Today's events in Rochdale

Being in hospital can be a difficult, bewildering and often a scary experience for anyone – and particularly for children. The RBPP delegation led by the Mayor Cllr Keith Swift last year visited the Jalalabad Ragib-Rabeya Medical College Hospital in Sylhet. And to their dismay found that the Children’s Ward did not have a single toy for sick children to play with. The RBPP believe that we should help the JRRMC Hospital make it as comfortable and relaxing as possible and work towards creating the very best healing environment for children.

To donate a toy to a sick child, please drop off your donations at the following drop off points around the borough:

Rochdale North Wardleworth Community Centre, South Street, Rochdale, Lancs, OL16 2EP (01706 342889)
Rochdale Town Hall, The Esplanade, Rochdale, OL16 1AB (01706 647474)
Star of Bengal Restaurant, 169 -171 Yorkshire Street, Rochdale, (01706 649 901)
Rochdale South
Deeplish Community Centre, Hare Street, Rochdale, OL11 1JT (01706 860151)
Nye Bevan House, Maclure Road, Rochdale, OL11 1DN (01706 261800)
Castlemere Community Centre, Tweedale Street, Rochdale (01706 645200)
Rochdale Online, 847-849 Manchester Raod, Rochdale, OL11 2NU (01706 523583)
Heywood
Veenas Restaurant Club, 41 York Street, Heywood, OL10 4NN (01706 366 822)
Middleton
La Minhaz Restaurant, 23-25 Market Place, Middleton, M24 6AE (0161 643 0081)
Pennines
Milnrow Balti Indian Restaurant, 22 Dale St, Milnrow, Rochdale, OL16 4HS (01706 353651)
Thamins Indian Restaurant, Dearnley Cottage, New Road, Littleborough, OL15 8PL (01706 371000)
Bay of Bengal Indian Restaurant, 15 Todmorden Road, Littleborough, OL15 9DQ (01706 379 182)
Alternatively please ring 07764 614031

Join Lesley Farris and Norman Warwick (Just Poets) for a short course of writing workshops exploring the themes of tension, rationality and irrationality linked to Jack Crabtree’s exhibition.

Contact Lesley Farris on 01706 924932 to book.

Delivered by an advisor from HM Revenue & Customs this workshop will explain how to complete your Employers Annual returns, and outline the timescales involved.

Each donation can go towards saving or improving up to three lives so whether you are a regular donor or a curious first timer we'd be delighted to see you there.

Steve Garside is a Rochdale-born selftaught visual artist, poet and published writer. His landscape paintings for this exhibition have been inspired by photographs collected from people across the globe that he has met on Facebook, the social networking site.

This exhibition brings together cute and curious hand-made creatures from four leading contemporary craft makers.

Julie Arkell’s papier maché characters invoke nostalgia for a bygone age; Abigail Brown’s textile-based birds and woodland creatures are inspired by her own childhood; Samantha Bryan’s sculptures inspired by Victorian gadgetry depict the unusual everyday life of fairies and Anya Keeley makes one-off assemblages using found, reclaimed & donated vintage materials combined with wire-work.

Jack Crabtree was born in Rochdale in 1938. He studied at Rochdale College of Art before going on to St Martin’s and the Royal Academy School in London. Since then he has carved out a significant career combining teaching, including an appointment as Professor of Fine Art at the University of Ulster in Belfast, with numerous fellowships, commissions and solo exhibitions particularly in Wales, England, Germany and Ireland. His work features in the collections of institutions such as the Ulster Museum, the National Trust and the National Museum of Wales.

This exhibition shows for the first time a recent body of work which was primarily made at the artist’s late mother’s house on Overt Street in Rochdale. It captures aspects of urban life which the artist observed on his journeys from his home in France to visit his mother in Rochdale.

From folklore through to dialect writing and modern fiction, the borough of Rochdale has a unique storytelling tradition spanning hundreds of years. Using objects from the museum, archive and gallery collections this exhibition takes a look at some of the weird and wonderful stories that have become part of the heritage of the borough and highlights many of the local writers past and present.

With hands on displays, this family friendly exhibition will delight anyone interested in the history, mystery and myths of the local area.

This exhibition brings together Victorian paintings with a selection of Victorian objects and photographs from our collections.

Explore the narratives and aspects of social history captured in paint and find out more about the themes which interested artists of the time. The exhibition will include our well-known painting A Special Pleader by Charles Burton Barber alongside works by Alice Havers, Frank Holl and John Gregory amongst others.

This display of turn of the century photographs is being mounted to compliment the Art Gallery exhibition ‘Victorian Stories’. Staff from Arts & Heritage have been asked to find an evocative photograph from the Local Studies Collection and say why they chose that image. When you visit the display you can select your favourite Victorian image and your choice will be included on our Slice of Life online gallery.