WEEKEND COLUMN SATURDAY 11 APRIL 2026
- STEVE COOKE AATA
- 2 minutes ago
- 11 min read
Previews, reviews, interviews, and recommendations with Steve Cooke
WEEKEND COLUMN SATURDAY 11 APRIL 2026
Poetry Spotlight: Damilola Uthman
Previews: Organ concerts at Rochdale Town Hall and Julie Hesmondhalgh To Help Reshape Oldham Coliseum Theatre’s Reopening Programme As Guest Curator
Review: Rochdale mayor unveils bronze bust in celebration of strong female leadership and female creative talent, Another richly varied month in this eclectic weekly music series plus Rochdale Music Society concert with pianist Jonathan Ellis
POETRY SPOTLIGHT - Damilola Uthman
I’m called Dami. I love to write and bake, sometimes simultaneously.
The Path
I’d like to say I forged my way
chose the path less worn, less grey
but aye, this trail I tread is old and wide
with echoes etched on either side.
Yet still, I claim each step, each stone
the pathway carved, lines already sown
And though it's lined with signs and dust
its weight in me feels just and just.
These countless prints, these presence, these signs
they whisper: ""Child, you’re not the first to come.""
For every foot that’s walked this ground
has lived, has loved, and safe was found.
So let them walk beside my climb
their strength in me
their path now mine
I’m just a girl really, but asides being just a girl, I’m a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend, and a full time worker. I wear a lot of hats while still trying to navigate my way through life and it does get tiring. But I’m aware lots of women all over the world do the same and I draw strength from the fact that I’m not alone. So, the poem is for all of us.
Rochdale mayor unveils bronze bust in celebration of strong female leadership and female creative talent.
By Steve Cooke
A stunning bronze bust of Rochdale mayor councillor Janet Emsley has been unveiled at the town hall.
The sculpture, commissioned as part of the town’s year as Greater Manchester Town of Culture and funded by Arts Council England, celebrates female leadership and the borough’s female creative talent – Janet and Kara are a powerful combination!
Following an inspirational and illuminating introduction by the sculptor the bust was unveiled by the woman herself, which she described as quite a surreal and truly humbling moment.
Councillor Emsley said: “I’m very proud to finally see it, quite a strange thing to come face to face with, a little emotional really. Rochdale’s progress in the creative fields over the last few years has been magnificent, so to see it culminate in this year as Greater Manchester Town of Culture has been incredible.”
A proud mother, grandmother and great grandmother, the mayor was a teacher and director of performing arts at Wardle High School until her retirement in 2015. As a councillor she has represented Littleborough Lakeside since 2014 and was elected mayor of Rochdale in 2025. Councillor Emsley was also a longstanding member of Arts Council England’s North Area Council.
Janet’s year as Mayor and Rochdale’s year as GM Town of culture couldn’t have been more serendipitous!
Artist Kara Lyons, based at Ebor Studio in nearby Littleborough created the work in a bid to address the imbalance of female civic leaders, but said having known the mayor for many years, it was a tough commission. She said: “Janet taught all three of my children, we go back a long way, so there was added pressure on this one to get it right! She has worked tirelessly to support the arts, and I hope this is a fitting tribute during her year as mayor too. I don’t think we celebrate female civic leadership enough, and I’d like to see women represented in public spaces as much as men are. It’s important that young women see female role models.”
The sculpture in Rochdale follows the unveiling of a statue in 2016 of Rochdale born 1930’s film star, singer and comedian Dame Gracie Fields - the first female statue in Greater Manchester since Queen Victoria 100 years earlier.
With Janet and Kara behind the move to increase the number of female statues and sculptures across Greater Manchester we can look forward to many more unveilings.
The bust is now on permanent display at Rochdale Town Hall, adding to the many magnificent works of art already on display.
