Cleansing the Stables?

by Les May

ON the evening of the local elections a lady who had spent the afternoon watching the antics of two Tory ‘number takers’ at a Castleton ward polling station described them to me as ‘a couple of daft lads’.  Later that day when the votes were counted one of those ‘daft lads’ came close to unseating the Labour incumbent, Aasim Rashid, whose majority was only 41 votes which was by far the smallest in any ward. How could this have happened?

It too easy to point to the report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and the subsequent resignation of Richard Farnell.  But I believe the problem goes much deeper.   Farnell made the mistake of supporting the gone, but unlamented, ex MP Simon Danczuk, for far too long.  From the last day of 2015 until Labour refused to endorse his candidature in mid 2017 Danczuk had the support of Farnell and his cronies, which included some of the people who still hold the strings of power in the Rochale Labour group.  As a result the present regime just looks like ‘Farnell Lite’.

Danczuk brought to Rochdale an unpleasant style of politics.  If Labour in Rochdale is to avoid any more election night scares in what should be a safe Labour seat, it is going to have to show that it has broken completely with the past.  That means clearing out of the seats of power all the councillors tainted by too close an association with Danczuk.  Are they prepared to do it or will short term ‘horse trading’ open the door to the Tories in the long run?

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Castleton Councillor Collects Stipend Top-up

Council Leader says he has 'confidence' in Aasim Rashid

CASTLETON Councillor, Aasim Rashid, found himself under attack in the Rochdale Council Chamber on Wednesday night from the Lib-Dem leader, Andy Kelly, for snatching the stipend top-up he and others in the Labour and Tory parties voted through for themselves in December 2016.

At that time the Manchester Evening News headlined a report on this decision:  'Councillors booed as they vote to accept a 34% pay rise'.

Some councillors who voted for the pay hike said at the time that they wouldn't take the money.  One such was Castleton Councillor Aasim Rashid.  Yet, on the 19th, March 2018, the Rochdale Online Blog revealed:  'Labour councillor Aasim Rashid, from Castleton, who promised, “I’m not taking even a single penny increase in my allowance”, took the increase.'.

That's why at tonight's full Council meeting a flustered Labour leader, councillor Allen Brett had to declare: 'Councillor Rashid has my total confidence, he has my backing'

Councillor Brett also said 'Councillor Rashid didn't know that he had taken the extra allowance.'

Coumcillor Rashid wasn't in the Council Chamber last Wednesday to hear this spat, so he couldn't defend himself.  Perhaps he, like many other labour councillors tonight were out on the stomp to save their own seats at the coming local elections on the 3rd, May.*

But did Councillor Rashid really overlook his extra stipend as Councillor Brett suggests?  After all innumeracy isn't something he declares in his election literature.  Quite the contrary in his declaration he boasts:  'As a business owner I am familiar with finance and hence I have also served you on the Council by being responsible for council finances during what has been an exceptionally difficult time...'

So clearly Councillor Rashid, an economics graduate, has a better basic background in accountancy than most of us, and one would have thought that with his solid familiarity with finance that he would easily be able to get his head round a simple bank balance showing that his councillor's allowances had soared by some 30% or so.

When this week I asked him to explain why he took the money, Councillor Rashid fail to respond.

Councillor Kelly said that he well remembered a local Labour MP, who had had habit of claiming too much in his expenses claims.   Perhaps it is just a necessary family trait in the Rochdale Labour Party, because black sheep like Labour Councillor Chris Furlong, who tonight attended his last Council meeting found himself deselected by the party for failing to support the super stipend boost in 2016.


* About 30 Labour councillors failed to attend last Wednesday's full Council meeting.

CALL TO FIND DEAD MAN'S RELATIVES

DAVID Alan Snowden, 60, died on Tuesday the 27th, March, in his front room on Kingsland Road,  Castleton in Rochdale, Lancs.  Neighbours who broke-in found him lying on his couch last Thursday after noticing smells. His fire was still switched on which may explain the prevailing smell.  There are no suspicious circumstances relating to his death.

David Snowden, who worked in the stone masonry trade as a polisher, lived alone and had been an enthusiast participating in stock racing and enjoyed tinkering with motor vehicles.  Neighbours say he lived a quiet life since his mum and dad died some years ago..

Police are now appealing to the public to help trace his next-of-kin.  According to neighbours his only recent contact with relatives had been at funerals.  It is thought that he may have family living down South.

Anyone with information about David or his family is asked to contact the Police Coroner’s Office on 0161 856 8497.

