Mayor’s Column: Councillor Billy Sheerin

Date published: 22 December 2020

Councillor Billy Sheerin was sworn in as the Mayor of Rochdale at the annual Mayor Making Ceremony on Wednesday 22 May 2019.

Usually, the mayoral year comes to an end the following May, but due to the coronavirus crisis which resulted in remaining engagements being cancelled and his mayoral year subsequently cut short, Councillor Sheerin was offered the chance to stay on as Mayor of Rochdale for another year (May 2020 – May 2021).

Here, he has described some of his highlights from the past few months.

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Before I get into my column, I would like to tell everyone about my Mayor’s Charity Quiz featuring 100 questions to test your knowledge. In an effort to continue fundraising for local charitable causes, the annual quiz is available online this year and costs just £1 to take part:

• http://rochdale.gov.uk/mayors-charity-appeal

I also want to ask everyone to please ring a bell for Father Christmas at 6pm on Christmas Eve.

Along the same lines as ‘clap for carers’ the idea is to step outside your front door and ring a bell for two minutes to spread Christmas spirit and for children to thank Father Christmas as he sets off on his epic journey around the world.

Despite the pandemic, Father Christmas is a keyworker and his elves have managed to come out of furlough, so after the year we have had it would be lovely for our community to create this wonderful memory for children. I hope we can end 2020 with hope, optimism, and togetherness.

 

 

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The mayoress, my wife Lynn, and I laid wreaths on all the different township war memorial sites to mark Remembrance Sunday on 8 November. This was an unannounced private tour of the borough to reduce crowding and to safely keep ourselves distanced from others.

With no official services this year, I felt it was more important than ever to thank those who made the ultimate sacrifice and not forget those who fought for our freedom during the last century and those in our armed services that still defend our country.

We also took the opportunity to show our admiration and gratitude to our NHS and frontline services who are engaged in a war of a different kind. There are so many putting their lives on the line, just like our soldiers in the past, for our freedom from a different kind of enemy.
 

Read more: Mayor Billy Sheerin lays Remembrance wreaths at borough's war memorialsPublished: 09 November 2020

 

 

On Wednesday 11 November – the official Remembrance Day – it was decided that I would stand on Rochdale Town Hall balcony as members of the community paid their respects at Rochdale Cenotaph. I laid a wreath on behalf of the borough a little after 11am when the residents who had observed the silence had left the Cenotaph.

On a solemn occasion, we did not forget. In fallen adversity, the people of Rochdale showed their respects and great restraint. I pray that next year we will be able to commemorate this event as we have done for many years.
 

Read more: Armistice Day marked in RochdalePublished: 11 November 2020

 

 

It was the 87th anniversary of the Ukrainian Holodomor famine on Wednesday 25 November, and all ten Greater Manchester mayors were asked to speak on a livestream to commemorate the occasion, which I enjoyed being a part of.

A remembrance service is usually held in Rochdale Memorial Gardens at the Holodomor Memorial Stone, however this year it was not allowed. The Holodomor was an artificial famine in Ukraine between 1932 and 1933, which saw approximately seven to ten million innocent men, women and children brutally starved to death by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, to force the Ukrainians to adopt their ways. Whole villages were wiped out from starvation.

Rochdale was the first town in the UK not only to honour the victims with a memorial stone, but to also recognise the Holodomor as genocide – a motion yet to be acknowledged and followed by the UK government.
 

Read more: Rochdale’s Ukrainian community remembers 86th anniversary of tragic Holodomor genocide Published: 25 November 2019

 

 

I read out the Lancashire proclamation and raised the Flag of Lancashire in Littleborough and Castleton on 27 November to mark Lancashire Day 2020. I had an early morning rise and was so pleased to be a part of this for Lancashire Day. It was special to me to be invited to Littleborough, as I have not raised the Lancashire flag here before.

I'm hoping that displaying the Flag of Lancashire in Castleton can become an annual sight on Lancashire Day at the village green.
 

Read more: Mayor marks Lancashire Day 2020Published: 27 November 2020

 

 

Rochdale Rotary Club invited me to their 93rd charter evening at Rochdale Masonic Hall last year, and this year the event to celebrate the 94th charter evening went virtual. I was asked to do a speech which I must say went down very well as I told stories about my theatre days and what it is like to be the mayor.

The amount of local people who are Rotarians is amazing, and they do amazing things. There are over 40 members at Rochdale Rotary Club, and I have lots of admiration for the work that they do providing humanitarian service.

 

 

I hosted the virtual Rochdale Christmas lights switch-on event from the mayor’s parlour on Sunday 29 November, which was nice for me as a final goodbye as the parlour is now shut along with the rest of the town hall for refurbishment.

The event was streamed on Rochdale Council’s social media pages and I was very impressed with the professionality of the gentleman who filmed from video production company Bellyflop.

I hope the switch-on brought much needed Christmas cheer to those who watched it. After such a tough time it is important that we come together and can see how people across the borough are getting ready for Christmas. This was a special way to remind us that we’re all still connected and better times are ahead.
 

Read more: Borough’s virtual Christmas lights celebrationPublished: 25 November 2020

My most recent, and saddest, event was saying farewell to Dippy at Number One Riverside. I remember clearly when Dippy arrived in Rochdale – it was a great day which filled the town with excitement as everyone wished Dippy a warm welcome to the borough.

I gave a speech at Number One Riverside, welcoming Dippy to Rochdale and the North West. In my true pantomime loving style, I told a story of how the dinosaur came to be in Rochdale:

Many years ago, too many to even try to mention, a mummy Diplodocus was raising a family of baby Diplodocuses in a land far away. All the babies stayed very close to their mother to prevent them from being eaten, all except one who was called Dippy. Dippy always roamed away by himself and had to be dragged back time and time again. Mummy got very cross with Dippy and asked him ‘why do you keep wandering off?’. Dippy replied ‘because I want to travel and see the world’. The mummy replied, ‘why on earth do you want to travel and see the world?’. Dippy said (wait for it), ‘because it’s in my bones’.

The initial impact of Dippy was terrific. Dippy is terrific. It is so very sad to see him go, but I wish him farewell and best of luck on whatever journey he makes next.