Mayor reflects on cultural events and community engagement across Rochdale

My mayoral year is entering its final two months and, as always, the last few weeks have been extremely busy. A key theme of recent events has centred around culture, including musical performances, religious festivals, poetry evenings and sporting occasions.  

Residents across the community recently marked Ramadan. I was extremely proud to attend a number of Iftars, including the Community Iftar organised by volunteers at Rochdale Town Hall, the council organised Iftar at Number One Riverside, as well as community iftars at Kingsway Park and Kashmir Youth Project and many others. Thanks to everyone for inviting me. Every Iftar has been a special occasion, bringing the community together to mark this important religious festival. Eid Mubarak to everyone who marked Eid on Friday 20 March. 

The cultural theme of the last month continued with an evening of young people’s poetry at The Yard, Darnhill, which included contributions from Bethany Kilgallon, who also excelled herself with a poignant poem in memory of former soldiers who were remembered in a special dedication service held in Langley. 

February continued on a high note with a superb evening at the Flying Horse, with music performed by the excellent Johnny Alfrey Music Memorial. The live music evening was a fundraiser for LGBTQ + communities, as well as the Mayor’s charities. Many thanks to everyone who supported this all-inclusive celebration of love, music and community. 

I enjoyed recent visits to Manchester as part of my Mayoral duties, including the MACFEST opening at Whitworth Art Gallery, with other Manchester Mayors, a visit to China Town to welcome in the Chinese New Year of the Horse and the turning of the leaves, a poignant bi-weekly ceremony held in the Regimental Chapel at Manchester Cathedral to remember over 120,000 fallen service members from local regiments. Lest we forget.

The month continued with a range of lovely events, including afternoon tea with Lexie Partridge, the winner of Rochdale Got Talent, the pantomime at St Gabriels, Castleton, the Rotary Middleton Community Stars awards and the opening of Heywood Civic, following its multi million pound revamp. 

International Women’s Day is always an important day on the calendar, so it was lovely to spend an evening at the Bridgewater Hall for the Hallé  for Youth schools’ concert, led by fantastic female composers. On the theme of young people, I also enjoyed an excellent question and answer session with politics students at Rochdale 6^th form college. 

Foster carers are some of the unsung heroes of our borough, so it was a great honour to welcome Michael and Marilyn to the Mayor’s Parlour to thank them for their many years of fostering, which has seen them provide care to hundreds of children. Amazing. 

Heywood Library has proudly served the community for 120 years, so it was a wonderful day to mark the anniversary of the library first opening in 1906, with library users and staff in attendance to mark the day. 

Rochdale’s former MP, the late Tony Lloyd, is always in our thoughts so it was lovely to attend the Tony Lloyd exhibition at the Pioneers Museum. Tony was a wonderful public servant, a man of great integrity and a fine Member of Parliament for Rochdale. The exhibition does him proud. 

Finally, there was a very poignant and moving dedication service held in Langley on Saturday 21 March, in memory of former soldiers Lee Rigby, Scott Hetherington and Joel Halliwell. It was a lovely service, attended by families and friends of the late soldiers, as well as people from across the community, members of the armed forces and councillors. Lest we forget. 

Last, but by no means least, I want to say a huge and personal thanks to my dedicated charities and the outstanding work of members of the Mayor’s Charity Committee.  Throughout the year my Mayoral work continues to raise funds for Springhill Hospice, Jolly Josh, Awakening Minds, Papyrus, Women’s Housing Action Group and the Johnny Alfrey Musical Memorial.

All these organisations do amazing work, supported by wonderful teams of staff and volunteers. Donations to my charities can be sent to:

The Mayor’s Office, Rochdale Borough Council, Floor 2, Number One Riverside, Smith Street, Rochdale OL16 1XU. If any organisation would like a visit, please ring 01706 924834 and my team will be happy to help. Further information on my charities and the work I will be undertaking can be found at rochdale.gov.uk/mayor