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Today Thursday it has been reported that a member of David's family has contacted the police.

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Institutionalised Incompetence

By Les May

YOU may have noticed a bundle of documents dated 29 January 2018 fastened to a lamp post close to a patch of green space somewhere near you. You should have done, there were 207 of them.  They relate to a hearing to take place at the Royal Courts of Justice in London and are intended to serve notice of that hearing.

Now you might think that someone would have taken great care to make sure that everything was, as they say, ‘kosher’:  no mistakes, no slip ups! But you forget, this is Rochdale, incompetence is the order of the day. So it should not really come as much of a surprise to find that the covering letter, signed by no less a person than David Wilcock, Legal Director,  Governance and Workforce, manages to inform the reader that the hearing will be on Tuesday, 19^th February. Now, God willing, there will be a 19^th of February 2018, but sure as hell it won’t be a Tuesday.

But of course, being only the covering letter rather than the legal bit you are no doubt allowed to make a mistake, even if you do it 207 times.   But probe just a bit deeper into the legal stuff and you find a paragraph about another hearing for an interim injunction on 6^th February to allow three clear days between the service of the notice and the date of the hearing.

I can say with complete certainty that the notice I read was put up on Monday 5^th February, which by my reckoning does not even allow for one clear day before the hearing. In other words someone at Rochdale MBC did not do their job properly.

This is not the first time that I have come across a casual approach to meeting the legal niceties of giving notice to the public.   A planning application relating to land below Castleton did not appear until the final date upon which objections could be made.   A notice relating to an area near Castleton station was affixed to a lamp post on the wrong street and related to a completely different street than that named in the notice.   A temporary road closure order in the Marland area related to a different road altogether.  A lady who has far more knowledge than I of the treatment of parents who have offspring subject to child protection orders, recently described the approach in Rochdale as ‘slap dash’.  I discussed the problem of getting anyone at RMBC to take seriously the possibility of election fraud in a NV piece on 2^nd May 2017.

I don’t expect councillors to check on every legal notice emanating from RMBC but I do expect that they will ensure that those charged with managing the legal affairs of the council meet both the letter and the spirit of the law.

It is long past the time when the Leader of the Council should be having a stiff word with the Chief Executive. Or perhaps neither of them really care.

Electoral Fraud & the Doubting Thomas's at NV!

Hello Brian,

I have looked at the Milkstone and Deeplish result from 2015 and to be honest I don't agree with you. There are plenty of local wards up and down the UK which are so strong for one party that they frequently poll over three quarters of the total vote.

I would refer you to the work of Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, who are both professors of Politics at Plymouth University who have been compiling and analysing local election results for over 30 years. In their studies you will see that there are in fact wards in Britain where the winning party gets over 80 percent of the vote and in some cases over 90 percent.

Indeed, in our own borough I refer you to the result in West Middleton ward in 2012, where my comrade Lil Murphy was re-elected. She polled 82.2 percent of the vote in that election which is higher than the 77.7 percent in Milkstone and Deeplish just 3 short years later. Now I do know you were writing articles for Northern Voices back in 2012, so why did you not presume there was something wrong with that result?

In that same year my comrade Billy Sheerin won Castleton with 75.1 percent of the vote, may I ask why you didn't see fit to question that result?

In 2008, Councillor Ashley Dearnley held Wardle and West Littleborough for the Tories with 80.4 percent of the vote, yet you didn't cast aspersions on that result.

Indeed only last May in 2016 my comrade Liam O'Rourke won North Heywood with almost 72 percent of the votes cast, why do you not question that result?

So as you can see there are plenty of examples in this day and age of candidates polling well into the 70 and 80 percent zone, yet for some reason you choose to single out the good people of Milkstone and Deeplish ward. What is so different about Milkstone and Deeplish ward that for some reason you question the result there while you don't question the other examples I have provided you with?

Yours sincerely 

Neil Emmott 

Is it time to Breed for Britain?

by Les May

IN a recent article I made reference to the fall in the UK birth rate since 1960, and the impact this will have on my children's generation.  But the UK is not alone in this regard.  A fall in the birth rate since 1960 is a phenomenon which is common to all 28 EU countries according to William Reville,  emeritus professor of biochemistry at University College Cork.

In an article headed 'Why is Europe losing the will to breed?' in last Thursday's Irish Times Reville points out that to keep the population of a country constant it is necessary for each woman to give birth to 2.1 children on average.  He provides data which shows that the mean birthrate throughout the EU is only 1.56.  Ireland has the highest birth rate of 1.94 and Portugal the lowest at 1.23, though there are four more countries where the birth rate is less than 1.4.  For comparison the present birth rate in the UK is 1.81.

