OPINION: Rochdale: A town of all the talents?

“Let the path be open to talent.” Napoleon Bonaparte

So, has Rochdale got talent? Of course it has. The recent report from Professor Greene of Birmingham University does however point out that talent in Rochdale is less likely to flourish here than 68 of the 74 towns he sampled.

Despite the wonderful successes of our sixth form college and the fact that Zen, the multi-award-winning internet services is based here, it is disappointing that we did not score better; bearing in mind the fact that low levels of qualification and low broadband speeds are both cited as reasons for our poor showing.

Evidently, despite our high rate of unemployment, we still have to import talented people from elsewhere yet, strangely, the report does not mention the fact that so many people leave Rochdale to study, live and work elsewhere, driven no doubt because of a depressed local economy and a lack of opportunities.

The unnamed local businessmen quoted in the Rochdale Online piece is of course, bang on the money when he says: "Instead of the council labelling people who point out the problems with Rochdale as 'negative' and accusing them of 'talking the town down', they should accept the criticism as reality and perhaps then they may start to get to grips with what can be done to change things."

The trouble is, the council spends far too much time circling the wagons and defending the indefensible. Bad news? Ignore it. Constructive criticism? Don’t read it? Also, as Rochdale Online has discovered, the answer to criticism in the media is to refuse to talk to them in the tradition of a sulky child in the classroom who has been ticked off by his teacher.

In my youth, I too left Rochdale to escape the drudgery of mind-numbing jobs in the cotton mills and found that the distance gave me a sense of perspective. I felt and still feel that for talent to thrive in Rochdale, it can usually only do so by kicking against the status quo rather than by being nurtured by it. In Rochdale, the mud-skipper would still be waiting to take those first tentative steps on dry land it seems to me.

I am not going to go into one of my periodic anti-council rants; it is not good for the Hardcastle blood pressure. They just seem to spend so much of their time talking the town up and have started to believe their own publicity.

Yes, by all means shout our successes from the rooftops. We have a great sixth form college, some excellent local businesses and some great and inspiring people but there is still far too much on the downside; high number of benefits claimants, poor health and housing, high unemployment and little money around to stimulate economic growth and promote a strong business sector. We need to address these issues but here’s the rub, we have to recognise them first, own up to them and accept and act upon constructive criticism rather than feel threatened by it.

My grandson, born and brought up in the town, is now at an age where he is starting to think about further education and possible career choices. I love the young shaver dearly and it pains me to think of him flying the roost yet sadly, when he comes to me for advice as to what to do with his life, I intend to paraphrase the great Horace Greeley and tell him, “Go west young man… or even north, south or east. Just don’t hang around here if you really want to get on in life!”

Rochdale does have talent but it lets far too much of it slip through its fingers.

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/77716/rochdales-not-got-talent