Events in Rochdale for 31/01/2012

This month's Lunchtime Concert is:

Songs by Peter Walker and Coralie Mooney

In recent months there has been an increase in thefts of vehicle registration plates across the Rochdale South area.

Offenders steal plates for a number of reasons, including avoiding speeding fines and obtaining fuel from petrol stations without paying.

Police have obtained funding from Cllr Shariff to purchase some anti-tamper screws which can replace existing ones and make it far harder for criminals to remove plates. Officers conducted a Safe Plate event at Sandbrook Park on Wed 18 January where 30 vehicles had their plates secured free of charge. Due to its poularity, a second event has now been organised.

A free countryside course starting soon aims to grow the skills of trainees whilst making valuable improvements to local nature sites.

Groundwork Oldham & Rochdale is on the lookout for people aged over 16 and from Rochdale to take part in a 6-week Practical Countryside Skills course based at Groundwork’s Environment Centre in Oldham.

Trainees will gain skills and an accredited Level 1 Award in Practical Countryside Skills whilst making improvements to an important local nature site. The course will equip participants with training and experience to add to their CVs and will provide an opportunity to meet new people and have fun. 

Previous groups of trainees have made improvements and delivered community events at Jubilee Nature Site near Newhey. As well as carrying out habitat management duties the groups have designed and installed log-pile benches and refurbished paths around the site.

The next Practical Countryside Skills course starts on January 31st and runs Tuesdays to Thursdays (10am-3pm) for 6 weeks. The course is free with daily bus passes provided.

Anybody interested in getting involved in the new team should contact Suzanne Walton on 0161 624 1444 or email Suzanne.walton@groundwork.org.uk

No booking required. Join our monthly knitting circle in the café. Bring along your own knitting projects, share ideas or start something new. Younger knitters are welcome in school holidays.

Run every last Tuesday of the month.

A selection of works from the Art Gallery’s permanent collection exploring how artists capture different elements of landscape. Featuring both historic and contemporary works, artists will include Adrian Berg, Ivon Hitchens and Mariele Neudecker. The exhibition will also include a new acquisition by artist Vincent James.

The exhibition will include a new set of activities in our under 5s activity station linked to paintings on display and other hands-on activities for 5-12 year olds and their families.

They have dominated the Rochdale landscape for over 40 years; this year College Bank Flats, known locally as the Seven Sisters, will be the focus of seven films created by artists Catherine Corlett and Zachary Ingham.

During the summer the artists will create the films by positioning cameras at the top of each of the Seven Sisters. The cameras will be attached to sails, which will rotate on their axis in reaction to the direction of the wind and record panoramic views of Rochdale borough and the other towers. The films will blur both urban and rural landscapes and challenge our perception of the area.

The films will be installed at Touchstones Rochdale this winter. The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of workshops for young people.

The Seven Sisters project has been made possible by funding from the John Grant Davies Trust.

Nora Fok is one of Britain’s leading contemporary jewellers, who works with quite ordinary materials to create extraordinary results.

The processes Nora uses – knitting, weaving, crocheting and knotting – transform linear nylon microfilament into simple and complex structures, inspired by her fascination with the natural world and the mathematical models that underpin it.

Much of her work can be classified as jewellery, but she pushes the definition to its limits making larger bodywear and pieces which stand independently as sculpture.

This exhibition tells the story of the origins of the Co-operative Movement and how it started right here in Rochdale focusing on the lives of the local men who went on to become the Rochdale Pioneers.

It will also showcase the exciting plans for the £3 million extension of the historic Toad Lane’s Pioneers Museum which will reopen in December in time to celebrate 2012 as the Year of the Co-operatives.