Mayor of Rochdale Helps Celebrate Groundwork’s Silver Anniversary

Magician with Mayor and Mayoress of Rochdale with young people looking on

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Groundwork Oldham & Rochdale held a Street Party for the local Higginshaw community as part of their celebrations to mark the Trust’s 25th Anniversary.
The idea of the Street Party was to give ownership of the day to the residents of Higginshaw estate and get them involved as much as possible. The Mayor of Rochdale was also present getting involved with activities like 5-a-side football tournament, bouncy castle and face painting as well as arts and crafts, graffiti art and a BBQ that tantalised taste buds.

Sarah Osman, who volunteered at the Street Party, said: “I really enjoyed the day, especially seeing the Mayor of Rochdale getting involved with circus skills. The BBQ was tasty I must say and I would like to thank Groundwork for organising the event for the community.”

The event was organised by Groundwork’s v challenge volunteers - a group of graduates completing a 13-week placement to improve their chances of entering into employment. Both Christabel Law and Anna Abbie have worked alongside residents of the nearby Higginshaw estate to improve relations and encourage community engagement in the run up to the event. Mini projects have been taking place on the run up to the event as a way to build relationships with the young people. Projects included making ‘Bottle Gardens’ with the Junior Rangers and ‘Fruit Skewers’ with children from Beever Primary School (off the Higginshaw estate), Both of which held stalls on the big day.

Laura Roden, v Project Manager at Groundwork, said: “The day was fantastic as over 150 people turned up to celebrate with us. We hope this is just the start of Groundwork’s involvement with the local Higginshaw community.”