WEEKEND COLUMN SATURDAY 1 AUGUST 2026
- STEVE COOKE AATA
- 2 days ago
- 10 min read
previews, articles, reviews, interviews, and recommendations with Steve Cooke
WEEKEND COLUMN SATURDAY 1 AUGUST 2026
Article: What change would you most like to see in Rochdale Borough over the next ten years?
Previews: David Threlfall returns to the Royal Exchange Theatre after 27 years to play Lear, The Expansion of Sound with Ethan Loch, Christoph Altstaedt & the Carers of Greater Manchester
Review: A beautiful selection of British song with soupçons of France, Italy and Broadway at TLC
What change would you most like to see in Rochdale Borough over the next ten years?
By Steve Cooke
What change would you most like to see in the Creative Arts in Rochdale Borough over the next ten years?
Round Here is an open invitation for people across Rochdale Borough to share their ideas, hopes and ambitions for the future. Whether you’ve got one big idea, a small change you’d love to see, or you’re simply curious about what other people are saying, there’s a place for you. You can share ideas, vote on others, pin a suggestion to the map or leave a voice note. It’s already sparking conversations across the borough.
I see this as a great opportunity for the creative arts community to use its voice and influence the future.
The creative arts in Rochdale are going from strength to strength following the highly successful year as GM Town of Culture and anticipation of possibly becoming UK Town of culture 2027. We have our wonderful, award winning Town Hall and soon to be reopened a refurbished and reimagined Touchstones. Our creative writing and art workshops are flourishing. Classical music of the highest quality is readily available in iconic venues. Regular readers of this column will be fully aware of these and many more creative arts riches on our doorstep.
The Touchstones project forms a key part of the establishment of a creative district in Rochdale town centre, which included the refurbishment of Rochdale Town Hall, the new town hall square, the Fire Up digital and creative co-working space, new artist workspaces on Richard Street as well as new public art, signage and marketing.
This opportunity offers not a consultation. Not a survey with twenty tick boxes to choose from and a “we’ll be in touch.” Round Here is an open invitation for people to add different perspectives and help shape what comes next for Rochdale, together.
This isn’t necessarily about starting from scratch either. It’s about building on the incredible work, relationships and ideas that already exist across the borough, while making space for even more people to get involved for the good of the place.\
Round Here is hosted by For Generations To Come and brought to life by the Our Future team, alongside partners The Ogden Trust, Rochdale AFC and Rochdale AFC Community Trust.
At the heart of it all is a simple message.
“I believe the best future for Rochdale will be shaped by the people and organisations who care deeply about it and are ready to explore new possibilities together. No one person can do this alone.” – Cameron Ogden, Co-Chairman, Rochdale AFC
Rochdale’s future will be shaped by the people who care about the Borough
Over the past year, through For Generations To Come, the Our Future team has spent time across the borough meeting people, listening to what matters, and seeing first-hand the amazing work already happening in communities.
Through those conversations, one message came up again and again. There’s lots of great work happening, but people don’t always know what others are doing, or how they can get involved. A sentiment echoed across the creative arts community.
That’s exactly why Round Here exists.
It brings together ideas, conversations and opportunities from across Rochdale Borough, making it easier to discover what’s already happening, and will connect people who care about the same things, and help move good ideas forward together.
Every idea and experience shared helps build a bigger picture of what matters most to people across Rochdale Borough. Some might inspire local action; others might connect people who care about the same things. Together, they point towards the future people want to build.
Three simple ways to get involved
Whether you want to suggest something new, support someone else’s idea, explore what people across Rochdale are talking about, or just see where the conversation takes you, there’s a place for you. Round Here is available in different languages too, so language doesn’t need to be a barrier.
1) Vote and share ideas
Browse ideas from across the borough, support the ones that matter most to you, or add your own.
2) Drop a pin on the map
Show where you’d like to see change happen and why that place matters to you.
3) Record a voice note
If writing isn’t your thing, that’s absolutely fine. Share your thoughts in your own words, in your own voice.
More than just an online conversation
You’ll also find the For Generations To Come team out and about in communities across the borough through Let’s Talk About conversations and at local community events.
Let’s help spread the word
What change would you most like to see in Rochdale Borough’s creative arts over the next ten years?
Say it simply. Say it honestly. Say it your way.
Do you know someone who’d like to be part of this conversation? Please share Round Here with them.
Please Join the conversation, let’s be heard.
If you’d like to help spread the word, host a conversation, or simply find out more about getting involved, they’d love to hear from you.
