Wishing all those in the Vale of Glamorgan a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!

2015 was a great year for Barry – 2016 could be even better.

On Monday I welcomed a number of sixth form students from Bryn Hafren Comprehensive in Barry to Westminster to discuss my role in Parliament. I was delighted to welcome the group studying for the Welsh Baccalaureate to show them how Parliament runs on a day to day basis.

I held the last advice surgery before the General Election on Saturday. The venue was McDonalds in Barry. It is a great place to hold these types of meeting, and I saw a wide range of people on a number of issues.

We will soon know whether visitors from all over the United Kingdom visiting Barry Island this summer will be looking at a shabby derelict site or a top class fairground beginning to take shape.

I ran 16 miles on Sunday evening for the first time in a number of months. I completed that distance in the knowledge that the 2015 London Marathon is only eight weeks away – and I have just chosen the two charities that I will be running in aid of.

Last Saturday the vast majority of junior and senior football fixtures were called off across the Vale of Glamorgan despite just one day of rain, albeit heavy. This is unfortunately a common conversation I have with parents during the winter months and it must be addressed.

It is not very often that I meet a local resident over the age of a hundred, never mind two in the same room. But that is exactly what I did at a recent visit to Victoria Park Community Centre. I haven’t had as much fun in a long time, and I met so many wonderful people who were all so welcoming.

Gem readers will be aware of the priority to regenerate Barry Island.  It is a fantastic resort that deserves to be revitalised.  It once attracted quarter of a million visitors a day at its peak at the turn of the last century.  A new fairground facility is within our grasp. 

I should have worn my wellies. After a number of re-arranged dates due to postponements caused by the weather, I met with coaches and players from the Vale of Glamorgan mini leagues in Barry on Saturday.