Kingsway stages community showcase at Odeon Cinema

Community organisations and schools from across the Borough are coming together at a special showcase event organised by the Kingsway Partnership.

On Thursday 24 April, a series of community and school projects funded by the Kingsway Partnership will be displayed at Rochdale’s Odeon Cinema. The event will be launched by young performers from the Middleton Popstars Academy and the Burnside Drama Group.

The Middleton Popstars will be premiering their ‘Kingsway Rap’ before taking it on tour around local schools. The rap is set to music mixed by the ‘Popstars’ themselves and is accompanied by a hip-hop dance. They’ll be joined in the Odeon reception area by the Burnside Drama Group who will also be performing a Kingsway-themed piece for the first time.

A display of Kingsway-related artwork, created by adults from Falinge Art House will also be on show in the reception area

The centrepiece of the event will be the screening of Kingsway’s community engagement DVD, which will feature a number of local initiatives organised by the Kingsway team over the last 12 months.

Speaking at the event will be executive director of Rochdale MBC, Andy Zuntz, chief executive of Rochdale Development Agency, John Hudson and teacher from St Peter’s C of E Primary School in Rochdale, Miss Alex McGarry, who will talk about Kingsway’s schools liaison work and the ways in which it has helped her pupils.

There will be an opportunity for teachers and community group leaders attending the event to find out how the pupils and residents that they work with can benefit from Kingsway Business Park through free training, transport and job opportunities for both present and future generations.

Andy Zuntz says: “We held a similar event last year and had some really positive feedback from it. The Odeon day gives us the opportunity to let people from across the borough know what we’ve been doing in their communities and what we can offer them going forward. It also gives the community groups who’ve put so much effort into developing their creative projects a chance to showcase their talents.”

Shamshad Ash from Falinge Art House explains: “We really wanted Falinge residents to learn about and benefit from the opportunities at Kingsway. The Kingsway art completed by Falinge Art House is a fantastic way of communicating important information to the community. Our Kingsway project has had a successful cascading effect, with members of the group passing on what they have learnt about Kingsway to friends and family, who in turn have done the same. Our art work will be on display at an exhibition later this year.”

The community day will run from 10am until 12pm at the Odeon Rochdale, Sandbrook Park, Sandbrook Way.