• I served in the Army as a regular from 1980-89 and I've been active in the veterans community in Salford since I set up the successful and multi award-winning Salford Veterans Breakfast Club in late 2014, opening in January 2015, and which is still running over 7 years on on Saturday mornings at The Magdalene Centre in Winton, with ex-servicemen and women of all ages attending regularly to socialise and enjoy an inexpensive meal together.

I've been speaking for some time to some other veterans not connected to the breakfast club about the setting up of a Salford Veterans Association, to bring the various groups of ex-servicemen and women across the city together whenever there are parades or social events taking place across the city and to liaise more closely with the council whenever standards and veterans are requested. In February of this year, we formed a constituted group with a temporary committee and registered our constitution with Salford CVS. I'm the acting secretary.

One of the aims of the SVA is to see a Veterans Memorial Garden established in Salford. I've been aware for some time that other towns in Greater Manchester have set up veterans memorial gardens, usually around existing war memorials, so I approached the Salford City Council Mayor's Office regarding the sitting area and sunken garden adjacent to the war memorial on Chorley Road in Swinton, a short walk from Salford Civic Centre, with a view to  creating a long-term such project in Salford.

I proposed replacing the benches in the concrete sitting area with eight new ones, including four to honour the four Victoria Cross winners from Salford, information lecterns and raised flower beds to transform the space and brighten it up. I also proposed that one of the walls be used for memorial plaques that the public could purchase in memory of relatives who served in either the Armed Forces or Merchant Navy.

The large sunken garden also has a number of benches in need of being replaced and could be made more interesting. I suggested that a wall be transformed into a year-round poppy mural and that we look for appropriate pieces of garden art to put in it. The trees in the centre of the garden are in need of trimming to allow more light and space for suitable artwork and memorials, both personal and group. The whole area is covered by CCTV, which will hopefully be a deterrent for anyone considering damaging or removing anything from the memorial garden once established.

This is a long-term project for the benefit of the whole community, an open space that will be both recreational and educational.