For the past six weeks I’ve been in a wonderland, says Geoff Butterworth

Bob Chadwick, John Kay, Geoff Butterworth, Lorenzo O'Reilly and Simon Danczuk MP

At a special ceremony to mark the end of the Geoff Butterworth Fine Arts Exhibition last Friday morning, presided over by Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk, Rochdale Online Director, John Kay announced that a total of £1,500 had been raised from the art sales and the raffle.

Geoff said of his six-week one-man show at Rochdale Exchange: “It’s been a fantastic opportunity for me. Any artist needs wall-space on which he can put his work in front of the public and this exhibition did exactly that for me.

“The gallery area was spacious and well lit and the walls were perfect to hang my pictures on. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. In fact, for the past six weeks I’ve been in a wonderland.

“I’ve previously had an exhibition of my work at Stockport Art Gallery, which I thought was my ultimate showcase, but Rochdale Exchange has just topped it and really helped people to put a face to my name.

“Everything went so well that I’d love to do another exhibition at Rochdale Exchange at some time in the near future.”

Geoff added: “I had over 70 pieces of my work on display, including paintings and prints and fulfilled my aim of actually working on paintings while I was there. I finished two, one of which shows Rochdale Town Hall and the nearby roundabout as it was in the 1960s and the other is a winter scene of the region I did as a commission for client in London.

“I’m delighted to say that I sold quite a number of pieces of my work. This enabled me to pass on 20 per cent of the proceeds to Childline, which is a very good cause.

“My original painting of Rochdale Town Hall, worth £500, which was first prize in the Rotary raffle, was won by a person from Royton and the winners of the three limited edition prints, which showed Blackpool Beach, Castlecombe in Wiltshire and Stoodley Pike in the Pennines and were the runners-up prizes, also went to local people.”

Exhibition organiser John Kay, who is a past president of the Rotary Club, said: “I had been looking at ways to raise funds for ChildLine when I came up with the idea for the pop-up art gallery at the Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre where my own offices are based.

“Geoff is a fantastic artist and it can’t hurt making sure he has more local exposure and to a bigger audience.

"The Rochdale Exchange management have been excellent and worked with us to utilise the available space.

“The six-week exhibition has been superb. It has enabled us to promote the work of an excellent local artist, bring a free art show to the people of Rochdale of the kind that they don’t normally get the chance to see and at the same time to raise some funds for Childline.

“From the opening day the exhibition has been very busy and hundreds of people must have enjoyed looking at Geoff’s work.

“From the commission Geoff agreed to give us on sales of his work during the show and raffle tickets for which he offered some fantastic prizes I’m delighted to say we’ve raised a total of £1,500.”

Lorenzo O’Reilly, Rochdale Exchange Manager, said: “The exhibition has been just stunning and the quality of the paintings on display was incredible. I feel quite privileged to have had him exhibit with us.

“It really was a chance to see the work of a top artist without having to go to an art gallery, and a big bonus is that £1,500 has been raised for the excellent cause of Childline.”

Geoff, 62, who lives in Whitworth, has been a professional artist since 1980 and took up painting after a serious motor bike crash which left him unable to work.

Although he prefers the medium of water colour, he also occasionally uses acrylic when painting his pictures, a number of which depict famous scenes in and around the Rochdale area.