I can actually trace my love affair with Macclesfield to a precise date: 03 July 1973.

I had been sharing a house in Handforth with some students. I saw an advert in the Manchester Evening News: "Fully furnished terraced house for sale. Furnished. £650."

I drove over to Macclesfield and looked at the cottage. It had a short "life" on it. Let me explain that. If a house was pulled down soon after you bought it, they only paid you the land value. If you survived for 2 or 3 years, they had to pay you the market value.

That house wasn't the home for me but I found another in Jackson Street, just off High Street. It was a bit singed after a fire but it was a lovely sturdy cottage – with a short "life" again, in a little cobbled street. I found the owner, Mr Paddock, who repaired invalid carriages on Saville Street.

"I understand you own a cottage on Jackson Street?", I asked him. "Yes. That's right", he replied. "How much do you want for it?", I enquired. He said, "Give me 500 quid". "A cheque OK?"

And you have guessed the date of this transaction? 03 July 1973.

I had the first bath in the street and I still had an outside toilet. I approached the then MP. "Why don't the Council give us grants to do up these terraced houses?" The MP replied that terraced housing was really not the way forward.

Our future lay in high rise blocks of flats with communal spaces and he quoted The Victoria Flats as a shining example of modern living. Well, my house is still there and The Vicky flats aren't!

Around 1978 I bought a book Practical Self Sufficiency by John Seymour. The Good Life was on the TV and everyone fancied growing their own. I found a tumbled down cottage just below the Hanging Gate, Higher Sutton and lived the good life literally for years.

I moved away but my love for Macclesfield never diminished. When I returned to UK with a new wife and young family Macclesfield was, naturally, where we came to.

I do love every street, every house, every person (most anyway!). We are fortunate to now live in Tytherington. In 2019 Lloyd Roberts and I stood as Independents for Tytherington and Bollinbrook with, quite frankly, little chance of winning.

The wonderful people of Tythy Ward believed in us and the rest, as they say, is history. I was so glad that my friend and fellow councillor, Lloyd Roberts, proposed me for the post of Deputy Mayor.

To be voted by my peers is a huge, huge honour for me; up there as one of the proudest moments of my life. I will do my very best for "my" town.

So, just three days ago it was the anniversary: 47 years to the day, since my love affair with Macclesfield began.