Shaw

Coronation Street star Tracy Shaw, who was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year, has enjoyed an afternoon out with a fellow soap legend from the ITV show

Tracy Shaw has enjoyed a leisurely afternoon with Sally Ann Matthews amid her cancer battle. The actress, 52, who played Maxine Peacock on Coronation Street from 1995 until 2003, announced she had been diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year and has been keeping fans up to date ever since.

On Friday afternoon, Tracy shared a photo of herself and Sally Ann, 55, who played Jenny Bradley on the ITV soap on and off for almost 40 years, onto Instagram after they spent the afternoon catching up. Whilst the pair’s Weatherfield alter-egos never crossed paths on screen, the actresses met when they both starred in a tour of the play Mum’s The Word in 2010.

She wrote: “Never stopped laughing #sallyannmatthews. Meet for an hr Brunch led to lunch 3 hrs of glorious laughter. Homemade ginger biscuits, and sunflowers , I was spoilt. We met on tour years ago and we haven’t stopped laughing since. Love you Sal.”

Tracy then shared the picture to her Instagram Story, and in the background , she added the Cyndi Lauper classic Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

“Good morning everyone. I’ve put some makeup on because I’m going to meet a friend who is going to collect me and we’re gonna go for a drink. I wanna share about how when you are at home and then you go out…do you remember the COVID days?

Earlier in the day, Tracy became emotional as she said she was getting ready to go out with a friend and it struck her just how how it felt to be leaving the house after so long indoors.

She said: “All of a sudden we started going out in the world…that’s how it feels and I feel really emotional about meeting my friend because I haven’t seen her for so long and I’ve just spent some time putting makeup on but I’ll probably cry so that’ll come off and I do feel like a painted doll! But anyway, I can’t wait to show you more and tell you more. Have a beautiful morning!”

Tracy, who also enjoyed a brief pop career with a cover of the Lonnie Gordon track Happenin’ All Over Again before going on to appear in Casualty, Doctors and a string of theatre productions over the years, previously told her followers that she was “all over the place” thanks to all the side effects of chemotherapy, and various things stopped her venturing far from home.

“Because of all the medications, thrush, and shingles, I’m all over the place. The smallest things can affect us and this, setting myself, starting the day, listening to the birds and seeing the sunrise and be amongst nature at its best.

“Also, it’s really hot and I have to get the dogs out and I’ve been really locked in the chemo land of not being able to go out because there isn’t a toilet that can actually take what I need now. That’s a bit frank but that’s the truth.

“So, today, we’ve gone to their favourite park and that will be them for the day, and me for the day. I just wanna say hello to everyone. Stay cool.”

If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at Breast Cancer Support.

Like this story? F or more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

The November runoff for state schools superintendent will pit two school board presidents — one a union-friendly liberal and the other a Trump-aligned conservative — against each other.

Republican, Sonja Shaw finished in first place in this week’s primary with 24.5% of votes counted through June 4. Democrat Richard Barrera had19.3%.

Shaw’s margin seems comfortable even with more ballots to be counted, with Barrera firmly in the runoff. The third-leading vote-getter, Wendy Castaneda Leal, was about 10 percentage points behind him.

The race creates a clear contrast between candidates and their vision for California’s schools.

While Shaw, 43, has not typically spoken to Trump’s immigration policies in relation to schooling, she is in accord with the Trump administration education agenda, including banning trans-athletes from women’s and girls’ sports and notifying parents when a child expresses gender-identity issues at school.

Under Shaw’s leadership, the school board in Chino Valley Unified, located in San Bernardino County, also approved a policy that permits parents to challenge books in school libraries.

Barrera, 59, is the board president of San Diego Unified, the second-largest school system in the state. He is a former union official who has developed strong bonds with the teachers union during his long board tenure.

That history helped him win the endorsement of the California Teachers Assn., which poured about $5 million into an independent campaign on his behalf.

Barrera acknowledges that this support made the difference in his leap ahead of other strong Democratic candidates.

Shaw has framed her campaign as a populist effort against a failed and self-interested status quo establishment.

