A look back at the events of 2019
Triumphs over adversity and tales to restore faith in human nature featured in the Observer during the second quarter of 2019. We take a look back at some of them
APRIL Blind footballer represents England
A footballer who helped England’s Blind team reach the final of an international competition hopes his success will inspire others.
Azeem Amir, from Sudden, took home a silver medal at the World Grand Prix in Japan. The 20-yearold former Matthew Moss High School pupil was invited to play with England early last year and is now being helped by the best coaches in the country.
He later joined up with the squad in the European Championships in Rome in September.
The Rochdale fan was combining playing for the national side with studying Business and Management with Physical Education at Salford University.
He was also asked to deliver a talk at a prestigious TED x event in Brighton last year. Entitled ‘Never underestimate a blind footballer’, the talk has since been viewed over 1,500 times online.
Family open day
A family open day was held to celebrate the opening of a new pirate-themed children’s play area at a Rochdale park.
The event in Denehurst Park at the weekend was attended by more than 300 schoolchildren, who played on the new slides, a roundabout and a jungle gym.
Work on the new play area swung into action in January after a £98,048 grant from Viridor Credits Environmental Company, through the Landfill Communities Fund, was matched by the council.
The open day on Saturday, April 6, featured a packed programme of activities, stalls showcasing community and conservation projects, nature crafts, reading sessions and games.
Rochelle, the mum in Rochdale Council’s Healthy Heroes family, and Hercules the Hornet, Rochdale Hornets’ rugby league mascot, led an exercise warm-up ahead of an Easter egg hunt.
MAY Youths put right their wrongdoing
THREE youths who went on a ‘vandalism spree’ at a Rochdale youth club apologised and made repairs after being hauled in by their parents.
The girls scrawled swear words on walls, mirrors and carpets and smashed up equipment at Rochdale Thai Boxing Club.
Omar Ghalib, who founded the Entwisle Road club more than a decade ago, said they were devastated by the incident and were unsure how the would find the culprits and pay for the repairs.
After an appeal was issued on social media, the parents of the youths contacted the club and brought their children in to apologise and repair the damage they caused.
The girls were even invited to join the club.
The club holds boxing sessions on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and attracts up to 20 youngsters.
Local elections
LABOUR enjoyed a strong night in Rochdale’s local elections in May, holding all of its seats and gaining a new one.
A third of the town hall seats were up for grabs, but with Labour holding 46 of the 60 available before the night began, they were never in danger of losing overall control of the council. However, both main parties looked on nervously as UKIP gained a significant number of votes across the borough, even where they fielded little-known candidates.
In total the party came second in eight wards.
Councillors from all parties acknowledged that national politics dominated on the doorstep, perhaps contributing to some pitiful turnouts as low as 20 per cent.
However other issues such as a council tax hike and building on greenbelt land - were also hot topics. Milkman faith in humanity A milkman who was forced to retire early after being attacked on his round said a fundraising campaign for him “restored his faith in human nature”.
John Kershaw, 65, was attacked midway through a shift in April and his float was stolen.
The grandad-of-four from Littleborough was rushed to Oldham General Hospital where he was treated for bruises to his body and face.
This incident, along with another of his van being stolen three months previously, forced him into an early retirement, just months before he would have celebrated 50 years on the job.
He sent hand-written letters to his 200 customers explaining what had happened and outraged residents set up a gofundme page to help.
Ahead of receiving the cheque from organiser Maria Burns, John said the public’s response, in raising £3,459, had been “absolutely unbelievable”.
He said: “I was completely overwhelmed by it.
“It’s heart-warming to know there are people out there who would do something like that for me.
“It’s restored my faith in human nature. I am very grateful for what she did and to everybody who contributed to it.”
John said he was also touched by all the cards he had received from both customers and total strangers, with one letter finding its way to him from the USA.
The dozens of cards he received and the hundreds of people who donated had “without a doubt” helped restore his faith in his own community after the terrifying attack left him housebound.
Maria was equally amazed at the community’s response and hoped that it showed the area in a good light after John’s ordeal.