He goes on to say :

'European societies increasingly are no longer self sustaining.  For example, if current trends continue, every new generation of Spaniards will be 40% smaller than the previous one.  In Italy the percentage of the population over 65 will increase from 2.7% now to 18.8% in 2050.  By 2060 the population of Germany is projected to drop from 81 millions to 67 millions and by 2030 the UN projects that by 2030 the percentage of Germans in the work force will drop by 7% to 54%.  In order to compensate for this shortage Germany needs to absorb 533,000 immigrants per year, which puts Angela Merkel's current immigration policy into context.'

As I have argued in an earlier article this matters because the non-working section of the population, children, older people, the sick and the disabled, rely upon the surplus generated by the fraction of the population which is working.  Such a situation is only sustainable if the fraction of the working, i.e. younger, population is sufficiently high both to support themselves and generate a large enough surplus.

But as Reville points out in the longer term this immigration is not a solution because when the birth rate falls to about 1.5 even immigration will not hold the population steady over time.

Whilst I have focussed upon the fact that for the immediate future there seems little alternative to continued immigration whichever side is victorious in the upcoming referendum, the economic case is only part of the picture.  Large scale migration has an impact upon the host society.

As Reville puts i:

 'European civilisation has given the world many cherished values, freedoms and institutions, including the classical legacy of Greece and Rome; the rule of law; the separation of church and state; modern science; individual freedom; a fabulous heritage of music, painting, sculpture and architecture, and more.'

This too matters, because quoting Reville again:

'European values are not universal and there is no necessary reason to expect other civilisations to adopt these values simply because they come to Europe to partake of the technical and commercial fruits of western civilisation.'  

It is fashionable to ignore such concerns and to dismiss those who raise them as 'xenophobic' or 'racist', but there is a good moral case to be made for taking a more robust approach to immigration.  

Immigration benefits the individual migrant;  immigrants make the journey in search of a better life. 

It benefits a receiving nation like the UK by adding to the workforce and helps produce that surplus which will pay the pensions of those retiring around the year 2030.  But it impoverishes the donor nation especially when the migrant is a well qualified young person who has been trained at the expense of the donor nation.

There is nothing new in this.  After the WW2 the UK needed to produce and export as much as possible, (and build the Welfare State on the surplus).  So immigration from countries like Ireland was encouraged. An elderly friend who died a year ago came from Ireland at the age of 26 in 1948 to work in a Castleton (Rochdale) mill and did not think it an indignity that a medical check was made to make sure she was not pregnant.  Being as she put it 'a big strong farm girl' she was given better paid 'men's work' and became a mule spinner.  And very happy she was to spend the rest of her life here.

In Germany, Angela Merkel's cabinet has approved new measures to help the country to deal with the influx of more than a million new immigrants.  In return for a package providing immigrants with better access to the job market and the creation of 100,000 government funded 'job opportunities', migrants will be expected to undertake orientation and language courses.  The cabinet statement said:

'Learning the German language quickly, rapid integration in training, studies and the labour market, and an understanding of and compliance with the principles of living together in our society and compliance with our laws are essential for successful integration... The newcomers are to become good neighbours and citizens, which will enable us to strengthen social cohesion and prevent parallel structures in our country.'

This contrast sharply with what to date has been the UK approach which has sometimes generated an exceptionalism in the name of multi-culturalism.  Recently Labour MP Chuka Umunna has launched a new All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on social integration.  Whether it will 'bite the bullet' in quite the way that the German cabinet has I don't know.  Unless it argues the case for investment in integrating migrants into our way of life it may just prove to be another talking shop.

If you don't like my argument that immigration is necessary to pay the pensions of my children's generation the answer is in your own hands.  Go forth and multiply.

http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/brexit-and-wars-of-roses.html

http://www.chuka.org.uk/social_integration_launch

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-151319/Birth-rate-drops-lowest-ever.html

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Fertility_statistics 

Castleton Carnegie Meeting

OVER 20 local residents of Castleton turned up last night to hear that the former Castleton Library Carnegie  building may now face the prospect of serious authentic renovation, having recently been purchased by a local businessman.  The meeting was told that having confronted a possible Township compulsory purchase order being placed upon the building at the end of last year, which may have resulted in it being knocked down, the building was now save.


