‘Our Northern Mills’

Touchstones Rochdale will be the venue for an event being staged by a newly formed group aiming to raise the profile of textile mills and the important history of their communities across the North of England.

The group, called ‘Our Northern Mills’ (ONM), has been awarded a £7,900 grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and will use the grant to kick-start a community based project entitled ‘Threads & Tales’.

The funding will enable volunteer-led ONM to work with certain key mills and communities in Greater Manchester enabling them to tell their own story and uncover their industrial past.

’All Our Stories’, is a one-off small grants programme launched in November last year – in support of BBC Two’s The Great British Story – was designed as an opportunity for everyone to get involved in their heritage.

With this HLF funding and support, ONM will work with, and support, community groups to carry out a range of activities that will help people explore, share and celebrate their local heritage.

Nigel Grizzard, Chief Executive Officer of ONM, said “We are really grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund for their welcome support for our project which will enable us to work with certain mills and their respective communities.”

Rochdale will be one of five communities ONM will visit over the course of the ‘Threads & Tales’ project, Wigan, Oldham, Manchester and Salford being the others.

In each location, ONM will hold a collaborative community workshop where local people can come together to share their stories and participate in a community documentary film.

Mr Grizzard said: “We welcome anyone interested in textile mills or local history to join us as we explore their local industrial heritage.

“At the end of the project, we will produce a short film bringing together all the footage and different ‘threads’ of historical information collected at each of the five communities to share the ‘tales’ of textile heritage across the area.

"If you have any photographs or memorabilia relating to local textile mills you will be invited to share them with ONM. Please let us know and bring them along to one of the workshops.”

The Touchstones event will take place on 2 October 2013 from 11.00am to 4.00pm.