For the past couple of years I have been the in-house commentator for the Cheshire Phoenix in the British Basketball League. The Phoenix are currently one of the top teams in the country and are playing some truly awesome basketball.

Every year between Christmas and New Year the Basketball community pay tribute to Haris Charalambous with the Haris Memorial Tournament at the Amaechi Centre Manchester.

For almost 2 decades I have been play by play commentator at the Sheffield Sharks in the British Basketball League. This has been an absolute joy for me and I have been able to see all of the great basketball players and coaches to have been involved in the UK in recent years.

Well last weekend, London, Middlesbrough and Manchester rocked to the sounds of the SOS Band, Gwen Dickey and Loose Ends. I had the great pleasure of working at both the Middlesbrough and Manchester gigs, and while the atmosphere at TFM Soundworks was amazing, a full house at the Manchester Academy simply took it to the ultimate level.

Last Saturday, the stars of Emmerdale and Coronation Street joined forces with Yorkshire Jets and Manchester Thunder to raise money for the ITV Charity Text Santa. I think a good time was had by all.

The Everybody Awards Evening is an annual event, recognising the contributions of local heroes in sport, play and active recreation.

Welcome to an on-going feature on mikeshaft.com. It is the Timeline. On this page we will try to high-light some of the major events that I have been involved with over the years.

Each year for about the past 10 years, the Sunday Breakfast programme has paid tribute to the fallen on Remembrance Sunday. This year we had the great pleasure of interviewing Harold Addie, a veteran of the D DAY landings in Normandy. Our reading of the poem 'For the Fallen' was done by Phil Sayer.

Ever since he was enthroned, I have wanted to interview the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu. Unfortunately it has never happened, that was until the 23rd of October 2014 when he travelled to Bolton for a series of events. He made time in his diary and I was finally able to speak to him.

2014 saw the release of the Film Northern Soul. I had the great pleasure of speaking to the Director of the film - Elaine Constantine and to one of the stars - Lisa Stansfield. It was truly a joyous occasion in the studio that Monday morning back in October.