Former Labour Councillor Eileen Kershaw dies

by Brian Bamford
Political activist & teacher first elected as a Labour councillor in Rochdale in 1964

WHEN I first met Eileen Kershaw at her home in Whitworth,  in 2014 she hesitated before letting me in saying, with a cheeky smile and a twinkle, that she shouldn't really be letting strangers into the house. 

I was there to get an interview about the then recently published book by Simon Danzcuk and Matthew Baker 'Smile for the Camera' a post-hoc consideration of Cyril Smith's life in politics in Rochdale and beyond. 

She had served for 33 years on Whitworth town council, Rossendale council and Lancashire county council.  But she had long been associated with Labour politicians in Rochdale and had been close to Cyril Smith throughout much of his political life, even after he converted to the Liberal Party and stood as a candidate for that party in the late 1960s and became the Rochdale Liberal MP in 1972, and he kept the job until 1992 when he stood down.

I met with Eileen on several occasions after that and we discussed the difficulties relating to the contents of the Danzcuk book.  Eileen had long known David Bartlett and John Walker who in May 1979, had first published in Rochdale's Alternative Paper [RAP], the revelations about Cyril Smith's role in the management of the hostel for teenage boys at Cambridge House in Rochdale.  According to the RAP account their was strong evidence that Cyril Smith had abused his powers as secretary of the hostel.  All this was well covered at the time in Private Eye, but the Eye was significantly the only main stream publication to run the story in 1979.  Even the local press; the Rochdale Observer and the Manchester Evening News managed to look the other way.

At the time Eileen Kershaw accepted that Cyril may have behaved inappropriately at Cambridge House, but she didn't accept that the more serious claims against Cyril, who had been a governor at Knowl View, had been established.

Eileen Kershaw, was the mother of radio DJs and broadcasters Liz and Andy Kershaw, was aged 85.  The former teacher who was first elected as a Labour councillor in 1964 to represent Balderstone on the old Rochdale county borough council.

Eileen also became a governor at Knowl View*, a residential school for boys, where Cyril Smith had for a time served as a governor.  She told me that she was unaware of any untoward behavour by Cyril at the school while she was serving there as a governor.

In 2014, following the surfacing of historic reports going back to the 1990s, beginning with the events covered in the 1991 report by Phil Shepherd entitled the 'Shepherd Report' about the risk of AIDS owing the alleged sexual activity between the lads and the claim of them 'cottaging' with outsiders.   

Eileen told me that she had never cared for the then Rochdale Labour MP, Simon Danczuk, and though she considered Mr Danczuk's book 'Smile for the Camera' on Cyril Smith was 'well written in a literary sense'.  She did suggest to me, correctly as it turned out, that she didn't believe Mr. Danczuk had actually written the book himself, and she did, even then, express some doubts about some details in the contents of the book.  But later she went on to write that 'much of the content is questionable'.   And she concluded in a letter to the Rochdale Observer that 'the real aim of [Danzcuk] writing such a tome seems to be financial',

In the 1950s, I had been taught science at Brimrod Secondary Modern School by Eileen's first husband, Jack Kershaw, a fan of Rugby League, and I knew something about the family second-hand through the former editor of RAP John Walker.   We could relate to each other through those experiences and she was very keen to talk about local politics, but she described herself as having Irish blood in her veins which perhaps made her more passionate than the your average English politician. 


