ROCHDALE: THE LAST RITES*

 Is this the end for Rochdale Market?
by Trevor Hoyle

MY ten pen’orth, Brian, for what it’s worth, is that we’re decades too late to do anything about reviving Rochdale’s market. I have fond memories from the 50s of both outdoor and indoor markets — the latter especially where I used to buy ninepenny SF paperbacks from the book stall. A very warm and welcoming place, especially on a winter’s day.  Somebody told me that Todmorden’s market is very much how ours used to be, and that it’s a pleasure to visit. We tore it down and ripped out the heart of the town.

For some reason Bury has kept its market going over the years and even has coach parties coming from places like Stoke and  towns in Yorkshire to spend a day there. Any hopes that Rochdale can emulate that is pure fairyland.  When the council boasted that the Metro would bring in floods of eager visitors, my immediate thought was that the Metro would make it easier for Rochdale folk to escape to Manchester and Oldham. 

A few wind- and rainswept stalls on the Butts was never going to succeed, any fool could see that. A town centre that can’t sustain a McDonalds is on a hiding to nothing.  When I say I don’t know what the answer is, I’m really saying there is no answer.  We’re building, for god’s sake, another shopping centre when we have two that are half-empty to begin with — so then we’ll have THREE half-empty shopping centres (more like threequarters empty) which the rate-payers will be paying for for the next forty years. It’s madness. 

Over ten years ago (when I was involved with saving Touchstones from being massively underfunded by Link4Life) I put forward a strategy for the town based on its heritage of the Co-op, cotton and Gracie Fields. The idea was to turn our magnificent town hall into a cultural heritage centre with exhibits telling the story of cotton and the industrial revolution. Included would be a Gracie Fields Experience showing off all  the artefacts held in the museum archives of Gracie’s stage costumes, films, original recordings and her life story (like the one already in Touchstones but on a much grander scale). Also there would be a smaller John Bright display showing the furniture and books we have in the archive.

Alongside this you’d have the Pioneers store on Toad Lane — but greatly enlarged to include several shops and stalls done up as they were in the 1800s with shopkeepers dressed in costume.  The idea would be to focus on the cultural and historical romance of Rochdale’s past and let the commercial side take care of itself. If people started coming to experience it — via advertising and word-of-mouth — this would quickly feed through to shops and cafes opening up to cater for the visitors. The point here is not to build the shopping centre first — there are shopping centres everywhere — but to launch a genuine attraction that people want to visit and then tell their friends about.

Someone asked me if enough people would be interested in such a venture. I pointed out that the ‘grey’ pound of pensioners and retired folk amounts to billions in this country, and just such a historical heritage of cotton mills and Gracie Fields would appeal to that generation.  But it would have to be on a grand scale, worth the visit, designed and staged by a professional company, and not just a few tatty exhibits inside dusty glass cases. 

Anyway, it’s probably too late now to try this idea, we should have done it 10 or 15 years ago when I first suggested it.        

* Last rites - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Last_rites

The last rites, in Roman Catholicism, are the last prayers and ministrations given to an individual of the faith, when possible, shortly before death. The last rites go by various names. They may be administered to those awaiting execution, mortally injured, or terminally ill.

‎Roman Catholic Church · ‎Orthodox and Eastern ...

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'Smile As You Go' with Simon Danczuk

Dust-up at Danczuk's Deli!

IT was not quite a performance akin to our Gracie and 'Sing as you Go', but last Friday night's book reading at Danczuk's Deli in Rochdale was something of a treat. The event, part of the Rochdale Festival of Literature and Ideas, was a book reading of excerpts from the forthcoming paperback
version of 'Smile for the Camera: The Double Life of Cyril Smith' by Simon Danczuk and Matthew Baker which we were told will be out next March. Matthew solemnly did the readings, and Simon followed up with 'there is much more to come out!' about Cyril Smith and child abuse.

We were told by Simon that it was difficult for people who had suffered thus to share their experiences: that they had spoken to a middle-aged man in London who said he had been abused as a young boy when Cyril took him to the National Liberal Club, and that the lad later 'went off the
rails'; of a former prisoner at Buckley Hall (young offender's prison) who had been abused by Cyril; and a boy from Knowl View who had also been similarly abused. We were told that the consequences of this was far reaching for the victims or survivors as Simon insisted on calling
them.

People at the book reading quite naturally asked 'Was there a cover-up?'.
Simon said: 'People were colluding to see that no light was shone upon it [and there is much more to come out!'. Though as we shall see later Simon is equally eager to make sure that no one shines a light on just how reliable his version of Cyril's activities really is.  Simon then said: 'The good news is that both front benches (Labour and Conservative) are now in favour of the mandatory reporting of child abuse (by people in responsible positions in relation to children).' and that 'the Chair of the (over-arching inquiry into historic child abuse) must have credibility now that we have got rid out Butler-Sloss.'

(Two days later in the Mail of Sunday, Simon Danczuk wrote a piece entitled '...she must stand aside', in which he argued that Fiona Woolf the new chair should resign from the Government's child abuse enquiry.)

