APPENDIX 3a

Rochdale Township funds are making a difference to the local community and environment. Examples

of successful applications in 2012/13 illustrate the type of projects that have been awarded funding.

Grant Recipient: Rochdale Township Office

Project: Paton Street Clean Up

Fund: Clean & Green Priority Fund

Awarded: £365

Funds were allocated from the Clean & Green Priority Fund to support clean ups by Community Payback to locations identified by Ward Councillors. After years of neglect, a lane off Paton Street had become very overgrown and residents welcomed the clean up of this unattractive space. Community Payback provided a team of four offenders monitored by a supervisor to undertake the work and over three days two large skips were filled with weeds, brambles, shrubs and rubbish. The clean up has transformed the site to reveal a wide cobbled lane that has surprised local residents who are pleased with what has been accomplished in such a short time. Many similar successful environmental improvement projects have been delivered across Rochdale Township in partnership with the Community Payback Team at minimal cost with excellent results.

Clean & Green Project

‘the team have done a terrific job…the

transformation has to be seen to be believed’

Val White

Rochdale Township Office

‘…saw it on my way home…it looks good’

‘Impressive’

‘noticed that yesterday nice...’

Norden residents’ comments on social

media sites

Grant Recipient: Rochdale Township Office

Project: Norden Boulder

Fund: Ward Fund & Members Fund

Awarded: £1,500

Residents of Norden Village expressed an interest in commissioning an attractive boulder to

welcome visitors to Norden. A number of options were considered for the type of boulder before

it was decided to pursue a traditional York stone version. A stonemason was selected for his

ability to blend traditional stonemasonry with design skills to cut, carve and engrave natural

stone to a bespoke design. The two ton York stone boulder was selected as it is sympathetic to

the surroundings and will stay in good condition for a lengthy period of time. ‘Norden’ was hand

carved onto the smooth polished surface of the boulder with each letter hand drawn and

individually sculpted with hammer and chisel. This ornamental boulder has received many

positive comments from the local community.

Norden Boulder

‘…take the children off the street and seeing

them enjoying the game’

Stephen Morris

Club Secretary

Grant Recipient: Kirkholt Bowling Club

Project: Equipment for Kirkholt Bowling Club

Fund: Members Fund

Awarded: £941

Kirkholt Bowling Club provides bowling for all and the opportunity to engage in league matches and

club competitions. The club has a successful junior league and experienced members volunteer their

time on a weekly basis to teach bowling to people with learning difficulties from the Gateway Centre.

This social activity is enjoyed by young and old (members aged from 6 to 83) with the sport

encouraging mutual understanding and respect between the generations. This family friendly club

applied for funds to purchase new bowls, jacks and target mats to encourage more children and young

people to take up the sport. This equipment will enable the club to start another junior team in addition

to the three teams that have already been successful with four junior members playing for Rochdale

Junior Team and two juniors play for Greater Manchester.

Kirkholt Bowling Club Equipment

‘highlight of the project…the excitement

when the tables were ready for use’

David Hollows

Spotland Youth Club Treasurer

Grant Recipient: Spotland Youth Club

Project: Sports tables for Spotland Youth Club

Fund: Members Fund

Awarded: £574

Spotland Youth Club provides a safe and secure environment for the children and young people

of the Spotland community to meet together and engage in social and sporting activities. Funds

awarded to the club enabled them to purchase a table tennis table and a snooker/pool table as

their existing equipment required replacement after many years of use. The tables have proved

very popular with all the children and young people who attend the youth club as these sports

can be enjoyed regardless of the size, age or sex of the players.

Sports tables for Spotland Youth Club

‘…improved the canal environment creating

a greater feeling of ownership’

Canal & River Trust

Grant Recipient: Canal & River Trust

Project: Canal Volunteer Taster & Activity Day

Fund: Clean & Green Priority Fund

Awarded: £1,000

The Canal Festival 2012 aimed to promote the canal as an opportunity to improve health,

participate in activity, learn about history and heritage, develop skills and increase

understanding of the environment. Funds from Rochdale Township contributed to a day of

volunteering and activities to establish a community adoption of the Well ‘i ‘th Lane section of

the Rochdale Canal. Canal & River Trust facilitated the volunteer taster activities including lock

painting, cleaning and replacing setts, vegetation work, towpath patching and litter picking,

alongside family orientated activities such as angling and canoeing taster sessions to inspire

participation from the community from a range of backgrounds, ages and interests. This project

aimed to boost new audiences to the Rochdale Canal and the local communities adjacent to the

canal, alongside encouraging visitors to the area to support the development of the tourism and

recreational economy. As a result of the event, this section of canal has been adopted by

Hopwood Hall College and Heywood Fishing Club. Students from Hopwood Hall with tutors visit

the canal on a weekly basis to undertake activities to improve the canal corridor including litter

picks, cutting back vegetation, clearing moss and vegetation from the lock side, removal of

invasive species and lock/railing painting. Heywood Fishing Club provide free fishing coaching

to young people usually from socially deprived backgrounds, and plan to arrange regular fishing

events available to the local community. Also as part of an agreement with the Canal & River

Trust, the fishing group will provide fishing bailiffs and a non-confrontational regular presence on

this stretch of canal. Both Hopwood Hall College and Heywood Fishing Club will operate the

Owls scheme which in addition to being a regular presence on the canal provides feedback to

the Canal & River Trust and can be used to develop volunteer task days.

Canal Volunteer Taster & Activity Day

’very successful…will encourage other

young people to make a change for

themselves or feel free to speak to people to

help them’

Circle Steele

Programme Manager

It was nice to learn that there are people

of different ages but with similar issues

affecting them

The presentation was excellent. We

really need to listen more to our

young people

Grant Recipient: The Children’s Society

Project: Children in Care Council – Listen Up Group

Fund: Members Fund

Awarded: £500

The Children’s Society aim to provide joined up support for children, young people and families

in the Rochdale area with specialist help for those who need it most. Funds were awarded to

the Society’s Listen Up Group to create art boards about their experiences as young people in

care to raise the profile of the group to recruit new members and communicate their work to

schools and local communities. The group want young people to be able to voice their

needs/issues and share them with the people who can make a difference. An open evening to

launch the artwork was organised by the group at Touchstones Museum and attended by

corporate parents, social workers, carers and young people with the message of sharing their

experiences to make a strong ‘ Listen up – reaching out commitment’. The group hope to

improve the levels of service that children in care receive with some of the issues voiced by

young people at the event including ‘every child to know what life story work is/have the

opportunity to do life story work’, ‘all children to have the opportunity to see their family’ and

‘stop being stereotyped with the phrase “children in care” as they are “just children”’. Young

people at the event felt they had made a real change, felt listened to and social workers would

have a better understanding of how they feel. One of the art boards has been gifted to the

Director of Children’s Services and is displayed in the new library at Number One Riverside,

and a ‘reaching out’ booklet was produced to show the pictures created and what they mean.

Listen Up Group