Pioneers Museum wins Museums at Night competition

Rochdale Pioneers Museum

The Pioneers Museum has won the national Museums at Night Connect10 competition to bring acclaimed contemporary artist Susan Forsyth to Rochdale, to celebrate the "capital of co-operation".

A ‘Zusammen Choir Procession’, led by Susan Forsyth, and involving the whole community will take place around Rochdale Town Centre. The procession route will take in St Chad’s Church, moving through Broadfield Park, to Touchstones Arts and Heritage Centre, along the Esplanade, passing the iconic Rochdale Town Hall, travelling up Yorkshire Street and finally ending at the Toad Lane Conservation area, home of St Mary’s in the Baum Church and the Rochdale Pioneers Museum.

Zusammen means ‘together’, and the candlelit procession is fitting with the Pioneers story and struggles during the 1840’s where 28 people worked together to change their lives by opening their store selling pure food at fair prices and honest weights and measures. The store opened on 21 December 1844 and had to be lit by candle light because the gas company refused to supply the Pioneers with gas.

The procession will involve local school children, individuals, community groups, choirs and musicians performing songs that highlight the legendary tales of St Chad’s Goblin, John Bright’s campaign to end slavery, the mysterious tale of The Baum rabbit, Touchstones, the Rochdale Pioneers and the global co-operative movement.

The Connect10 competition invited museums up and down the country to bid for one of 10 leading artists to stage an innovative night time event during the Museums at Night Festival being held across the UK during the evenings of Thursday, Friday and Saturday 16 – 18 May.