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