DECEMBER
AN ARMY of Santas were spotted around Hollingworth Lake as they went on a fundraising mission for Springhill Hospice.
A total of 610 people donned Father Christmas outfits to take part in the popular annual Santa Dash or Dawdle around the lake.
Those taking part met at the visitor centre where they had a pre-walk warm up with Christmas music from Wardle Community Brass Band and a fitness instructor.
YOUNGSTERS lit up the town to celebrate the Christmas.
Some 200 children took part in a lantern parade as part of the town centre’s Christmas lights switch-on.
Around half of them had made their lanterns during a crafts event that was held at the Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre.
AN army of some adorable, if a little prickly, creatures settled in Rochdale for the winter.
Hundreds of baby hedgehogs - which are known as hoglets – were being cared for at Sue Lewis’ Hedgehog Rescue Centre in Shawclough, after the mild autumn prompted an unexpected influx of the spiny mammals.
Sue, who has run the charity from her Fallowfield Drive home for 25 years, said she believed higher temperatures had prompted adult hedgehogs to breed twice this year.
Traditionally, the young are born in June or July, but when females produce a second litter in the autumn, the babies are unlikely to survive the winter.