Man About Town – January 2026

By Greg Hall

Happy New Year, fellow Sandbachians. I hope you all had a restful Christmas, surrounded by love, warmth, and Ferrero Rocher.

It feels odd typing that prior to the end of November, when our Christmas decorations remain firmly nestled in the loft, and I have yet to succumb to that first play of Shakin’ Stevens, but our printing deadlines dictate that I’m constantly a couple of months in advance. I’m quite the visionary, in that respect.

Speaking of visionary, in recent years the world has seen an exponential – and, for me at least, somewhat concerning – increase in the use of Artificial Intelligence. I say concerning, because I’ve watched ‘The Terminator’, so I know how badly this reliance on technology could end for the planet. James Cameron’s warning signs were there four decades ago, and it seems we’re all now looking the other way because we quite like it when a computer does things for us.

That said, I’m just as guilty of reverting to AI if it means ticking a job off my seemingly never-ending list of things to do. So long as I use phrases like ‘please’, ‘thank you’ and ‘I beg you not to enslave us all’ when I ask ChatGPT for assistance (other imminent overlords are available), then I can carry on pretending like everything is ok.

With that in mind, I’ll admit to using AI for this article. While I would never use it to write the whole thing (although, if I start running out of ideas as I enter my fourth year of contributing, I’ll accept it’s a risk) I asked ChatGPT to compile a list of suitable New Year’s Resolutions for the fine folk of Sandbach.

Helpfully, humanity’s soon to be leader broke the resulting suggestions into four categories. In the first, ‘Community and Local Life’, it recommended that I should visit the Makers Market every month, get involved with local clubs and groups (such as bowls, walking or music), volunteer at a local event, attend more performances, or support at least one new independent business each month. That’ll be me taking up vaping, then.

Under ‘Health and Outdoors’, the suggestions are to walk a new footpath or countryside trail every Sunday, join a fitness class or sports team, discover nearby beauty spots (such as Brereton Heath, Wheelock Rail Trail or Burslem) and have one ‘car-free day’ a week.

Finally, under ‘Personal Growth’ we’re advised to learn a new skill or hobby, read more books or take a local class/course, while our ‘Wellbeing and Lifestyle’ can be boosted by dedicating one evening a week to self-care, decluttering our homes, or exploring more of Cheshire.

Sounds good to me. And, yes, I was joking about Burslem.