Weekly Column: Mayor Mohammed Zaman

Date published: 28 September 2018

On Wednesday (26 September) the UK celebrated National Fitness Day, a day aimed at promoting better health and wellbeing. The purpose of this is to highlight how physical activity positively contributes to our lifestyle and raises the importance of leading a healthy life.

I was presented a Fitbit watch at Rochdale Leisure Centre, which keeps track of things like my blood pressure, heart rate and provides me with daily reports on how many steps I have taken to encourage more activity.

Thank you to the staff at Link4Life for contributing to National Fitness Day with a Fitbit information session and for always encouraging people to make changes towards a better and healthier lifestyle.

Week commencing Monday 17 – Sunday 23 September

Monday and Wednesday, I had no engagements.

Tuesday, I led the British Citizenship Registrars presentation. This is a monthly ceremony at Rochdale Town Hall, where citizens from many different countries, with different faiths, cultures and backgrounds are officially welcomed to Rochdale.

This session saw people from places such as Nigeria, Russia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan receive their citizenship certificates. Everyone commented on how Rochdale is a nice town with a good community as they have all found it easy to settle and make new friends.

I always enjoy this event as it makes me happy seeing the citizens smiles of relief.

I attended a Friends of Rochdale Town Hall (FoRTH) meeting to discuss the priorities of the building. FoRTH are a very strong group who are always committed to looking after the town hall, whilst organising all visits and tours of the building.

The main priority discussed at this meeting is that we want the building to go forward in future. The Heritage Lottery Fund is going to help make improvements on both the inside and outside and hopefully this will maintain the building for many years to come.

Thank you to Dorothy Johnstone, who takes lead of the group, and all other FoRTH members for holding the town hall dear to them.

Thursday, I met with Sri Ramana who runs the Sri Ramana Devi Organisation in Rossendale. This is a self-realisation school that promotes conservation, protection, compassion and sanctuary through Hinduism.

It was nice to meet Sri Ramana and learn of her sanctuary where she looks after birds and plants and has created a training and exhibition centre for people to take part in yoga and meditate; something she is very passionate about. She has a strong link with India, allowing her to provide special oils and organic creams to help those who need them.

Thank you to Sri and her husband for taking the time to see me.

I went to The Flying Horse Hotel with my mayoral team to surprise and thank the staff for being a credit to the town.

I presented the owner Ben Boothman with a Certificate of Appreciation, a bouquet of flowers and an official town hall decorative plate to say thank you for all the hard work and dedication they have contributed to the town centre over the years.

A big well done to The Flying Horse for winning Greater Manchester Pub of the Year and for getting to the last 16 pubs in the nation. An award that is well deserved.

 

 

In the evening I met with the Friends of Sahiwal at Castlemere Community Centre. I was joined by a number of members from the community as well as Tony Lloyd MP.

This was a social get together to welcome one of the chairpersons of the committee from Sahiwal, who has a high profile both here and in Pakistan. We discussed Rochdale’s link with Sahiwal, which was established in 1993 and is still growing closer.

Friday morning, I hosted a flag raising ceremony for International Day of Peace. It was good to see the revival of this in Rochdale, as the flag was last raised in 2008 by the former Mayor of Rochdale, Robin Parker.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/122354/flag-raising-ceremony-for-international-day-of-peace

There were around 50 attendees who shared messages of peace, love and harmony to promote peace throughout our town but also throughout the world.

 

 

Peace begins with a smile and I feel honoured to have been able to raise this flag with fellow peace ambassadors in Rochdale.

I then hosted a peace walk from Neeli Mosque to St Chad’s Church through Milkstone Road. Attendees designed posters and banners around the topic of peace to promote the cause and raise awareness of International Peace Day.

 

 

A local blind man led the walk and I was really impressed with his knowledge of the Bible and glad he enjoyed this duty.

Members of the public were intrigued by the walk and asked questions before joining us. We were lucky to have good weather.

When we reached St Chad’s, volunteers provided us with refreshments and we spoke about peace and how we can create it in our town. Reverend Mark Coleman spoke and said that regardless of our faith and culture, we are all together to promote peace, proving that humanity comes first.

Imam Mirazam from Neeli Mosque also spoke and said the mosque’s doors are always open and they are proud to work with the community and churches to promote peace.

Thank you to everyone who joined us to raise awareness.

 

 

Saturday, I attended the Mayor’s Charity Produce and Flower Show at St Aidan’s Church.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/138/community-news/122335/mayor%E2%80%99s-produce-and-flower-show

Councillor Wendy Cocks worked very hard to put this project together for the first time, in partnership with Rochdale in Bloom, and there were so many entries of organic fruits and vegetables homegrown in Rochdale.

The event offered something different by promoting the environment and sent a message to the community that most things we buy in supermarkets can be grown by ourselves. I hope this encouraged the young people who attended to learn how to grow their own produce in future.

I am grateful to Wendy Cocks, volunteers, those who entered and St Aidan’s Church for allowing the event to take place. It was encouraging to see the effort put in by everybody whilst raising awareness and funds for the Mayor’s Charity.

 

 

Sunday, Deputy Mayor and Mayoress Billy and Lynn Sheerin, attended Castleton Memorial’s Dedication Service. I was more than happy that Billy asked me to do this for his ward.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/138/community-news/122274/castleton-memorial-dedication-service