The building was originally named the Carnegie Library, and it first opened its doors in 1905 by the then Mayor Colonel Fishwick, with the help of a £2,500 grant from millionaire and public benefactor Mr Andrew Carnegie.  It closed finally in February 2007, and has remained vacant since.


The building has huge historical value throughout the local area and is loved by many residents who would love to see it brought back to it's former glory.   Last night's meeting was assured that the present owner, who has not yet been named, would not simply create  a façade which left the exterior of the building intact, but rendered the interior to mediocre modernity as so often happens.  We were told that most of the original interior features would retain their historical integrity.


This information was greeted with  marked enthusiasm from those present at the meeting.  The next meeting is planned for the end of March.

The Carnegie Building in Castleton, Rochdale

THE Carnegie building in Castleton, Rochdale has now been bought by a local businessman.  The building is one of the most iconic buildings in the village of Castleton, and since the Rochdale Council moved the local library from the premises some years ago it has been allowed to fall into decline.  This would have continued had a group called 'Friends of the Carnegie (Castleton)' not campaigned to restore it to some local use.


Tonight meeting will be held at 7pm in the local Castleton Community Centre to decide what to do next.  It seems the building has been 'badly damaged' and will take some time to repair and renovate but the purchaser of the building has said that he will do it sympathetically and that he wants it to be restore to as near as possible to its original condition.

Slow start to Heywood & Middleton By-election

IN the first two hours of polling this morning in the Heywood and Middleton by-election caused by the sudden death of Jim Dobbin last month, only 45 voters had entered the polling booth at Castleton library.  Of these only 15 were women.  Most of the men appeared to be white working class, although one was clearly white-collar and middle-class.


There were people taking the election numbers from all of the parties except the Conservative Party.  Councillor Billy Sherrin, the Labour Party lad was there, and a lass from the Lib-Dems called 'Bev' at 7am when the polling booths opened, a few minutes later someone from the Green Party turned up, and a lad from Nottingham appeared around 8am to represent Ukip.


The Lib-Dem candidate Anthony Smith voted at Castleton early on in the morning.  There was some passionate debate about the issues of Europe, cheap-labour immigrants, and benefit claimants, but it was all conducted very politely.

Jim Dobbin MP, dies in the Saddle!

JIM Dobbin, Labour MP for Heywood and Middleton, died suddenly died in Slupsk whilst on a Parliamentary trip in Poland, aged 73.  Jim was first elected as MP for Heywood and Middleton in 1997 which includes Castleton and Bamford, having earlier contested and lost Bury North in the 1992 General Election.

He had been elected as a councillor in the Borough of Rochdale, becoming the Labour group leader in 1994, and then became the leader of the Rochdale Council in 1996.

Jim Dobbin was a member of the Transport Scrutiny Select Committee as well one of Britain’s representatives on the Council of Europe.  A Roman Catholic he chaired the all-party Pro-Life Group, and he was awarded and invested as a Knight of the Pontifical Order of St Gregory the Great from Pope Benedict XVI.  He married Patricia Russell in 1964; the couple had two sons and two daughters.

In his last Parliamentary Letter, in last Saturday's Rochdale Observer, he wrote:
'MPs have been back almost a week now in Parliament and colleagues are wondering what on earth is happening in Rochdale at the moment. The way in which Rochdale has been focused upon recently has dragged the town into disrepute and created a skewed perception of Rochdale.  I hope that people, including politicians, are mindful of the need for balance as well as transparancy in their communications about the community of Rochdale.'

Earlier this year Jim gave helpful advice to Northern Voices, when people associated with our publication presented written evidence to the Home Affairs Committee regarding material contained in the recently published book Smile for the Camera.  Being a regular reader of NV he recognised the contribution made by the publication in the outing of Cyril Smith in November 2012. 

After we contacted him about the existence of a blacklist in the British building trade he told me that he had supported Early Day Motions against the practise, and on January 13th, 2013 he spoke out on his website:
'Blacklisting is a national scandal which resulted in workers being denied employment and prevented from putting food on the table merely for exercising their human right to belong to a trade union, standing up for their colleagues or for raising legitimate health and safety concerns.'

And he concluded by saying:
'Allegations that the original intelligence for the blacklist came from police officers are especially chilling and need to be fully investigated as a matter of urgency. Sadly, we cannot say with confidence that blacklisting is no longer happening which is why we are urging ministers to act.'

Other MPs, ought to take notice of these sentiments by Jim Dobbin, and not just MPs, but councillors too:  Jim Dobbin warned that 'It is greatly concerning that blacklisting checks took place on high profile projects funded by taxpayers...’ 