Get in touch at https://round-here.co.uk/?utm_source=Website&utm_medium=Website&utm_campaign=Visioning&utm_id=Website&utm_content=Visioning
David Threlfall returns to the Royal Exchange Theatre after 27 years to play Lear
Preview by Steve Cooke
Stil buzzing from the Fun Home experience I am now tingling with anticipation of David Trelfall appearing in a reimagining of Shakespeare’s masterpiece, King Lear.
‘You see how full of changes his age is’
Shakespeare’s most elemental tragedy charts a kingdom where power corrupts, families become enemies and prosperity devolves into war. At its centre is the mind of a man who can no longer understand what it means to be human.
Lear is a searing portrait of a king unable to distinguish truth from lies. As the storm rises and night falls, language, identity and meaning break down completely.
This reimagining of Shakespeare’s masterwork is adapted and directed by Matthew Dunster, who returns for his sixth engagement at the Royal Exchange, in a unique and emotionally charged take on one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays.
Book now
Prices
Standard Tickets from £12* [* All orders will be subject to a fee of £2.00.]
King Lear Friday 2 October – Sunday 15 November 2026 at Royal Exchange Theatre, St Ann’s Square,
Manchester M2 7DH
David Threlfall is best known for playing Frank Gallagher in Channel 4's series Shameless, he also directed several episodes of the show. In April 2014, he portrayed comedian Tommy Cooper in a television film entitled Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This. In 2014, he starred alongside Jude Law in the thriller Black Sea. In 2024 he played Paul Peveril in the six-part BBC drama Nightsleeper.
For his role in Nicholas Nickleby, he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1980, which was followed by a second nomination in the Best Actor category in 2006 for Someone Who'll Watch Over Me. His role in Paradise Postponed (1986) earned Threlfall a nomination for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor. In 2022, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance in the Martin McDonagh play Hangmen.
I for one can’t wait to see what he makes of Lear!
The Expansion of Sound with Ethan Loch, Christoph Altstaedt & the Carers of Greater Manchester
Preview by Steve Cooke
As part of their Here We Are Festival, Manchester Camerata returns to home - The Monastery, Manchester for a classical concert that connects music across nearly 800 years and explores what happens when composers break the rules.
It begins with Pérotin’s Viderunt Omnes, a hypnotic soundworld from the Middle Ages that still feels radical today. From there, move through shifting ideas of time, harmony and listening, including Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question, where strings, solo trumpet and woodwinds inhabit completely different worlds.
At the centre of the concert is a new work by Alan Williams, created with and inspired by carers from across Greater Manchester, a piece rooted in real voices and lived experience, shaped with friends at The University of Salford.
They’re also welcoming back pianist Ethan Loch, Artistic Partner, for his fourth appearance with Manchester Camerata and second in the Great Nave of The Monastery, joining conductor Christoph Altstaedt for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 - the work that marked Beethoven out as a composer determined to do things differently.
The programme closes with Terry Riley’s In C, a landmark of minimalism built from simple repeating patterns that gradually shift and evolve, inviting performers and listeners into a shared sense of time and space.
TICKETS
Band A (£3-£27.50) > https://manchestercamerata3.beaconforms.com/form/e7738f99
Band B (£3-£22.50) > https://manchestercamerata3.beaconforms.com/form/8b063612
Band C (£3-£17.50) > https://manchestercamerata3.beaconforms.com/form/cad65d7d
The Expansion of Sound with Ethan Loch, Christoph Altstaedt & the Carers of Greater Manchester
Friday 18 September 2026, 7:30pm, The Monastery, 89 Gorton Lane, Manchester M12 5WF
A beautiful selection of British song with soupçons of France, Italy and Broadway at TLC
Review by Dr Joe Dawson
This lyrical Toad Lane Concert at St Mary in the Baum was the 1,194th since taking over from Rochdale council in 2001.
Tim Kennedy began his musical career singing for the late Queen Elizabeth II, as a treble at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, and was then a music scholar at Winchester College. He spent his gap year performing at Truro Cathedral, then studied music at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. But he has now been based in Manchester for more than twenty years pursuing a varied freelance career. His singing work is mainly as a freelance tenor soloist in recitals and oratorio, but he also works as a piano accompanist, organist and vocal coach; he is a staff accompanist for singers at the RNCM.
Tim was accompanied expertly throughout by Carol Kwater who is an organist, accompanist and music teacher. She works full time for Wigan Music Service as a tutor and accompanist, and as a private tutor. She is much in demand as an accompanist for soloists and various choral groups, including Wigan Choral Society and Bolton Festival Choir and is also Musical Director of St Helens Choral Society and currently Director of Music at St Wilfrid’s Church, Standish. Carol also contributed piano solos (particularly helpful for a singer in this heatwave! like the soccer world cup ‘hydration breaks’).