Firefighter fundraiser
A firefighter, who ran a race in memory of each of the victims of the Manchester Arena bomb, said he now has “22 friends and families for life”.
Aaron Parmar completed his final 10km race just before the two-year anniversary of the horrific attack, to which he was among emergency services to respond.
Aaron, 33, returned to the city for a memorial service, bringing along his medals, to mark the end of his efforts and pay his respects to each of the 22 victims.
The St Ann’s Square service was held at 10.31pm on May 22, exactly two years on, and allowed Aaron, from Milnrow, to meet up with some familiar faces.
Aaron was combining shifts at Oldham Central fire station with doing the challenge.
He said the idea of doing the 22 races was “perfect” because doing a marathon may have left him unable to work the next day.
Beginning in Southport in September, Aaron completed the challenge in around 30 weeks, despite picking up an ankle injury halfway through which threatened to derail it all.
He acknowledged “phenomenal” support from the public and the “unbelievable” families has helped him along the way.
He ran his final race, the Great Manchester Run, in his full firefighting gear, in memory of the youngest victim of the attack, Saffie Roussos. Aaron now plans to give all the medals to the families, with the names of their loved ones engraved.
On that dreadful night in 2017, Aaron, who was then a police officer, was in bed when he got an urgent call asking him to go on shift and help get people away from the area. As that had never happened before in his nine years on the force, he knew it was serious.
The next day Aaron met June Tron who had lost her son, Philip, in the attack. Speaking with her, as he still does most days, Aaron became inspired to do something for the bereaved families.
He also set up an online running community, Hive 22 Running Club, which will see £2 of every piece of kit it sells go towards charities chosen by the families.
JUNE Alpaca business
A woman launched a new business with the aim of using alpacas to relieve stress.
Usually found in Peru, six alpacas are now situated in Littleborough, where they can be taken on walks in the South Pennines, at her Calderbrook Alpacas farm.
Having worked in the civil service since she was 17, but with a lifelong passion for animals, Joanne got the idea when her sister took her on an alpaca experience in Scotland.
Joanne, 41, said her business plan all came together at once - getting a business loan to start the venture and getting plenty of backing from the local community.
She bought six alpacas and since March has been offering her own version of alpaca therapy to Rochdale. She said the animals are perfectly suited to the job as they love walking and being around people.
Joanne was combining her job with the civil service with her role with the Peruvian animals but it’s one she’s happy to do.
She has since started taking the animals into care homes and schools.
Touchstones exhibit
THE curator of Touchstones Rochdale hailed the ‘runaway success’ of the museum’s latest exhibition. The museum tried to display every single piece of work it owns, believed to be the first known attempt by a public gallery to do so.
With 1,500 paintings, prints, sculpture and decorative arts, the ambitious exhibition – entitled ‘But What If We Tried?’ – came to a close on June 1 after a three-month run.
Mark Doyle, art gallery curator and collections manager, said it was a mammoth effort.
Mark said they hadn’t yet calculated how many visitors came to see the show but it was certainly a lot higher than their usual average of 6-7,000 people for three months.
With visitors coming from all over the country, they also gathered plenty of attention across the media, and from fellow curators, which he hopes has increased the museum’s profile both regionally and nationally.
Visitors were also able to see how fragile or damaged artefacts are repaired or restored, meet Touchstones staff working across different roles and view footage of what goes on in preparing an exhibit.
While some public galleries are considering selling some of their art that is usually kept in storage, the Rochdale curator hopes their idea has inspired others to follow their lead.
Milnrow carnival
THOUSANDS of people lined the streets for the annual Milnrow and
Newhey Carnival in June.
The Milnrow Brass Band led the parade, followed by a host of walking groups and floats, with many dressed as superheroes for the ‘movie’ theme event.
Activities at Milnrow Memorial Park included a funfair, paintball, crazy golf, music from local pop band New Identity, various stalls and demonstrations and taster sessions from the award-winning Kaizen-Do Karate academy. Claire Kierans, carnival secretary, said the event on Saturday, now in its 51st year, was a ‘real success’.