Christmas message from the Mayor of Rochdale, Mike Holly

Mayor of Rochdale, Councillor Mike Holly

A Christmas message from the Mayor of Rochdale, Mike Holly.

I hope you all have an enjoyable and relaxing festive holiday. Christmas is a time for family and friends and to celebrate the birthday of Jesus, Prince of Peace. In these difficult times may I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful and healthy New Year.

Since my last monthly column, there has been a continued focus on the celebrations leading up to Christmas. We have attended a number of Christmas Carol Services, all of them wonderful in their own way. There were three concerts in Manchester Cathedral alone, a Caribbean and African concert, the Greater Manchester Police Carol Concert and the LGBTQ+ concert. Three completely different styles of concert and each lovely in its own way.

We also attended a concert in the Bridgewater Hall for Young Lives versus Cancer, the Salvation Army Concert in the Citadel, where I was presented with an unexpected cheque for the Mayor’s Charity, the Rochdale Music Service concert in St.Mary’s in the Baum and, last but not least, the Mayor’s Civic Carol service in St. Chad’s. It was a lovely service, where I spoke about Peace and Christmas and was indulged by Reverend Anne who allowed me to choose some of my favourite carols. It was wonderful to see so many visiting dignitaries and, particularly, a large number of former Mayors and Consorts. But the pride of place went to my ten year old granddaughter, Amy, who sang solo the first verse of Silent Night so beautifully and with so much confidence.

We attended the Veterans’ Christmas lunch, the Paras’ Christmas party and the Pensioners’ Christmas lunch, all very enjoyable and with unexpected donations to the Mayor’s Charity.

On non Christmas themes, I attended two business visits in my continued effort to support some of the excellent businesses based in our borough:  Dunster’s Farm, which supply ambient, chilled and frozen food to schools and businesses throughout the North, and 1st Contracts that supplies reactive maintenance and electrical services nationally, particularly to shops and supermarket chains.

I handed out GCSE certificates and prizes at the Rochdale Islamic Academy for Girls and attended a passing out Parade at Woodlands Community Primary in Heywood where I presented passing out medals to the children. The school has been working with the military school to boost the confidence, teamwork, resilience and determination of its children, which, from my perspective, certainly seemed to work. What a great idea!

Finally, to end on a Christmas note, we heard the choir from the Sacred Heart RC Primary School sing carols and festive songs at Morrisons store on Kingsway at their Christmas Joy Day. They were so confident and enthusiastic. Lovely!