Enrico Toselli’s ‘Serenata’ announced this summer serenade, with Tim’s light tenor floating in the acoustic at St Mary in the Baum; followed by Dunhill’s ‘The cloths of heaven’ and two songs by Roger Quilter.
The first of Carol’s ‘hydration break’ solos was William Gillock’s Sonatine, an attractive sort of mini sonata.
Then two appealing French songs, by Nadia Boulanger and her teacher, Gabriel Fauré, contrasted by two robust Welsh numbers (in English) by Trevor Evans and Rhys Jones.
Carol’s second solo was a delightful salon piece simply entitled ‘Friends’ by Joe Hisaishi.
The plaintive ‘A brown bird singing’ by Haydn Wood and an impassioned plea, ‘Elëanore’, by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor took us to a pair of Lerner and Loewe songs: ‘There but for you go I’ (Brigadoon) and ‘On the street where you live’ (My Fair Lady) admirably suited to Tim’s persuasive light tenor voice.
A beautiful selection of British song with soupçons of France, Italy and Broadway. All we needed was iced tea (or Pimm’s) and cucumber sandwiches without the crusts.
The Queen’s Award-winning Toad Lane Concerts every Wednesday at 12.30pm at the Grade 1 listed church of St Mary in the Baum, Toad Lane, Rochdale, OL16 1DZ/1AP. Entrance fee is £6. Contact 01706 648872 for further information.
RECOMMENDED
Saturday, 1 August 2026
Themed Lego Club - Wardle Library
First 2 Saturdays of each month. Come and join our themed Lego club, with Duplo available for younger children. Can you create something amazing?
For families with children aged 4 and over.
No need to book, you can just come along.
10am - 12pm
Wardle Library, 448 Birch Road, Wardle, Rochdale OL12 9LH
Saturday, 1 August 2026
Bring Your Own Book Club - Rochdale Central Library
This is a book club with no assigned reading and no homework.
Free
Every other Saturday. Fancy a little quiet reading time surrounded by fellow book-lovers? Come along, settle in, have a chat, have a read, and have fun.
For adults and teenagers.
No booking required, you can just turn up.
12pm - 1pm
Rochdale Central Library, Number One Riverside, Smith Street, Rochdale OL16 1XU
Monday, 3 August 2026
Wardle Library Reading Group
1st Monday of every month. Discover new authors and discuss new books with other readers at our free, friendly and informal monthly meetings. Everyone's welcome.
For adults and teenagers.
No need to book, you can just turn up.
Free
Who is this event suitable for? For adults and teenagers.
Do I need to book? No, you can just turn up.
6pm - 7pm
Wardle Library, 448 Birch Road, Wardle, Rochdale OL12 9LH
Monday, 3 August 2026
Little Reads at Rochdale Central Library
First Monday of every month. Little Reads is a fun, interactive workshop using drama, dance, songs and play to explore children’s picture books.
For families with children aged 2–6.
No booking required: No, you can just turn up.
This is a space for you and your little ones to have fun sharing a story, singing, moving and playing. Remember to join in yourself as your children love to copy you.
Free
10am - 10.30am
Rochdale Central Library, Number One Riverside, Smith Street, Rochdale OL16 1XU
Wednesday, 5 August 2026
Heywood Scribblers - Heywood Library
First Wednesday of every month. Free, friendly creative writing sessions. Poetry and story-writing workshops. All abilities welcome, whether you're new to writing or a seasoned writer.
For adults, families and teenagers.
No need to book, you can just drop in.
1.15pm - 3.15pm
Heywood Library, LCpl Stephen Shaw MC Way, Heywood OL10 1LW
Wednesday, 5 August 2026
Toad Lane Concerts - Rochdale's Weekly Music at Lunchtime
This week we have - Luke Jones piano (RNCM Gold Medallist)
Running every Wednesday, Music at Lunchtime is a weekly live classical music concert series that has been going since the 1960s. The sessions were initially run at the old Rochdale Art Gallery by the local authority, but since May 2001 have been run by volunteer-enthusiasts and artistic director, Dr Joe Dawson.
£6
Phone: Dr Joe Dawson 01706 648872
St Mary in the Baum, Toad Lane/St Mary's Gate, Rochdale OL16 1DZ
Doors open 12noon, concert starts 12.30pm - 1.30pm