Someone asked: 'Are you saying the police protected Cyril or the Party?'

We were told: 'It was not the front-line police (like Tasker) but some (higher up?) were frightened because Cyril had a big mouth' and he may have implicated others in the establishment who were behaving inappropriately. Hence, we were left to believe that there was a network people in power who went out of their way to protect Cyril.

Simon Danczuk may be right but the jury is still out of these matters, and any resolution is in the long grass and we won't have any real answers before the General Election in May next year. Alternatively it may all be an overactive imagination at work.

Another questioner pointed out that 'Cyril was a Big Fish' in Rochdale.

When I suggested that 'Cyril was a Big Fish in the Labour Party at the time he was abusing teenage boys at Cambridge House in the early 1960s', both Matthew Baker and Simon Danczuk disputed this arguing that he was a big fish on the Council but not in the Labour Party.

When I asked: 'As this is a Literature Festival what literary tradition did their book "Smile for the Camera" fit into because I found it hard to grasp the  research methodology used by the authors'- such as "how many victims were interviewed?; were tape-recordings taken?; were any transcripts kept?'

Simon Danczuk told me that he wouldn't answer these simple methodological questions despite being asked on several occasions in the past. No light to be shone here it seems!

Shortly afterwards I was shoved out of the door of Danczuk's Deli. 

Fatty Farnell Snubs 'Spoof Party'

in bid to keep up 'Standards' 

FATTY Farnell (still with his bad back but minus his hearing-aid), who became the leader of  Rochdale Council after overthrowing its previous occupant, Colin Lambert, in a brutal democratic coup within the local Labour Party after the local elections last May, last night presided over the Full Council meeting and denounced the newly formed Rochdale First Group as a 'Spoof Party',' and as having no credibility.  Both Councillor Farnell and his Conservative colleague, Ashley Dearnley, the leader of the Rochdale Tories, belittled Rochdale First whose membership consists of its leader Councillor Shefali Farooq Ahmed, and her husband Farooq Ahmed.  

 

Cheekily Mrs. Shefali Farooq had put down an amendment to Agenda Item 10 entitled 'Review of the Political Balance', which was seconded by the other Rochdale First Group member, Mr. Farooq himself.  Their amendment was lost, receiving all of two votes, after Fatty reminded councillors that Mr. Farooq had fallen foul of the law last January by 'threatening' his Labour Party colleague, Councillor Neil Emmot, in an altercation on Cheetham Street, Rochdale.  Mr. Farooq had allegedly called Mr. Emmot a 'queer little arse-licker' and told him to 'watch his back'.  Mr. Farooq, last night told Northern Voices that he was definitely going to appeal the public order conviction.   

Given Mr. Farooq's conviction, Fatty Farnell denounced Rochdale First Group's naughty demand to be allocated places on the 'Overview & Scrutiny Committee', the 'Employment & Equalities Committee' and the 'Standards Committee' in order to achieve political balance.  Given Mr Farooq's recent run-in with the law, Fatty said that the Rochdale First Group had never stood as such in a democratic 'election in this borough'. Fatty clearly regarded it as outrageous that, with Councillor Farooq Ahmed having a bit of a 'history', this newly formed party, led by Councillor Shefali Farooq Ahmed, should have the audacity to expect to be awarded a place on the Standards Committee.

Bad Headlines 

Councillor Duckworth raised the recent problem of 'bad headlines' for Rochdale and the need of the Council to promoted the good news about 'our town' such as the town's medieval bridges still encased in concrete beneath the town centre; Rochdale's splendid Town Hall which many would regard as something 'to die for'; the proposed statue to commemorate our Gracie, but not Turner Brother asbestos factory or since November 2012, Cyril Smith.  





'Heritage at Risk' 

Questioned about the peril to four conservation areas in Rochdale identified as 'at risk' by English Heritage, Councillor Biant, Portfolio Holder for Public Health & Regulation, was not able to say what kind of risks were at stake as she had not yet read the report which would be published by English Heritage in the Autumn of 2014.  The areas identified as 'at risk' included Rochdale Town Centre, Middleton Town Centre, Wardle and Castleton (South) Conservation Areas. 

Turner Brothers' Site Awaits Advice from Lawyers

There were no questions on the controversial former asbestos factory Turners Bros., as though Building Control had had talks with 'interested parties', including the owners of the site, which has been the subject of concern for years owing to persistent vandalism and arson, the Council is still waiting for further legal advice.  In this case it is the Health & Safety Executive that is the 'lead enforcement authority on this site with regards to asbestos removal – and not the Council'. 

Blue Plaques for Gracie Fields

Plans are continuing to build a statue to commemorate Gracie Fields who was a celebrated singer in the last century and who was born on Molesworth Street, Rochdale.  She came from a poor background to become a famous film star and distinguished singer.  The Council aims to put up eight blue plaques to pinpoint key locations in her life as part of a heritage trail.   One hopes they have more luck with this venture than they did when they put up a blue plaque for Cyril Smith in 2011.