remaned The Base- and opening up as a new centre for young people in the spring. The plans sound fantastic and will make a huge difference to the lives of young people in the area and across #Swindon

Swindon named the best place to get a new job: -An unemployment rate of 2.4 per cent the lowest out of the 30 locations analysed. - average salary of 35,605, higher than most other towns. - Above average number of large companies. 😎 www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/2486623...

Great to see more detail about plans for the new sports/ play zone on Buckhurst Fields. Really pleased ward councillors & @swindoncouncil.bsky.social have been able to support another great initiative by South Swindon Parish Council to invest in the area www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/2486896...

Really good to hear this is back in #Swindon in a few weeks and will be sponsored again by @ukri.org among others. Looking forward to seeing the full programme

Now on course for a 4pm kick off at the fog-bound County Ground - the Town players are in corner warming up and I'm freezing cold!

First run of the New Year through Queens Park and The Lawns- 2 of lovely green spaces we have close to the centre of #Swindon. View accross Parks out to Liddington slightly blighted by the unforcast rain!

It turns out that Farage was right; foreigners were coming for his job.