Weekly Column: Mayor Billy Sheerin

Date published: 22 February 2020

This weekly column from the Mayor of Rochdale, Councillor Billy Sheerin, is about the places he has been and the people he has met during the week commencing Monday 10 February to Sunday 16 February 2020.

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I started the week off by presenting certificates of appreciation to recently retired cricket players in the Mayor’s Parlour. Two senior members of Greater Manchester Amateur Cricket League, Paul Greaves, chair of the league and Dave Wood, secretary for the league since 1983, have both retired after giving approximately 40 years of service to the league - umpiring and on the league committee – and such service, I believe, deserves recognition.

A certificate of appreciation was presented to them from the mayor’s office for their services to amateur cricket in Greater Manchester and Rochdale.

 

 

Dippy also opened in Rochdale on Monday 10 February, so I went along to Number One Riverside to welcome him. It was a great day, dippy is terrific.

I arrived early in the morning to see year 5 pupil Sophie Roberts from Healey Primary who won a competition to put the last toe bone on the dinosaur cast. Granada TV were there to film it all and put it out on the evening bulletin, which was good. The rest of Sophie’s class came in afterwards and they all celebrated, saw Dippy, and got excited. They were the first visitors to the exhibition and got treated to a healthy breakfast.

The main event was in the evening which began at Touchstones, where you can find the new Dippy exhibition. After speeches, we were meant to parade from Touchstones to Number One Riverside led by Oakenhoof, but I chickened out and went down in the DK1 so I didn’t get wet (again).

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”.

I also sang:

Dip-a-dee-doo-dah, Dip-a-dee-ay

My oh my what a wonderful day

Plenty of sunshine coming my way

Dip-a-dee-doo-dah, Dip-a-dee-ay

Sir Michael Dixon from the Natural History Museum said: “I’ve followed speeches by the Queen and Sir David Attenborough, but I’ve never followed one like that before”. To my delight, it brought roars of laughter.

We must now all wish Dippy the very best for his stay in our library. I hope he brings tons of visitors to our borough.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/132710/dippy-opens-in-rochdale

 

 

Tuesday (11 February) was the UK Youth Council Results event at Rochdale Town Hall, which both my wife and I attended. It was a really interesting event and each of the candidates (six of them) gave really good accounts of themselves in public speaking, which is not an easy thing to do.

We congratulated the winner, Adam Rennie, and spoke to the outgoing Youth Parliament Member, Louis Tweedale and his parents. I asked Louis what his ambitions are for the future and he told me he is planning to take on an apprenticeship, as he wants to go into accountancy, which impressed me. I asked did he want to carry on in politics and he said well that’s for the future. He has done Rochdale a great service.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/132804/new-member-of-youth-parliament-crowned-as-thousands-of-young-people-cast-their-vote

Stamford House Care Home in Littleborough held their ‘Daisy Dignitea’ afternoon tea party on Wednesday (12 February) to celebrate the daisy accreditation awarded to them by Stockport NHS. This is a lovely home; it was really nice to be invited and have a tour.

The Daisy Award is a scheme that enables organisations to demonstrate they have met high care standards and celebrates nurses who provide 'extraordinary, compassionate and skilful care'. They certainly do this at Stamford House; the home has a lot of dementia patients and the nurses there have shown exceptional qualities in care.

We visited to acknowledge their achievement and found it a rather special place.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/132846/stamford-house-celebrate-national-daisy-mark-accreditation-with-afternoon-tea

 

 

A retirement party was held at St Chad’s Parish Church on Thursday (12 February) for Reverend Mark Coleman, who has been the Vicar and Borough Dean of Rochdale since 2014.

This was such a special event, it was what I would consider a thank you service at which many different bodies were represented, all expressing their sadness that Mark is leaving because of the amount of community support he has given the residents of Rochdale, of all denominations and nationalities, over the years. He has been exceptional.

We planted two rowan trees in the church grounds of St Chad’s, presented to Mark by the Rochdale Council of Mosques. They will be a lasting memorial to Mark’s time in Rochdale.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/132780/reverend-mark-coleman-to-retire-later-this-month

 

 

Friday was the Mayor of Salford’s Civic Charity Ball. As it was held on Valentine’s night (14 February) the theme was ‘love is in the air’.

The Mayor of Salford, councillor Charlie McIntyre and his consort, Dr Tim Worden, welcomed us to Buile Hall before the great event commenced, raising money for Mind in Salford, Proud and Loud Arts, Hershel Weiss Family Centre and The Red Box Project.

One of my responsibilities as the Mayor of Rochdale is to attend these dinners for all the mayors of Greater Manchester. Charlie is a lovely man and I hope it proved to be a successful night for all his charities.

 

 

Saturday (15 February) I was invited to St Aidan’s Church for a charity Last Night at the Proms Concert, raising money for Springhill Hospice and St Aidan's Church. I wasn’t aware that this was an annual event, I’ve never attended before, but it was brilliant.

Under the direction of musical director Lee Rigg, Wardle Academy Youth Band and Wardle Junior Blast performed, along with St Aidan’s Ukulele Band under the direction of Deborah Whitham. Elizabeth Phillips, a soprano also performed, accompanied by David Brocklehurst. She had an amazing voice, the one I enjoyed the most was a song from Les Miserables ‘I Dreamed a Dream’. She finished off with ‘Never Enough’ from the Greatest Showman, so there was a great mixture.

It was a very enjoyable evening on a very wet and windy night when Dennis (Storm) was banging on the windows, filling all our paths with water, but it didn’t detract from the quality of music.

I hope it was a profitable night for the hospice, which is my premier charity, and St Aidan’s Church.

I'd like to finish off by saying that tickets are now available for the MP's Dinner, organised by the Member of Parliament for Rochdale, Tony Lloyd, to raise funds for the Mayor's Charity Appeal. The speaker for this year is Sir Peter Fahy. More details can be found here:

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/events/65359/the-mps-dinner-with-sir-peter-fahy

 

 

Changes to Mayoral Invitations

To book the Mayor to attend any function there is now a four-week prior notification. If any event arises within the four-week period, the Mayor’s attendance cannot be guaranteed. However, please be assured that it will be considered and if possible, it will be attended.

Mayoral Invitations

The Mayor welcomes invitations to events held by local organisations and individuals. Due to demand, it may not be possible for the Mayor to attend every event he is invited to.

To invite the Mayor to your event, please complete the Mayor attendance form and return it to the Mayor’s Officer.

Visit: www.rochdale.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/mayors/Pages/mayoral-invitations.aspx

Email: mayoral@rochdale.gov.uk

Tel: 01706 924773