Weekly Column: Mayor Mohammed Zaman
Date published: 17 August 2018
Mayor Mohammed Zaman plays cricket at the Big Games
Hundreds of people were out on the streets on Monday night - shocked to watch a huge fire as flames rose from a mill. It was a horrific scene.
I would like to praise and extend my gratitude to emergency services, officers of Greater Manchester Fire Service, Greater Manchester Police and the volunteers at Rochdale Court House who provided temporary accommodation, relief and excellent support to residents.
Week commencing Monday 6 August – Sunday 12 August
Monday, I went to Zen Internet at Sandbrook Park for an event titled ‘Business in the Community’. The idea of this was to prepare businesses for sudden emergencies like flooding, fires and frauds such as cyber-attacks and to make your business more resilient.
Kay Allen OBE, founder of ‘Trading For Good’, was a guest speaker and gave a presentation on Rochdale’s Boxing Day floods in 2015. This demonstrated to businesses that anything can happen and that they need to be prepared. Another speaker was Gareth Godard, North West Digital Engagement Manager for Barclays, who hosted an interactive question and answer presentation on cyber-attacks. This emphasised on the need to keep everything within a business password protected.
I enjoyed this meeting as it was really informative. I think more businesses could benefit from these programmes in the future.
Tuesday, I attended a weekly event at the town hall ran by Neil Gibbons, which more than 50 people attend. This is a ‘tea and dance’ group for local pensioners.
I had a meeting with the group to discuss how I have met with many pensioners around the borough recently, who had brought to my attention many issues regarding loneliness and isolation from the community.
We decided at this meeting that it would be a good idea to have a ‘Pensioners Convention’ - the date is set for Tuesday 25 September, for all who want to join.
There will be a guest speaker, stalls and HMR Circle will join us to offer help and advice. This will provide an opportunity to develop friendships and partnerships as you exchange information and speak of your life ventures whilst enjoying afternoon tea, music and entertainment.
Wednesday, I was invited to Rochdale Court House to meet young people taking part in the National Citizen Service (NCS) in the school holidays. Tony Lloyd MP also joined me, as well as Mayor’s Consort Mohammed Sheraz, to learn of the NCS programme and the projects they take out.
The group were at the court house to greet the homeless as food was prepared for them, as well as learning more about their issues to understand their situation and get a real feel of the lives they live.
It was nice to see new people getting involved in community work and good to learn that they have already done so many other things.
I was joined again by the NCS young people on Thursday at the town hall, as they ran a campaign on mental health issues in the council chambers. In total 55 attended and told me they chose this campaign as ‘mental health can affect anyone at any time’.
Their main focus was dementia and demonstrated how young people can be more aware of issues like this, in order to take care of themselves and have good health.
Later, I welcomed the Royal Horticultural Society judges to the town hall as Rochdale were nominated for the first time in the ‘small city’ category for Britain in Bloom.
There were many worthy places for the judges to visit, despite the recent dry and hot weather, but Britain in Bloom is a tough competition.
We are hoping for gold but if not, a silver gilt, as those who have continued to work hard deserve the recognition. I send a big thanks to all the volunteers of Rochdale in Bloom and thank the judges for taking the time to visit our town and explore our blooming environment.
Thursday evening, I attended a church service in Milnrow for the Kasese family who were subject to racist graffiti on their home.
Tony Lloyd organised this and many locals attended, as well as councillors to discuss this horrific event.
We presented the family with gifts and flowers to show them our support. You can’t change things that have happened, but you can condemn them and show your support to make a difference. We are all one community.
Friday, I went to Holcombe Moor Training Centre in Bury to visit the Greater Manchester Army Cadet Camp. Other mayors also attended including the Mayor of Stockport and the Mayor of Bury, as well as Heywood cadets and Middleton cadets.
I learnt a lot about the work the cadets do in the community and witnessed them train as they carried out clay pigeon shooting and exercised.
This was within a very nice location with beautiful landscapes. I would love to go back as it is clear the young people take great pride in their community and country as they develop life skills.
Later, I went to the Sheridan Suite in Manchester for ‘Adam Day’. This is an annual event ran on 10 August with the theme ‘Unity in Diversity’. This diversity was proven in Manchester as many attended ranging from Somalians, Indians, Nigerians, Bengalis and Pakistanis.
This event was held to say that we are all children of Adam and therefore created to support, help and respect one another; spreading love, peace and harmony.
I really enjoyed this visit and made connections with many different people.
I went to Heywood Veterans Summer Ball at The Willows, Heywood. This was also the group’s first anniversary.
Councillors Peter Malcolm and Peter Rush joined me as we listened to old songs and took part in the raffle. It was good to see the interaction between people of different ages, all of who enjoyed themselves. I hope this can become an annual event and that more people become involved.
A big thank you to all who organised this and invited us to have fun together.
Saturday, I went to the Growth Project Open Day at Kellett Street Allotments. This is a gardening project that offers therapeutic horticulture for people with mental health issues.
It was great to see the fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs grown here, as well as local honey and jam for sale. Councillors Cecile Biant, James Gartside and Sultan Ali also joined me and there were so many families. This was interesting for young people to learn where some things in shops actually come from.
Karen Hayday, director of Hourglass Environmental who runs the project, spoke highly of her volunteers who help with the project. It was interesting to see the flood wall they have built in case a flood happens again, as all the allotments were destroyed in 2015.
Everything here is grown, produced, and sold in Rochdale.
I also went to Broadfield Park for ‘The Big Games’, organised by Link4Life. This was very well attended with so many stalls.
Families enjoyed food, music, a puppet show, activities, and a performance from a young girl who demonstrated Bollywood dancing and performed a fire show, which everyone enjoyed.
Thank you to Link4Life and all the volunteers for helping the local community stay entertained in the school holidays.
Sunday, I had no engagements.
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