Rochdale - Beyond Redemption? (Part One)

I wonder what your initial reaction was to this title?  I love finding out how people's perceptions change, so have a think about it now, and then I'll ask again at the end - and if you feel moved to write and let me know then I'll be a very happy girl!  I should warn you that I have 70s music on in an attempt to bring back some memories, so prepare for random comments about songs and places as I let my fingers do the talking.  Also, if you're reading my blog for the first time, you'll quickly notice that there are a LOT of links herein.  Please don't feel obliged to click them all, but remember that they're there if at a later date you decide you want to know more about me or whatever I was writing about at that moment... One of my rules for life is: It's only complicated if you allow it to be ;O)

Are you sitting comfortably?  Then we'll begin.... 

Reflections

I'm a Rochdale girl, born and bred.  I know a lot of people see that as something to keep quiet about, or even apologise for, but not this girl!  I've been doing a lot of reflecting just lately, so when I saw this view from the Tram last week, I got off at the Morrisons stop and then traveled back to the previous stop, took this photo (and about 4 more, just to be sure!) got on the next tram and went home.  Sometimes you just have to seize the moment because you don't know when (or even if!) the opportunity will arise again.

Reflecting on the past can really put things into perspective for me.  I'm often accused of being an eternal optimist; a charge that I fully accept, but it's not always easy to see the positive when constantly bombarded by the negative, and to me, Rochdale has become a prime example of this quandary in action.

We've so much bad press over the years... I remember a TV documentary had talked about the fact that 1 in 7 people in Rochdale were unable to read or write.  That was about 30 years ago, and I remember a conversation on the school bus as we crossed the canal bridge on Kingsway (which, incidentally, is about 100 yards from where I took the photo above!) where we were mortified by the bad press - and maybe a little bit smug because we were lucky enough to be in the 6 - I wonder what the figure is now?  I'm not convinced I really want to know the answer to the question though, because it might well prove that rather than fixing the problem we've been aware of for all this time, we've ignored it for 30 years and now even fewer people can read or write.

Much like the other publicity we've received over the last few years...  It appears that plenty of people knew about the child abuse that was going on for long before anything was done about it.  Many of the authorities were well aware of what was going on, but the culprits got away with that for many years because of fear in many different forms.  

Fear of repercussions

Fear of bad publicity

Fear of unrest

Fear of everything except what was happening to those children from what I can gather.  It's not good enough, we need to start acting despite our fears, because really, what's worse?  

Rochdale Council don't always make the best of decisions either, and over the years I've watched our town centre decline into what basically amounts to a ghost town and seen at least two of my previous employers move premises to Cheshire and Trafford Park because the business rates are more reasonable in those places. How is it cheaper to rent office accommodation in the beautiful village of Cheadle than Rochdale??  Come on planning officers, time to start thinking about how to make our town great again instead of trying to get as much money as possible for that building standing empty among a whole host of other empty buildings! And yes I've seen you on the TV as well Town Planners - do you want to make this town a great place to live for everyone, somewhere that people from different places want to visit, or just a place for your mates and that bloke with the huge piles of cash in the bank to get what they want?

I can't be the only one who wants to raise the profile of the town, can I?  

Am I??

I was talking to some friends from Oldham last week, and one of them was telling me about the last time he visited Rochdale.  He'd met some friends in The Regal Moon (which many people regard as one of the best Wetherspoons due to it's size, layout and the fact that it's pretty much always busy) before a football match.  The thing that shocked me the most was when he told me about the Rochdale fans singing "Come on Oldham give us a song, give us a song..." and the Oldham fans replied with... 

"You're just a town full of paedos, town full of peados, you're just a town full of paedos..."

Oh. 

My. 

Goodness*

*edited to keep my old Catholic school teachers happy!

Seriously?  That's the song we're likely to hear if Rochdale AFC make it to the TV?  Please - no!!  

I made a bet with my friend that night, that I can raise the profile of Rochdale so that we become known for something other than the horrific things that have happened in our town.  He doesn't believe I can, and we made a bet so here I am.  We shook on the bet, and he came up with his own forfeit, so if I win (and I have until September, but I'm going to be cocky and go for the end of March) then he's going to... Actually, I'll save that for now!  Let's have a little trip down memory lane first!

I was born in late 1970, and like most Rochdale babies at the time, I was born in Birch Hill Hospital.  Like most of the hospitals in Rochdale at the time, Birch Hill used to be a workhouse, but by 1970 it was well and truly part of the fabric of Rochdale as a large hospital.  Now it's mostly gone, and I for one feel quite saddened by that, because so few babies will now be registered as "Born in Rochdale".  My younger sisters and brother were all born here, as was my eldest daughter, but my youngest was born in Bury and my grandson was born in Oldham.  Another part of history, gone forever.

In looking into Birch Hill, I found this picture and passage on Workhouses.org, both of which I found really interesting:

The first thing I noticed was that I was born just before the 93rd Anniversary of the hospital.  The second was that the entire hospital and grounds cost significantly less than a 3 or even 2 bedroom house might cost today, and then I realised that the sketch was drawn from the approximate location of the house where my family lived between 1984 and 1987 (At the cul-de-sac end of Whitegate for those interested).  There are quite a few more synchronicities in there, but I won't bore you with them right now.  However I would like to find out about the Orpheus Glee Club!!  They sound like an interesting bunch of people!  The link here shows that it's now possible to buy a house on the land that Birch Hill formerly occupied.  Direct quote from that page: 

You can now buy a two bedroom house in the newly named ‘Birch Hill Gardens’ for £127,995"...  Wait... What??

Last year I saw an article about the probability of a certain white haired ex-celebrity having been up to his nasty tricks at Birch Hill too, and that caused another fracture in my Rochdalian heart.  I used to be angry - no, furious - at this.  Now I've realised how futile that anger and fury is, because really, what does it change?  Absolutely nothing, that's what.  It just hurts me, uses up energy that could be better spent on something less stressful, and takes my focus away from the good stuff."

I've lived or spent time in most areas of Rochdale during my 44 years.  I've been called a Nomad plenty of times in my life, and sometimes I've felt that it held me back a little bit because I never seemed to stay anywhere long enough to put down any roots and stopped me from forming the deep and long lasting friendships that a lot of my friends had.  I didn't really keep in touch with anyone when I left home or school, and even though I've lived in Castleton for over 20 years now, I still know very few people here.  However, the life I've lived means that I have a really balanced view of things.  I've been an immigrant, a LegalAlien, I've learned that I can make friends wherever I find myself, and I've experienced life as a resident of the council estates of Rochdale, Belfield, Smallbridge right up to the comparative luxury of living in a 5 bedroom house in Bamford with my Grandparents.

When I was first born, my mum and dad took me home to Town Mill Brow in the Seven Sisters.  I'm not sure how old I was when we moved to Smallbridge, but I do know that I earned my "Claim to Fame" when I lived there.  Mum and Dad told me that the lady who babysat for me in those days was Bill Oddie's mum, and when we watched the Goodies I'd always imagine him knowing who I was.  I was sure we'd meet one day, and I often looked forward to that, because then I'd know a famous person so I'd automatically be popular!!  Hooray!!... Funny how children's minds work!  

I talk far too much, so you can find part two here