I’M sad to see our Mayor of Warrington’s year of office come to a close.

Steve Wright has been a brilliant Mayor and brought a lot of joy to the people of this town.

True to his lovely nature he sent a thank-you to the people of Warrington (printed in last week’s Guardian) to pay tribute to them for making his time in office so enjoyable.

For those of you who’ve not had the pleasure of meeting him, our 129th first citizen Steve is a down-to- earth man, a true Warringtonian.

Whenever he has spoken at events or engagements he does so from the heart – everyone can see he really cares.

It can’t be an easy job being Mayor, the year is an endless round of engagements, you’re always on duty, always have to be smart and to be nice to total strangers – it would be my idea of hell.

And for 52-year-old Steve, who is partially deaf, it must have been a daunting prospect meeting lots of different people in all sorts of environments when it’s difficult to hear them clearly.

He and his wife Julie, who works at the hospital, have been a lovely couple to work with over the past year and I wish them both well and hope they’ll take a well-earned rest.

  • IT’S snowing in Devon said a colleague last week. Yes, snow in the middle of May.

Not only that but there were 65mph gales in one part of the country while mid Wales had three inches of rain.

What has happened to our weather?

So far we’ve had two hot, sunny days – one of which most of us didn’t see as we were at work following the May bank holiday.

Our web editor Sophie even has a hot water bottle on her desk to try to keep warm and she’s often wrapped in a big woolly scarf.

The other night I had my electric blanket on as it was so cold. What the electricity bill will be when it arrives I dread to think.

When I was young I remember long, hot summer holidays which we spent on our bikes, out and about, never at home. We seemed to exist on eating big green cooking apples we picked from the garden so nothing as boring as meals held us up from our adventures.

I don’t remember cold, miserable springs and summers like we’ve had for the past few years.

I don’t know how the shops are going to shift their summer clothes. Who needs Tshirts when you’d be better off with thermals?