Opinion by Councillor Kim Long, Scottish Green Party

This is the time of year for looking back over the past 12 months, savouring the memories and celebrating what was good.

Here are some highlights in the life of a local councillor:

This year it was a pleasure to work alongside Glasgow Disability Alliance, which is run by and for Glaswegians who are disabled – from supporting the Alliance to raise concerns at meetings, sharing rather too much hilarity with some GDA women members at a conference (we got told off!), to a big GDA consultation day on changes to health and social care.

Disabled people’s voices can often be excluded – it was important to hear and learn from the experiences of GDA members.

Asylum justice has been a big feature of this year. A local family, who have endured terrorist attacks, the murder of their families and then the horrendous Home Office process, finally won their right to remain here.

The whole close had a party to celebrate, with all the neighbours sharing cake - it was pretty special!

Glas-gow has some incredible community projects and one of the best things about being a local councillor is sharing in their celebrations.

We had another brilliant Alexandra Park Festival in the summer, and in the winter celebrated 30 years of Royston Development Trust with a torchlight procession.

The state-of-the-art community hub opened on Roystonhill after 10 years of work by local housing associations Copperworks and Spireview, and soon there will be a new park on the hill too! In Dennistoun and Haghill the community came together to fight for our beloved Whitehill Pool and now we’re meeting regularly with Glasgow Life to find a sustainable future path.

In Sighthill the huge redevelopment continues, hitting some big milestones this year. The amazing new school campus opened with a parade of kids walking from their old building.

It was brilliant to see how the nursery, mainstream and ASN primaries will all share different areas within the one building, with clever use of space to provide dignity and inclusive learning opportunities for all pupils.

Then there was the glorious opening service of the new St Rollox Church, with its truly international congregation dancing in groups up the aisle, greeted by the Moderator of the General Assembly, who did his best to join in with some dad dancing.

Finally, this year has felt like a turning point for the climate movement. My colleague Councillor Martha Wardrop won an award for her pioneering work in Glasgow, bringing together campaigners and all political parties to make sweeping recommendations for change.

Climate chaos is giving me fear in my bones, but the youth strikes are real grounds for hope. In the midst of one of the protests, I looked around me and saw grandparents marching alongside kids in school uniform.

Next year is pivotal with the UN climate conference coming here – there’s a long way to go, but this year has given us lots of energy to build on as the world comes to Glasgow.