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.  

In the pay of the Daily Mail!

Challenge to Labour MPs who write for the right-wing press

 

IN last Saturday's Rochdale Observer Jim Dobbin, the Labour MP for Castleton, Norden & Bamford, lashed out saying: 

'It upsets me when Labour parliamentarians go public and criticise the leadership.  Those are issues for internal debate and discussion and should not be subject of interviews on television or the right wing press...  some of the parliamentary articles I have read recently, some of them paid articles, do political harm to parties and politicians and very little to address the real issues for individuals and communities.'

 

This attack comes at a time when the Rochdale Labour Party is experiencing some turmoil over who will be the leader of the Labour group on the local council.  This issue should be cleared up tonight when the former council leader Colin Lambert is to face an attempt by Richard Farnell to overthrow him.  Councillor Farnell was the leader of the Rochdale Council in the early 1990s, some councillors have encouraged him to stand against Councillor Lambert. 

 

Councillor Lambert's style of leadership has been described as 'abrasive' by some councillors, but his position has not been helped by the scandals such as those of sexual grooming and the continual controversies surrounding the inquires into Knowl View special school.  Even Richard Farnell himself has been questioned as to his knowledge of what was going on at Knowl View while he was leader of the council in the 1990s:  so far he has failed to comment on this.

 

The Rochdale Labour M.P. Simon Danczuk has been strongly critical of the Rochdale Council under Colin Lambert's leadership; both over the grooming scandal and over the council's conduct of the investigation into Knowl View.  Many of his attacks have appeared in the media, and he has also blasted the leadership of the Labour Party nationally in the press, some of this he has done in articles paid for by the Daily Mail.

 

Indeed, on the day of the launch of his book in April Mr. Danczuk justified his getting paid by the right-wing press by saying that the Mail was the 'best newspaper', and in joke, that Paul Dacre was a bit 'too left-wing' for him.  At the same time he assured us that he was not involved in a 'moral crusade' of the Mary Whitehouse type.  This may be the kind cavalier conduct that worries Jim Dobbin M.P.

The Neglected Castleton Railway Station

CASTLETON has been allowed to fall into decline for years as various buildings have been neglected or abandoned.  The original old library is still decaying close to the village centre, and some shops have been demolished.  There is a campaign group committed to save the old library building, but now concerns have been raised about Castleton station.

It was destaffed many years ago, and not soon after the roof tiles of the delightful old station building were savaged by thieves.  Then when the building had become 'structurally unsafe' the renovators moved-in to take down the servicable wooden bridge, and demolish the red brick station-building and build a car park in its place.  I actually acquired some ornate cast iron metal work from the demolishers to use as ornamental window boxes, otherwise they would have been lost forever in a skip.

Now, we learn that passengers at Castleton station are claiming they feel like 'second-class' travellers deprived of not only architectural features and aesthetic Victorian elegance on their station, but even any information over train delays.  Well, I can only think that they deserve everything they get, for the English people in Castleton and beyond with their notorious reserve, have allowed things to go from bad to worse throughout the decades.  What we are going to get is an endlessly ugly sameness throughout our land because of a dire lack of imagination as a people.

Save the Castleton Carnegie Building

TODAY supporters of the old Carnegie Library building in Castleton, Rochdale, were at Tesco's in Sudden trying to rally support for the building which is now derelict.  The library service was moved some years ago by the Council to another building near the Castleton swimming baths.  The Carnegie building was sold but has not been put to any use since.

Now a group of 22 residents have formed a Friends group and want to restore the building and open a Heritage Centre, and small Museum to Andrew Carnegie, hoping in the process to give the structure back to the people of Castleton in Rochdale.  This group of Friends is asking for local people to come out and support this proposal to 'acquire the building and sympathetically renovate it in order to make it the centrepiece in the regeneration of Castleton'. 

This Friends Group say:  'We would like to create a Heritage Centre with a small museum to Andrew Carnegie who gave the money for the library to be built in 1904.'  It was closed as a library in 2006 and the service was moved.  Membership of the Friends of the Carnegie (Castleton) costs £2 per year for adults, and 50p per year for children.  Membershiop fees to be sent to Friends of the Carnegie (Castleton), c/o Mrs. M. Williams, Treasurer, 20, Crescent Road, Rochdale OL11 3LF.
E-mail friends.carnegie@zen.co.uk
www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/sites/the-friends-of-carnegie-castleton