*   Knowl View School was a residential school for boys with emotional and behavioural difficulties that opened in 1969 and, after a period of temporary closure, closed permanently in 1996. It was built and run by Rochdale Borough Council and had a Board of Governors. The school catered for boys across an age range of 7 to 16 years old. Cyril Smith was said to have been part of a local campaign to see it established and was present at its opening.
Early research identified that a report (only publicly available in redacted form) was written in 1991 by Phil Shepherd, an employee of the Rochdale AIDS Unit, who identified the fact that boys at the school were at risk of AIDS. The report (which became known to the Inquiry as the ‘Shepherd report’ {1}) detailed concerns about sexual activity at the school, including ‘cottaging’ in and around public toilets as well as boys being forced into sex with others. The report was sent to Rochdale’s Director of Education, Mrs Diana Cavanagh. These events attracted press reporting in 1995.^[1]
In 1995, the press reported that Mrs Cavanagh had asked Mr Shepherd not to circulate his report further. Press reporting also suggested that concerns about the children living at Knowl View had first been raised by a Dr Alison Fraser, a child psychiatrist at Rochdale’s Birch Hill Hospital.  There was also speculation in the press about a report (which did not appear to have been publicly available) by Valerie Mellor, a consultant clinical psychologist, which dated back to February 1992.  It was reported that Mrs Mellor had said there was no doubt that up to a quarter of the pupils at the 48-place school had been involved in serious sexual incidents, the activity had continued over a very long period of time and it was difficult to believe that this behaviour had not come to the attention of at least some members of staff.

{1}  The Shepherd report was also sent to the acting Director of Social Services and to the then Rochdale conservative councillor, Pamela Hawton in her capacity on a relevant committee.  The Mellor report was written as a result of her being sent into the school at the instigation of Diana Cavanagh in response to the Shepherd Report.

Karen Danczuk told to 'Pack it in'!

In a comment on the post below entitled 'Karen's Full Frontal Feminism Derided', Miriam asked to see the copy 'of Hon Alderman Eileen Kershaw's full letter' in last Saturday's Rochdale Observer:

Dear Editor,

'SO, you want to know what other women feel about Karen Danczuk's behaviour, particularly in view of the fact that she has sought office in the town as an elected representative on the borough council, a position which has always commanded and generally earned respect from the electorate, those people who voted for someone they thought had thorough decent values and motives whose main objective was to unfailingly serve, represent and respect the needs of the ordinary citizen... 

'They were to be the leaders of the community, impeccable in their conduct and an example to all at times in the way they behaved.

'They were judged to be a “cut above the rest” because of their commitment to serving the town and its people for very little reward except earning the title of “councilor”, which once upon a time carried a great deal of weight and prestige. 

'Not any more it seems. 

'Do and sat what you like under your civic cloak.  Make a mockery of the values that the early pioneers of social endeavour and justice stood for. 

'I think of the wonderful socialist women who taught me the values of loyalty and hard work in the early sixties. 

'Women who turned up religously night after night to work and encourage yound people like myself, then in my twenties, who they belived had an inherent right to discuss and make decisions alongside their male colleagues, who were in those days so much a majority in the council chamber. 

'They campaigned for nursery education, better working conditions in the mills and workshops, equal pay and equal rights for all, good quality housing, particularly after the war and the right for all to have a vote. 

'I've stood on the market with them in, on one occasion, 3-foot of snow collecting signatures for more nursery provision in order that working mums may go out to work with peace of mind. 

'They were proud, thoroughly  respectable working women who sought no personal reward.   They simply worked solidly for the community without feeling the need to expose their anatomy or demean themselves for any reason or in anyway. 

'They were always smart, some of them very attractive, without it detracting from their behaviour, which was always refined, genteel and articulate. 

'They were generally  assertive, sometimes bossy and occasionally hard to please... 

'Manners were impeccable.  There was a strict code of dress and behaviour when canvassing. 

'Having been brought up the hard way by women of this calibre is it any wonder that I'm known to be a tyrant with regard to to dealing properly with Joe Public. 

'It's got me through 50 years  of public service,and to thank for it I have people people who are now only memories, like Annie Taylor, Bertha Radcliffe, Clara Gordon, May Kaufman, Alice Cholton, Florence Allcroft and Evelyn Thorton. 

'They must now be turning in their graves at the antics of Karen Danczu. 

'Pack it in, Karen.  She is a disgrace and a permanent insult to all those intelligent women, industrious women who may be long gone but also who will never be forgotten. 

'This town can then get back to its orgins of respectability and pioneering work for the sake of all who really care. 

'Just don't stand for election again.  The people deserve better.' 

Hon. Alderman Eileen Kershaw.