Weekly Column: Mayor Billy Sheerin

Date published: 12 October 2019

This weekly column from the Mayor of Rochdale, Councillor Billy Sheerin, is about the places he has been and the people he has met during the week commencing Tuesday 1 October to Sunday 6 October 2019.

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To start the mayoral week, I officially opened a Vodafone store in Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre on Tuesday morning (1 October). I was welcomed by the store manager, Rebecca Light from Littleborough, who was given the opportunity to partner with Vodafone and be a director of her own company, J&I Light Group Ltd. I was delighted to be there to support the opening and hear of Rebecca’s hopes to do charity work across the town.

I was especially impressed by a watch that had a GPS feature – people affected by dementia are encouraged to buy these as a way of family members finding them if they ever venture off.

 

 

 

The 1 October was the 59th Nigeria Independence Day and the Rochdale’s Nigeria Community Association organised celebrations to mark the occasion.

A flag raising ceremony took place (in the rain) at Rochdale Town Hall before I presented certificates at a Festival of Arts, Culture and Awards at Castlemere Banqueting Hall, which also celebrated Black History Month. Both events were very colourful and entertaining, and I believe I ate the neck of a goat; I’m still not quite sure how I feel about that…

A real fun day was had by all and I thank Mary Adekugbe from the Nigeria Community Association for including me.

 

 

A Co-Operative Council Innovation Network (CCIN) Conference was held at the town hall on Wednesday (2 October). This was a special event with members of the House of Commons, House of Lords, MPs and different council officers from all over the country attending. The conference was all about ‘developing co-operative councils to build co-operative places’.

The chair of the CCIN, Councillor Sharon Taylor OBE, leader of Stevenage Borough Council, officially welcomed attendees and then I welcomed everyone to Rochdale’s very own town hall – no pressure! It was a bit daunting, addressing leaders of local authorities and delegates from up and down the country. They didn’t laugh when I cracked a joke, so that was my lesson learnt.

The Innovative Network is a completely new concept compromising 27 Full Council, 12 Associate and 19 Affiliate members. Councils are looking for ways of providing services with reducing budgets and the CCIN is a direct public sector response to delivering these services differently, using the co-operative values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity.

After the conference, I invited a few executives downstairs into the Mayor’s Parlour, and they came down in their droves to see the place where Peaky Blinders was filmed.

 

 

Thursday (3 October), I officially opened the new premises of Rochdale business KP Industries who recently moved to Kingsway Business Park. This is a family run business and the owner and Chief Executive, Phil Cornell, was keen to keep the business in the borough. I opened the new premises with Phil’s mother who is 90 something years old, it was a pleasure!

I shook hands with all the workforce and was extremely impressed with the place. I was chuffed to see a plaque with my name on; one of the most enjoyable things to do as the mayor is open and welcome new businesses or businesses that have expanded.

I was also presented with a cheque of £1,000 for my Mayor’s Charity Appeal, which was another wonderful surprise. Thank you to all at KP Industries.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/1/business-news/130548/major-expansion-for-specialist-materials-handling-company

 

 

 

Friday was a big day as the High Sheriff of Greater Manchester, Mark Adlestone OBE (Chairman of Beaverbrooks the Jewellers), and his wife, Gabrielle, visited Rochdale for a tour of the town.

When appointed the High Sheriff, all the Mayors of Greater Manchester were asked by Mark if he could visit their town and be shown, what we would consider, the good and the bad of our borough. Friday was Rochdale’s turn and we had a very short timescale to do this in.

 

 

After welcoming our visitors at Rochdale Town Hall, our first port of call was at Springhill Hospice. I was asked to give out certificates to 88 health and social care professionals who had completed The Palliative Care Education Passport Programme, so I thought it would be nice for Mark to firstly see the good of our town at the hospice by helping me hand these out.

I have always attended this event in the past as Assistant to the Portfolio Holder for Adult Care, so it was nice to attend as the mayor and properly congratulate the professionals.

After the presentation, we had a tour of the hospice and saw the high quality of care given there.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/130717/springhill-hospice-celebrate-palliative-care-achievements

 

 

 

I then took the High Sheriff and his wife to Kirkholt to see the new Gleeson Homes development on the Balderstone site. We saw four homes there, all two, three or four bedrooms, with the idea of showing the High Sheriff that there is hope for people to buy their own properties, especially first-time buyers who are looking to start a family. We then went to The Strand Community Hub to see how it operates and the services provided there such as a foodbank, advice centre, IT suites and conference rooms available for the community to use.

 

 

Hanson Springs was our next stop, as I wanted to show Mark a successful Rochdale business. This is another family run business that I have lots of admiration for, with it being a world leading spring manufacturer based in the borough. We were all fascinated to see how springs are produced.

 

 

As we ended the day back at Rochdale Town Hall, the High Sheriff presented me with a thank you letter for his tour and presented the Mayor’s Charity Appeal with a cheque of £1,000. The whole day was a lovely encounter, thank you so much to Mark and Gabrielle for joining me on the tour and taking an interest in our town.

Saturday (5 October), a celebration was held at Bowlee Pavilion organised by Councillor Sue Smith. Sue and her partner Terry have been pushing a project for a while to transform old changing rooms at Bowlee, which had been derelict for over 20 years, into a local community centre.

The event celebrated the new centre, and lots enjoyed potato pie, face painting, crafts and Cartwheel Arts entertained. Local young singers Paris and Savannah really impressed me as they sang a duet together. I was blown away by their skills, their voices were amazing; having done shows with children all of my life I can spot talent when I see it.

I wish Sue all the best in this endeavour, it was terrific seeing this place finally open for the public and being put to good use. Places for both the elderly and the young are what communities need.

 

 

Sunday, I attended Judges Sunday. This is a yearly ceremonial occasion at Manchester Cathedral that marks the beginning of the legal year. Attendees include court judges, solicitors, mayors of local authorities, police officers and other dignitaries.

A very powerful sermon was given by the Bishop of Leeds on Brexit and other world events. It was a super service with trumpets blaring as we all entered in our full regalia. This is one of the very few events that the mayor should traditionally attend.

 

 

To finish the week, on Sunday evening I went to a Foster Carers event at The Riverside in Whitworth organised by Rochdale Borough Council. This was to award and acknowledge local families who have fostered for years, with one of the women recognised as a fosterer for over 30 years.

All I found in the room was happiness as children played and families socialised. I cannot express how grateful I am that there are so many individuals in Rochdale willing to foster and change a child’s life.

I nearly got my face painted as Spiderman, but the queue was too long… I am determined to get my face painted before my mayoral year is up.

Thank you to Gail Hopper, the head of Rochdale council’s children services, for inviting me. It was a wonderful end to a very busy week.

 

 

Mayoral Invitations

​​​​The Mayor welcomes invitations to events held by local organisations and individuals. Due to demand, it may not be possible for the Mayor to attend every event he is invited to.

To invite the Mayor to your event please complete the Mayor attendance form and return it to the Mayor's Officer.

Visit: www.rochdale.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/mayors/Pages/mayoral-invitations.aspx

Email: mayoral@rochdale.gov.uk

Tel: 01706 924773