“I didn’t get into this race because I was a politician,” Shaw said in a statement. “I got into it because I was a mom who saw too many families being ignored, too many classrooms falling behind, and too many elected officials unwilling to stand up for our kids.”

Barrera said he is ready to focus on the job of helping students learn more effectively.

“We see examples of schools that are delivering,” Barrera said. “The answers are all around us. The challenge for us as a state is to learn from educators in the local community about what is beating the odds and then take those practices to scale.”

Barrera speaks of an “assault” by the Trump administration on immigrant families: “I’m going to stand up to that assault.”

Barrera, who is a senior adviser to outgoing state Superintendent Tony Thurmond, praises the record of his boss.

Shaw, in contrast, once threw Thurmond out of her local school board meeting.

Lance Christensen, a conservative education analyst who ran unsuccessfully for the office four years ago against Thurmond, is ready for a spirited campaign that “is about to go nuclear.”

“Sonja Shaw pulled out an impressive primary win as an unabashed parental rights advocate while successfully running her local school district,” Christensen said.

“Should Shaw weather the political maelstrom that is about to hit her with tens of millions of dollars from the entrenched left,” he added, “she will have a bigger bully pulpit to shame the people in power who have made California’s education system the laughing-stock of the nation.”

Veteran Democratic political consultant Larry Levine predicted that, in November, Democrats will consolidate around Barrera just like Republicans did around Shaw in the primary — likely leading to a different order of finish in November.

“She consolidated the Republican vote and the Democrats spread like butter on warm bread,” Levine said. “It will be a far different story in the general. CTA will step up with the money to make sure their candidate wins.”

One of the trailing Democrats — former state Legislative leader Anthony Rendon —has already endorsed Barrera.

Rendon said that Barrera “is qualified, shares my values, and has spent his career fighting for public education. He is the candidate who will stand up to and defeat the dangerous, extremist ideology of Sonja Shaw.”

The state superintendent has limited authority over school districts, which are locally managed. The officeholder instead manages the California Department of Education. This agency guides local school districts and also provides partial oversight. The state superintendent also typically takes advantage of the bully pulpit on education issues.

The office has an uncertain future because Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing a proposal to reimagine the office and redistribute some of its duties.

Sonja Shaw — a Trump-aligned conservative Republican whose public profile rose as she became identified with culture-war causes, including banning transgender athletes from girls’ sports — has emerged as the leading vote-getter in the June primary for California’s superintendent of public instruction.

With more than 80% of precincts at least partially reporting, Shaw was well ahead of Democrat Richard Barrera, holding a lead that would be difficult to surmount.

Both Shaw and Barrera are school board presidents.

Shaw heads the elected Board of Education for Chino Valley Unified in San Bernardino County, a diverse but substantially conservative inland portion of Southern California.

Barrera heads the school board of San Diego Unified, the state’s second largest school district, serving an area with liberal leanings, but that is also politically diverse.

In the primary Shaw was greatly helped by a candidate field that included seven Democrats — most with a voter and financial base that would make them competitive. Incoming results show they divided votes among themselves.

Shaw managed to consolidate the Republican vote, which put her on top for the primary. A second Republican candidate finished far behind her.

On Tuesday night, Shaw sounded hopeful and confident that her campaign themes were resonating beyond her conservative roots.

“I am humbled and grateful that Californians from every corner of our state have rallied behind this campaign,” Shaw said in a statement. “What we’ve built is more than a campaign. It’s a diverse movement of communities who believe our schools can do better and who are determined to make that happen.”

Among its high-profile actions, the Chino Valley board majority put forward a policy that would require parents to be notified if their child expressed gender-identity issues at school. Shaw and her allies also approved a policy that allows parents to challenge the content of library books.

Positioned in a runoff against one Democrat — in a state where Democrats dominate — makes for a challenging campaign.

“Tonight is not the finish line,” Shaw said. “It’s the beginning of the final stretch.”

Barrera, who was not available for comment late Tuesday night, benefited immensely from a $5 million independent expenditure campaign from the California Teachers Assn., which, in the recent past, has seemed determined to spend whatever it takes to get an ally into the state superintendent’s office.