Another richly varied month in this eclectic weekly music series
Review by Dr Joe Dawson
March 04: Students from Chetham’s School of Music - accompanied by Staff Member Gemma Webster, herself an award-winning pianist. Violet sang Handel, Viardot and also Lloyd-Webber’s Wishing you were somehow here again, all with a pleasing clear tone and engaging manner. Erin’s enthusiastic viola playing of J S Bach’s unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 4, was followed by the first movement of Hoffmeister’s Viola Concerto. Superb. Violet was joined by Miriam for Mendelssohn’s Lieder Duets, in beautifully balanced part singing. Cellist Will played Sally Beamish’s contemporary unaccompanied piece Gala Water and Brahms Sonata op. 99 with immense control, power, and musicianship beyond his years. A fantastic lunchtime concert, doing Chetham’s proud and giving enormous pleasure through its gifted students … and staff.
March 11: Rochdale Phoenix Opera Company - Established in 1977 with the merger of Kirkholt G&S Society and Rochdale Intimate Opera Group it represents the borough’s rich tradition of amateur operatic and dramatic performance. Firstly, a set of solo songs delivered by Anne Butterworth, Jane Reynolds, Gerard Marsden, and Susan Fletcher, accompanied by Elaine Marsden as appetisers. Then the assembled company delivered solos, duets and extracts from ‘The Gondoliers’ and ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ with the second accompanist, Isobel Richie-Ingham. The superb acoustic of St Mary in the Baum made up for the lack of costumes and scenery. All narrated and directed by Jonathan Gibson who has done a great job developing his team’s ensemble work.
March 18: Tonacliffe Primary School in their fourth annual visit. Headmistress Mrs J Heap brought fifty-five children for a delightful hour of music-making. Few things could signify spring so joyously. The choral singing (sometimes in parts), recorders, embryonic brass group was always enthusiastic. They even sported a solo guitarist, Harry Slattery, who showed much promise with his Turkish March and cheerful smile. Music teacher Freda Farnworth apologised for including Christmas leftovers; but we appreciated the well-rehearsed numbers and that leftovers can often taste better when reheated!
February 25: Louise Taylor soprano & Jill Taylor mezzo & Jonathan Ellis piano, two singers with extensive careers across oratorio, recital, concert and stage. A soaring performance of The Flower Duet by Delibes (a.k.a. British Airways advert) established them as fine performers whose voices and characters blend well together. Concert songs by Faure, Hahn, Quilter, Britten plus an extract and solos from West Side story and Weill and Blitzstein culminated in Humperdinck’s famous duet, Evening Prayer. They were expertly accompanied by Jonathan Ellis who also contributed a piano interlude with the fantastic concert piece, Hungarian Rhapsody in C sharp minor by Listz, from memory. A terrific trio of talent.
The Queen’s Award-winning Toad Lane Concerts are every Wednesday at 12.30 pm at St Mary in the Baum, Toad Lane, Rochdale, OL16 1DZ. Entrance fee is £6. Contact 01706 648872 for further information.
Organ concerts at Rochdale Town Hall
Preview by Steve Cooke
An invitation to join Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside Organist Association in their celebrity concerts on the magnificent Binns Organ in Rochdale Town Hall.
Coming up are:
Tuesday, 19 May 2026 at 1pm Alexander Woodrow (Leeds Minster)
Monday, 22 June 2026 at 1pm Jean Martyn (cinema organist)
Tickets from £8
Book by phone: call 01706 924797
You can also pay on the door with card or cash, depending on availability.
Rochdale Town Hall, The Esplanade, Rochdale OL16 1AZ
Julie Hesmonhaugh To Help Reshape Oldham Coliseum Theatre’s Reopening Programme As Guest Curator
By Steve Cooke
Award-winning actor and writer Julie Hesmondhalgh will join Oldham Coliseum Theatre as Guest Curator, working with CEO Martina Murphy to help shape the theatre's reopening programme.
Olivier Award-nominated this year for her role in James Graham's PUNCH, and currently on screen in BBC's Crookhaven, Julie's appointment marks a significant step in the Coliseum's next chapter — as the organisation continues its borough-wide programme of theatre performance and other activities, while preparing to return to its permanent home on Fairbottom Street. The building is currently undergoing major refurbishment and redevelopment by Oldham Council, creating a renewed space for audiences, artists and communities as part of the town's wider regeneration.
