August is the month when the Council goes into ‘recess’ – in the same way that Parliament does, but not for as long. This doesn’t mean councillors stop working, but there are no formal meetings of the Council other than the monthly meeting of the Planning Committee.

It’s the time when we can catch up with the things we haven’t had time to do while the Council has been running – like tidying my desk of the paper which has accumulated since the last time I did it, and trying to make a dent in my overcrowded inbox.

Something always happens to throw my good intentions off course

That’s the theory anyway. But, in my experience, something always happens to throw my good intentions off course. When I first became Leader in 2007, the terrible flooding hit us at the end of July that year, with the subsequent loss of water supply. That, quite rightly, was the focus of mine and many others’ attention for that period. In August 2011, riots hit cities across the country and Gloucester had its own relatively minor skirmish. Minor it may have been, but it’s not something we’re proud of or want to see happen again, so a certain amount of community reassurance was necessary. In 2014, the Council got hit by a cyber attack and recovering from that took some time.

In 2016, we very sadly lost my good friend, Longlevens councillor and Cabinet colleague Jim Porter. Although Jim hadn’t been well for a little while, it still came as a blow and we still miss Jim’s wit, wisdom, frankness and boundless energy today.

On a much happier note, both of my two young daughters were born in July – Eirys in 2015 and Tydwen last year – so August in each of those years was very much dominated by a new baby.

Bringing the gate streets to life

There are plenty of events taking place in the city during August. A particular favourite of mine is the Gloucester Goes Retro Festival run by Councillor Colin Organ, which takes place on 25th August. It brings the gate streets to life like no other event in my view. The Kings Jam urban festival taking place in Kings Square is another worth checking out.

I’ve already been making a list of all the things I want to get done in August. How many I manage to tick off that list remains to be seen. I wish you all an enjoyable August. I’m hoping, for once, that it’s a quiet month!