Letter from Parliament - Jim Dobbin MP

Jim Dobbin MP

I attended the ceremony in Rochdale Town Hall to celebrate the handing over of the Olympic Flag to the U.K. for the 2012 London Games. It was fitting that the Olympic flag was outside the Town Hall following the closing ceremony in Beijing.

It was a fantastic performance by the British athletes and even more significant for Heywood, following the truly magnificent swim by local girl Kerri Anne Payne. The whole of Heywood is justly proud of Keri Anne’s silver medal place; it has given the Town a real lift.

It takes years of dedication and hard work to succeed at this level. I was able to meet Keri Anne’s parents, Pat and Jim, at the Town Hall event. They are thrilled and excited and looking forward 2012 with the genuine hope of a repeat success.

The government has invested £4 Billion in developing sport in Education since 1997. This funding together with Lottery investment has certainly seen huge strides forward. I shall be encouraging continued investment in an area that helps to improve the standing and morale of our sports Stars.

Keri Anne has shown by her determination and example that nothing is beyond the reach of our local young people.

I met with John Rawthorne and Jon Ellis from the learning skills council, for a briefing on the proposals for education developments across the constituency.

I had met them previously, to suggest ideas that I would like to introduce to improve access to education courses locally. I was pleased to hear that the new sixth form college announced by the Government will include comprehensive coverage in Heywood and Middleton with access to adult and vocational courses locally, something that is missing at the moment.

The next few years will see new health facilities. New education provision and new additional sport provision I both towns, offering a much brighter future for local people of all age groups.

The people of Norden, Bamford and Castleton will of course also benefit through similar services that are also in the planning stage.

Middleton Pop stars Academy visited Heywood Civic to present a charity night, I attended as a guest of Ann Marshall who organises and produces their shows. They were joined by “Da Click” two very entertaining Rap artistes who are also from Middleton, along with special guests, “The Blues brothers.” It was super show enjoyed by all.

On Sunday Pat and I joined neighbours at the wedding of Musarat Shafi and Waheed Razaque at the Eastern Pearl in Longsight. It was a beautiful and colourful ceremony and we wish the Safi family a long and happy marriage.

I joined the charity dinner in support of the twin town Sahiwal link in the Town Hall. I was part of the Council in 1998 when this was set up. My memories of that period go back to Council Leader Richard Farnell, now working for Liverpool City Council, councillor Mary Moffat now deceased and of course Hamid Abdul Choudrey who was the driving influence. In those days we used to send fire engines, ambulances and waste vehicles which had finished their working lives here, to Sahiwal in Pakistan. The council also supported new housing, schools, health facilities and improved water systems. Doctors, nurses and former councillor John Beasley, spent time in Sahiwal examining and operating on eye conditions like cataracts. The council in those days had an active twinning links department that did a tremendous job developing links in education that benefited both Rochdale and their twin towns. Sadly that unit no longer exists although we still have links through the various friends’ organisations. I think there is a good case for recreating that formal support team in recognition of all the benefits that are available.

Sunday Aug 24th. After the Olympic ceremony, I joined my 3 year old and 1 year old Grandson’s joint birthday party at the home of my son Paddy in Whitworth.

What a nice way to end the week.