Julie, who along with the theatre-going community in Oldham, played a key role in the fight to save the Coliseum from permanent closure, is well-placed to be part of the shaping the artistic identity of the artistic vision leading up to and including the reopening season: helping to define a programme that is rooted in Oldham, champions northern voices, and connects local stories to wider audiences.
The announcement comes at a time of growing momentum across Oldham with the recent award of GM Town of Culture 2026/27 with culture and creativity already playing an increasingly central role in the borough's future.\
Alongside planning for reopening, Oldham Coliseum Theatre continues to produce theatre and live performance across the borough — demonstrating what a civic theatre can be beyond a single building. As a producing house, this work remains the beating heart of the organisation: creating, commissioning and sharing stories that reflect the place and the people it serves. Current activity spans performance, artist development and community engagement, with further programme announcements to come over the coming months.\
"We're shaping what the Coliseum's return will look and feel like — not just reopening a building but setting the tone for what comes next.”
"As we begin the process of appointing a Creative Director, we're delighted to welcome Julie Hesmondhalgh as Guest Curator to help shape our opening season. Julie brings a depth of experience as an actor and writer, alongside a strong connection to the North. Her voice will help ensure that this next chapter is rooted in the place it belongs to — with northern and working-class stories at its heart."
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Julie Hesmondhalgh said:
"What has always made the Coliseum special is the strong sense of ownership it engenders among its audiences, and this was at the heart of the Save Oldham Coliseum campaign: borne out in the determination and passion with which those audiences fought to save their theatre. I am really excited to be working alongside Martina and the team, and of course with the Friends of the Coliseum, to help shape a wonderful programme of theatre, of- and for- the people of Oldham, in the lead up to reopening, and when the beloved Coli opens its doors to audiences again."
The reopening of Oldham Coliseum Theatre forms part of a wider vision for a Cultural Campus in the town — placing creativity, skills and opportunity at the heart of Oldham's future, and creating new ways for people to engage with theatre both inside and beyond the building.
More details about the current Oldham Coliseum Theatre season can be found on the revamped website. The autumn season will be announced in early summer. More information about the refurbishment and reopening of the theatre building in Fairbottom Street will be released in due course.
Visit: https://coliseum.org.uk
Rochdale Music Society concert with pianist Jonathan Ellis
Review by Graham Marshall
This was the first of the four concerts making up the Rochdale Music Society’s 2026 Spring Series at 3.00pm on Sunday afternoons in St. Michael’s Church, Bamford.
Jonathan Ellis, well-known for his concert performances and work as accompanist here in the North West, produced a delightful programme of music by Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Brahms and Chopin which demonstrated his masterly command of the ever widening range of musical invention and expression that these composers brought to the nineteenth and early twentieth century.
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Jonathan is one of those artists whose interpretation of the score shows that he has delved deeply below its surface to discover hidden challenges and opportunities to bring to the surface to attract and keep his audience’s attention. This was evident from the word go as he began his programme with a performance of Mozart’s Fantasy in D minor, a single movement work, improvisatory in style, opening with a haunting theme and proceeding with emotional depth and dramatic keyboard contrasts to its very satisfactory end. This was followed by an equally revealing account of one of Beethoven’s late Sonatas (in A flat Op. 110), which begins in a very gentle, disarming fashion and continues with what at the time of its composition would have been heard as somewhat revolutionary sounds set in strange structural contexts, including an extensive fugue, and working up to an almost riotous conclusion.
To add to the excitement of the ‘experimental’ music of Mozart and Beethoven the first half of the concert concluded with the three pieces which make up Debussy’s Images Book 1. Written in the early years of the twentieth century these ‘impressionistic’ pieces take music beyond the bounds of nineteenth century musical imagery, which was largely of Germanic origin and design, and begin to make use of the vast range of modern piano sonorities discovered by the adventurous minds of composers not feeling obliged to submit to their Teutonic predecessor’s way of doing things. At the same time, performances such as Jonathan’s show just how interrelated are the resources of musical expression, and how satisfying the artistic achievement of music of all kinds and eras can be.
