Mayor Burnham visits The Lighthouse Project

Carl Roach, Councillor Chris Furlong and Andy Burnham at The Lighthouse Project

Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester Mayor, visited The Lighthouse Project in Middleton on Saturday and Carl Roach and Councillor Chris Furlong showed him around the facilities the project provides for the people of Middleton.

Mayor Burnham said he was very impressed by all the hard work that the volunteers do at the Lighthouse Project and the time and effort they have put in. 

Councillor Furlong is embarking on another of his charity runs to raise money for the project and the Mayor said he thought he could beat him this year if he ran the marathon. Councillor Furlong, who beat him last year by over two minutes in the Manchester 10k, said “I think that is wishful thinking”.

Money raised from Councillor Furlong's chairty runs goes to the Middleton and Heywood foodbanks and the Mayor’s homelessness fund. 

He said: “I have been restricted to how much I can road train due to the weather, however, I have still managed train over 120k across Middleton, Heywood and Rochdale. 

“I have spent a lot of the time recently in the pool trying to up the endurance training while the weather has been bad and I have managed well over 600 lengths so far. 

“The first run is the Welsh Section of the three-country challenge in Wrexham. Hopefully the weather will improve between now and then. 

Blue Rose Gifts is sponsoring Councillor Furlong and has provided him with training and running shirts. 

He added: “I hope to do a last hard push with the training in this last week before taking on the first of the three marathons.”