Former Mayor welcomes Mayoral lamps outside of Rochdale Town Hall

Mayoral lamps outside former Mayor of Rochdale Allan Whitehead's home

Former Mayor of Rochdale, Allan Whitehead has welcomed plans to reinstall the former Mayoral lamps outside of Rochdale Town Hall.

Mr Whitehead, who was Mayor of Rochdale between 1987 and 1988, said: “I am delighted that these lights will be on show outside of the Town Hall main entrance for all to see. It was a very pleasant experience to see the light outside of your home with everyone who walked by being made aware that the Mayor of Rochdale resided there.”

The Victorian Mayoral lights were usually removed on the night of the Mayor Making ceremony and erected outside of the new Mayor’s home for when they returned. Mr Whitehead decided to have the lights removed from outside of his home three weeks before the end of his term to allow them to be refurbished before being placed outside of the new Mayor’s home.

Before his time as Mayor ended, Mr Whitehead had half size lamps made similar to the design of the Mayoral lamps that he placed outside of his
home after he had completed his term of office.

Mr Whitehead said: “Having seen how the full size lights had made it so much lighter when we came home, I decided that we would require this kind of light on a permanent basis, and as the lights were connected to our household supply I enquired if the Youth Training Scheme (YTS) would like the task.”

The lamps where then placed outside of Mr Whitehead's home in May 1988 and were used for a number of years until they had to be removed due to being beyond repair.

Mr Whitehead added: “When the wood started to rot after about 15 years, I made stands for the globes and they now light up part of our back garden.”

http://rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/newsheadlines/93538/historic-mayoral-lamps-being-restored-to-former-glory