I’ve been feeling really proud over the weekend at the way Sandwell’s responded to the bad weather we’ve all had.
There’s been a real outpouring of community spirit as people help each other out – and that’s joined up with council services to keep the borough going.
Take our Snow Champions scheme, for example.
That’s the one where as a council we harness people’s willingness to help out in their communities by giving them shovels, tubs of rock salt and a high-visibility vest.
The deal is that they use the gear to help others at times like this – by clearing the path to someone’s house, say, or the pavement in their street.
The scheme was a big hit last year so we’ve expanded it in 2013 and it’s working really well – so much so it was featured on BBC1 TV’s Six o’ Clock News last Friday.
We all, of course, owe a big debt of gratitude to the council’s gritters. They’ve been working tirelessly on Sandwell’s roads ever since the bad weather started and they’re doing a great job to keep Sandwell moving.
There’ve been lots of other council workers, too, who’ve gone the extra mile to stay on top of things in trying circumstances.
I know we’ve had nice comments on Facebook and Twitter about our efforts, including lots from people who’ve been grateful for the way we’ve used social media to keep the public up to date with what’s happening.
I’d like to say a massive, ‘Thank you’, to everybody for all their hard work and efforts.
To my mind it shows Sandwell is indeed a great place with great people and performance – and prospects that are rising all the time.
The gritting is so much better now its gone private