Weekly Column: Mayor Mohammed Zaman

Date published: 05 April 2019

The weekly column from the Mayor of Rochdale, Councillor Mohammed Zaman, is about the places he has been and the people he has met during the week commencing Monday 25 March to Sunday 31 March 2019.

Rochdale has a great history that all Rochdalians should be proud of; whether it’s the Co-Operative Movement with the Rochdale Pioneers, Gracie Fields or the variety of Grade I and Grade II listed buildings throughout the borough.

Every day I visit new places and learn new things. I love the place that I live and am proud to call Rochdale my home.

This week, I was glad to see the commemoration of Rochdale Borough Police Force, held at Rochdale Town Hall’s old police cells for a one-day exhibition. The force was introduced in 1857 to take lead in serving the local community and maintain order. It was inspiring to learn of the events over the years, taking those who attended to the past as they shared treasured memories.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/127030/rochdale-town-hall-police-cells-opened-to-commemorate-50-years-since-the-amalgamation-of-rochdale-borough-police-force-into-lancashire-constabulary

 

Week commencing Monday 25 March – Sunday 31 March

Monday, I had no engagements.

Tuesday, there was a Bangladesh flag raising at Rochdale Town Hall to celebrate their 48th Independence Day. The event was very well attended by local members of the Bangladeshi community, as well as local councillors and pupils from Heybrook Primary School and Falinge Park High School.

A brief history of the Independence Day was given in both Bengali and English before the flag was raised. I was especially pleased to see the young people interested in the event as they helped me hoist the flag.

 

 

The students from Falinge High School were given a tour of the town hall along with two teachers who were on an exchange visit to Falinge High School from Sylhet, Bangladesh. This is a project supported by the British Council under the ‘Connecting Classrooms’ scheme, to enrich teaching and learning in different classrooms around the world. I hope our two guests had a wonderful time in our town and the school.

Two Falinge Park teachers have already been on exchange to Bangladesh where they learnt of Bangladesh culture and traditions and received nice hospitality. I hope the schools keep up their connections through this project.

Thank you to the headteachers at both schools and all the pupils who attended, to Habibul Ahid on the management committee of the Bangladesh Association and Community Project (BACP) for organising this and to all the members of the Bangladesh community who attended.

 

 

Wednesday, I was invited to a conference at Castlemere Community Centre on ‘Improving Access to Healthcare’, in particular the support services for asylum seekers and refugees.

Many organisations that work with asylum seekers and refugees in Rochdale attended and professionals were on hand to answer questions and offer support. Interesting presentations were also given on how to deal with any physical or mental health problems these groups might face, and information leaflets were provided to take home. I found it a really enjoyable and informative event.

Thank you to Herbert McKenzie from Rochdale and District Mind, Ruksana Ghous and councillor Sara Rowbotham for organising this for the community. I am sure all benefitted from this conference.

Wednesday evening was the monthly British Citizenship Registrars presentation at Rochdale Town Hall. Due to a bereavement in the family I was unable to attend this ceremony, but I would like to say a big thank you to Deputy Mayor, councillor Billy Sheerin, for covering this event for me at such short notice.

Thursday morning, I joined the Veteran’s Breakfast Club in the Clock Tower Dining Room, which is getting busier and busier every week. The club provides an opportunity for veterans to seek advice, learn of one another’s experiences and most importantly, have fun with other veterans.

I’m really proud of them for the service they provide.

I was invited to Middleton Arena for the Rochdale Borough School Games Dance Festival 2019, which had the theme of Rock and Roll this year. The arena was packed with parents, teachers, friends and families of the children taking part from various schools across the borough.

Performances were shown by different groups and then a representative from each school voted for the performance they liked and enjoyed the most. I was praying that there wasn’t a tie because if there was, I had to decide the winner and they were all winners to me. All the children were so talented with amazing dance skills and I was pleased to see them so organised and prepared for the day as their confidence shined through.

I handed out medals and certificates to the winner and runners up and certificates to all other participants to show appreciation. Thank you to Farah who MC’ed on the night and to Julie Roberts for organising the event and inviting me along.

Later on Thursday, I went to another Bangladesh event for Bangladesh National Day at Sports City Manchester. Organised by the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission, the High Commissioner of Bangladesh in London was invited to grace the occasion.

I joined other mayors from around Greater Manchester and dignitaries at a presentation on the 48th national day and videos were shown of the current situation in Bangladesh.

Thank you to Abu Nasar, Assistant High Commissioner, and his colleagues for inviting me to celebrate the anniversary. It was really enjoyable, and I was glad to see members of Rochdale’s community attending too.

 

 

Friday, linking with Tuesday’s flag raising, I went to Falinge Park High School for a Connecting Classrooms celebration. Families of the pupils were invited to join them in the classroom to celebrate the school’s first international exchange with Hazi Rashid Ali High School in Bangladesh.

Two young people who attended Falinge High School sang songs and Bollywood dancers gave an excellent performance for the guests from Bangladesh. Bangladesh and British flags also covered the hall of the school, making the guests feel welcomed. The two teachers from Falinge who went to Bangladesh spoke of their time there, which everyone enjoyed learning of.

Thank you to Falinge Park High School for highlighting Rochdale’s cohesion, integration and the benefits of these exchanges with different cultures.

Saturday, I attended Heywood Civic Centre for Kat’s Dance annual Showtime show, showcasing local talent whilst raising funds for Heywood Foodbank.

 

 

Kat’s Dance Academy is a group that has been going for many years and provides an opportunity for both adults and children to learn styles of dance like disco, ballet and tap. Very good performances were given by all at the show.

Thank you to Michelle Fradley and all the dance teachers for helping people to enhance their talents and for all their hard work in organising this show. Thank you for inviting me to watch Showtime and for supporting the foodbank.

Sunday, I went to the ODEON cinema in Oldham as part of the Salaam Pakistan Film Festival to watch the screening of tragic love story, ‘Lakeer’, written by Rochdale councillor Daalat Ali.  

This first-ever Pahari feature film made the cinema packed out, as many were eager to see the film about the India/Pakistan partition of Kashmir in 1947. It was a heart wrenching watch as the story portrayed the issues of the partition, with families stranded on either side of the border.

The film incorporated local folk music and poetry in Pahari language as we watched people’s struggles during these hard times.

Thank you to Aziz Zaria and all those involved in creating this film, especially our local councillor Daalat Ali. I am really proud of the beautiful story produced.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/126637/uk-premiere-for-tragic-love-story-written-by-rochdale-councillor

 

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