Mayor’s Column: Councillor Billy Sheerin

Date published: 06 February 2021

Councillor Billy Sheerin was sworn in as the Mayor of Rochdale at the annual Mayor Making Ceremony on Wednesday 22 May 2019.

Usually, the mayoral year comes to an end the following May, but due to the coronavirus crisis which resulted in remaining engagements being cancelled and his mayoral year subsequently cut short, Councillor Sheerin was offered the chance to stay on as Mayor of Rochdale for another year (May 2020 – May 2021).

This column focuses on some of his highlights from the past month.

This time last year the mayoral engagements eased off after a busy Christmas and New Year. This year is very much the same, but the easing off began nearly a year ago in March 2020! A major casualty has been support for the Mayor’s Charity. Featuring 100 questions to test your knowledge, you still have time to enter my Mayor’s Charity Quiz and win a cash prize up to £80!

In an effort to continue fundraising for local charitable causes, the annual quiz is available online this year and costs just £1 to take part. It’s a cheap and cheerful way to test your general knowledge during the current lockdown:

• www.peoplesfundraising.com/event/mayors-charity-quiz

I’m very thankful to Wing Commander David Forbes DL MBE who has set himself the mission of walking 500 miles by the end of April to raise funds for my charity appeal which includes Springhill Hospice, Parkinson’s UK, Leukaemia UK, Hydropool, Shopmobility, M6 Theatre and other local charities and groups.

David is an amazing fellow who has been a member of the Mayor’s Charity Committee for several years. He has always been supportive of charities and for him to take up the mantle like Captain Tom is tremendous.

David has such a big heart and I’m so pleased he is doing this for the Mayor’s Charity. I hope people will support him by visiting this link:

• www.gofundme.com/f/davids-walk-for-charity

Read more: David Forbes walked 175 miles – and now he’ll walk 500 morePublished: 30 January 2021

Lynn [the Mayoress] and I made the difficult decision to spend Christmas at home alone together in December and I must say, it was probably one of the worst Christmases we have ever had, not seeing our beautiful family. Of course, virtual contact was made via Zoom, which was good fun, but in all honesty rather sad. Seeing our grown-up children and grandchildren made us realise just how much we miss them all. The house was very quiet… too quiet. I really don’t want another Christmas day like that one ever again.

However, we still went through the traditional motions of Christmas together as we tried to do all the things we would normally do with our family on the special day. We got up early, stuffed the turkey and banged it in the oven before eight o’clock - I did wonder why the Mayoress purchased a bird that was for 8 to 10 people? It was then time for the Christmas morning Mass (minus carol singing) before going back home to hot mulled wine and bacon butties.

Our festive meal was delicious, the Mayoress excelled, and then it was TV time with the Queens speech at 3.00pm, followed by excitedly opening our presents, just the two of them. Our presents to each other these days are practical ones, sadly not the romantic ones we used to receive… getting older has a lot to answer for.

Just prior to Christmas I had to cancel the Mayor's Civic Carol service which was the very last appointment in the diary for the year. I had been putting off cancelling this wonderful event until the very last minute, hoping that some form of normality would happen in the festive season. As an alternative, I am instead planning to have a Service of Thanksgiving just prior to my term of office coming to an end in May 2021. Instead of Christmas Carols, we will sing seasonable Hymns, eat something like hot dogs instead of mince pies and drink prosecco rather than mulled wine, so I am looking forward to that going ahead (fingers crossed).

Rochdale Town Hall has now closed for major renovations and a Mayor’s Parlour has been temporally set up in the council’s Number One Riverside building. An empty office has been converted into an acceptable room where I will be able to invite important visitors to the town. Obviously, it doesn’t have the grandeur of the usual parlour, which is steeped in history. All the past mayors will tell you what a wonderful privilege and experience it was, to have been able to meet many people from all walks of life in there.

The Registrar Office has also had to be relocated due to the Town Hall renovation, now situated in Number One Riverside in an ultra-modern setting. This is where the Mayor will conduct Citizenship Ceremonies alongside appointed Deputy Lieutenants - the Mayor representing the Government and the Deputy Lieutenant, the Queen. There are so many changes happening at once in Number One Riverside. Dippy the Diplodocus has sadly moved on, and the ground floor is now being used for vaccinations against Covid-19. It certainly is proving to be a versatile building.
 

Read more: Contractor appointed as the first phase of town hall restoration gets underwayPublished: 06 January 2021

Speaking of vaccinations, myself, being 76, and my wife received our Covid-19 vaccines at Riverside on 22 January. As I'm writing this, more than 37,000 people in the borough have now received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and there isn’t one person I have spoken to that hasn’t praised the work doctors, nurses and volunteers are doing at the vaccination sites. I applaud each and every one of them, they’re amazing.
 

Read more: 37,000 people have received first Covid-19 vaccinationPublished: 05 February 2021

It was Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January. Last year, a ceremony was held in Littleborough with a Vicar, Imam, and a Rabbi, however due to Covid-19 it was not possible to hold a public event in Rochdale this year. As an alternative, the Borough of Rochdale Multi-Faith Partnership, supported by Rochdale Safer Communities Partnership, produced a digital film to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and other genocides past and present, and I was asked to be a part of it.

In my own time, I visited the Holocaust memorial stone in Rochdale’s memorial gardens. Inspired by the film Schindler’s List, I placed 8 pebbles on the headstone. It’s vitally important that we do not forget the genocide that happened at Auschwitz and other concentration camps and it must be made known to future generations just how inhuman man can be to man.
 

Read more: Rochdale Multi-Faith Partnership release short film to commemorate Holocaust Memorial DayPublished: 27 January 2021

Not only was I asked to be part of the local commemorations, but I took part in a video with the other Greater Manchester mayors too. This made me a little sad, as out of the 10 mayors I only recognised three, who had done the same as me and stayed on as mayor for another year. Usually, we would have had many get togethers and attended several events by now.

One thing I was pleased to read are the plans to create a brand-new cycle lane in Castleton now being out for public consultation, with residents able to review the plans and provide feedback to Rochdale Council. Castleton is my ward as a councillor, and it is very important for locals to provide their feelings on this. I hope it will be a great thing for the whole village and will encourage more people to get moving.
 

Read more: Consultation opens for Castleton cycle lanePublished: 25 January 2021