Barrera, besides his work as a longtime public official, has been a senior aide to current state Superintendent Tony Thurmond. Thurmond could not run again because of term limits and instead mounted an unsuccessful campaign for governor.

The state superintendent has limited authority over school districts, which are locally managed. The officeholder instead manages the California Department of Education. This agency guides local school districts and also provides partial oversight. The state superintendent also typically takes advantage of the bully pulpit on education issues.

The office has an uncertain future because Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing a proposal to reimagine the office and redistribute some of its duties.

Coronation Street actress Tracy Shaw, who played Maxine Peacock in the ITV soap, has been battling breast cancer and has now shared an update after completing her first day of chemotherapy

Coronation Street star Tracy Shaw, who portrayed Maxine Peacock in the ITV soap opera, has shared a health update after she revealed she has been fighting breast cancer.

Following the completion of her first chemotherapy session she explained to fans that she would be shaving her head and donating her hair to charity. Posting a video on Instagram, she disclosed to her followers that she had spent more than eight hours at her initial appointment.

The actress said: “First day of chemo done. I’m feeling alright but that has a great amount to do with the steroids which are helping my body fight the chemo that has gone in. So I went in today to start at 9am and I left at 5:30pm, very hot day and there was a bit of delay.”

She continued: “Basically with my chemo injection, one of which hadn’t arrived, it’s got nothing to do with robots or anything to do with the hospital team, it was the medics delivery, so yeah that was the delay. But I’m feeling really positive but everything I keep eating tastes horrible.

“Everything tastes of metal, just like you told me, and every now and again I feel like the Incredible Hulk, I want to start moving furniture around, the dogs keeping away from me because they sense that.”

This follows her recent decision to cut her hair to donate to The Little Princess Trust, and she has since ventured out to shop for a replacement wig. She posted footage online of herself modelling the various wigs and displaying them while being assisted by a Macmillan nurse who also offered guidance to individuals experiencing a similar situation, reports the Express.

Earlier this month Tracy revealed the emotional difficulties she’s been encountering, informing her followers: “Each morning I wake up and know that I have to go into hospital and receive more news, which has been going on for a long time, that unknown… I just think, ‘I can’t go through with this anymore,’ but I’ve not even started my journey.”

She’s received an outpouring of support online from her followers as she’s posted updates on every stage of her journey, with many of Tracy’s recent posts emphasising how waking up is a “gift” each day.

Manchester City striker Khadija Shaw has been named WSL Football’s Player of the Season after an impressive campaign in the Women’s Super League.

The 29-year-old also won the Golden Boot for a third successive season after scoring 21 goals in 22 appearances as City claimed a first WSL title in a decade.

She won the Football Writers’ Association Women’s Footballer of the Year award earlier in May and was named City’s Player of the Season on Sunday.

Known affectionately as ‘Bunny’, she has dominated headlines after contract renewal discussions broke down with her current deal set to run out in June.

WSL rivals Chelsea are favourites to sign Shaw on a free deal in the summer amid heavy interest from clubs around the world.

During City’s homecoming celebrations at Manchester’s Albert Hall on Sunday, fans chanted “we want Bunny to stay”.

Shaw, who arrived at City in 2021, has finished as the club’s top scorer in four of her five seasons there and holds the record for the most hat-tricks in the WSL (six).

Some of Shaw’s best performances this season included a hat-trick against Tottenham and a four-goal haul at home to Aston Villa, as well as scoring an important opener in the 3-2 win over Arsenal in October.

The Jamaica international could help City snatch a domestic double if they beat Brighton in the Women’s FA Cup final on Sunday, 31 May (15:00 BST).

Shaw beat team-mate Kerstin Casparij, Arsenal forward Alessia Russo and Aston Villa winger Kirsty Hanson to the award.

England international Russo netted 13 goals in 22 matches, playing as both a striker and a midfielder, while Hanson finished third in the goalscoring charts behind Shaw and Russo with 12 goals.

Also shortlisted for the main award were Manchester United’s Jess Park, Chelsea’s Alyssa Thompson, Tottenham’s Olivia Holdt and Everton’s Ruby Mace.