Magistrates create lasting memento

Photo: Journeaux

Rochdale magistrates marking the court's closure

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The town’s magistrates, both past and present, have joined together for a final photograph ahead of the closure of Rochdale Magistrates’ Court next month.

The Court, sited next to the town’s police station, will close its doors on 21 December as part of government plans to deliver a ‘modern, efficient justice system.’

To create a lasting memento, the court’s magistrates posed for a photograph, taken by Rochdale Online, on the steps leading to the Great Hall in Rochdale Town Hall.

Deputy Chairwoman of the Rochdale, Middleton and Heywood bench, June Shires, a magistrate of 20 years, said: “We wanted a memento of Rochdale, of the people who have administered justice in Rochdale.”

The photograph will be on display at Rochdale Magistrates’ Court until the closure and will then be displayed in the Bury Court House in the new year.

The court is one of 93 Magistrates’ Courts and 49 County Courts across the country that is set to close.

The work of Rochdale Magistrates’ Court will now be merged with Bury Magistrates’ Court.

Ms Shires, who will continue in her role as Deputy Chairwoman for the new Bury and Rochdale Bench in January, said of the closure: “We have never been happy with it. We are local people dealing with local justice in the community and now Rochdale, Middleton and Heywood will lose that and justice will be administered in Bury.”

The new Bury and Rochdale Bench will become the second largest bench in Greater Manchester with Manchester City being the largest.