Two ‘late Romantic’ works of genius occupied the second half of the concert, one of Austro-Hungarian origins and the other of Polish-French, both calling for the technical brilliance, intensity and restraint that Jonathan brought to their performance. These first was Brahms’s Sonata in F♯ minor, which, with its visionary content, shows at an early stage in his life the composer’s intention to make a significant contribution to the repertory in the wake of Beethoven. The other was Chopin’s Barcarolle in F♯ major, one of those works of musical magic destined to send anyone, who just been listening to it as played by the likes of Jonathan, away rejoicing in the pleasure to be found in the making of music.
The next concert will be on Sunday, 19 April, when Flautist Daniel Shao and Pianist Mark Rogers will be playing a varied programme of music by Gluck, Debussy, Mendelssohn, Poulenc and others. Full details on the website www.rochdalemusicsociety.org.
RECOMMENDED
Saturday, 11 April 2026
Ebor Studio: Open studio
Once a year Ebor Studio open their doors so you can see their studios and meet their artists. Come along to see their 15 artist studios spanning photography, sound, sculpture, painting, textiles and more and have a look at their community garden.
They will also have a group exhibition from their growing community of associate members in Gallery FRANK - artists who are part of Ebor Studio Group but don't have studios in their mill.
12:00
Free / Pay What You Want
Ebor Studio, William Street, Rochdale, Lancashire, OL15 8JP
Sunday, 12 April 2026
Ice Age Adventure Live
Brace yourselves for a mammoth mission in the frozen world of Ice Age Adventure Live! Journey back in time to meet incredible prehistoric animals in the coolest family show this side of the arctic circle.
Join our fearless explorers as they trek through snow-packed valleys, outwit sabre-toothed surprises, and make friends with the coolest cavemen, even bringing back some extinct dodo friends for the ride.
This icy adventure is sure to knock your snow boots off. Help our heroes save the woolly mammoth by joining in with the frosty fun in this live theatre show.
After the show, get up close like never before and meet your prehistoric pal, the polar bear. This mammoth fun-filled family day out is the frozen tale you’ll never forget.
From £16.00
14:00
LCpl Stephen Shaw MC Way, Heywood, Greater Manchester, OL10 1LW
Accessibility
Accessible viewing platform / area
Wheel chair / pram accessible
Tuesday, 14 April 2026
Easter Holiday Hive - Littleborough Library
Drop in for our ‘Sweet Stories Egg-stravaganza’ activities. Will they be Alice or Wonka-themed, or maybe something else?
For families with pre- and primary school-aged children.
No need to book, you can just turn up. Activities first come, first served.
Free
10am - 11.30am
Littleborough Library, Hare Hill Park, Littleborough OL15 9HE
Tuesday, 14 April 2026
Easter Holiday Hive Construction Club - Balderstone Library
Join us for our special Holiday Hive Construction Club and build a mechanical model.
For families with children aged 6 and over.
Free
Booking required: there are 2 identical sessions running on the same date. Please book the session you want to join using the links below:
Book place on 1pm–1.45pm session on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/holiday-hive-construction-club-balderstone-library-group-a-tickets-1985452567075?aff=oddtdtcreator
Book place on 1.45pm–2.30pm session on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/copy-of-holiday-hive-construction-club-balderstone-library-group-b-tickets-1985452675399?aff=oddtdtcreator
Balderstone Library, Balderstone Park, Platting Lane, Rochdale OL11 2HD
Wednesday, 15 April 2026
Easter Holiday Hive - Middleton Library
Drop in for our ‘Sweet Stories Egg-stravaganza’ activities. Will they be Alice or Wonka-themed, or maybe something else?
Free
For families with pre- and primary school-aged children.
No need to book, you can just turn up. Activities first come, first served.
10am - 11.30am
Middleton Library, Long Street, Middleton M24 6DU
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Wednesday, 15 April 2026
Toad Lane Concerts - Rochdale's Weekly Music at Lunchtime
This week we have - Lucy Farrimond soprano and piano (RNCM)
The concert series has been held at St Mary’s since 2001 and was granted the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2020.
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
Doors open 12noon, concert starts 12.30pm - 1.30pm
St Mary in the Baum, Toad Lane/St Mary's Gate, Rochdale OL16 1DZ
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