WEEKEND COLUMN SATURDAY 2 MAY 2026
- STEVE COOKE AATA
- 3 minutes ago
- 11 min read
previews, reviews, interviews, and recommendations with Steve Cooke
WEEKEND COLUMN SATURDAY 2 MAY 2026
Previews: Skylight Circus Arts and secures £125,990 to transform Rochdale creative hub
Reviews: Sammy Weaver Poet Laureate and A rare treat to see an accomplished, self-accompanied classical singer at TLC
Sammy Weaver Poet Laureate
By Steve Cooke
When a year ago it was announced that we had got a Poet Laureate many said: A Poet Laureate? Rochdale?
A year later and Sammy Weaver has not only emphatically answered the doubters but proved that a Poet Laureate should be a permanent fixture in Rochdale and in every town across the UK!
Through her workshops and performances she has both encouraged and enabled people to find and use their voice and massively changed attitudes towards poetry from ‘don’t get it’ to ‘wow that’s amazing’.
In achieving this Sammy worked with people across the whole borough, from ten to eighty years old, from all our diverse communities and from the barely literate to established writers .Many of their poems can be read alongside her own work and that of our young poets in residence Sasha Mostafa, 18, and 25-year-old Alende Amisi in published anthologies, Weaving Words and Poems to change the World.
I caught up with Sammy as her term as Poet Laureate came to its conclusion to get her take on her year in office.
What is undeniable is time spent in her company is always a rewarding and enjoyable experience. Her genuine warmth and enthusiasm light up her surroundings and the people in her presence, as experienced by many across our town.
Sammy started by sharing her personal highlights:
”I chose to go into HMP Buckley Hall, it wasn’t really part of the project, but I am passionate about rehabilitation and changing the tone of prisons. Following the workshops the guys went on to create their own creative writing group within the prison.”
“The workshops with primary school children got them into local libraries, for many their first time! It felt like a magical session every time. We had whole year groups and classes so that it wasn’t just kids that like and were good at writing but those who thought they were no good at all, low in confidence and that it wasn’t for them. Those who wanted to play football and not sit down and write. I worked one to one with some of them to get into their world and discover what gets them going which led them into writing their first ever poems.”
“Many of the poems written by people and children who thought they were no good or just had never written a poem before, had never expressed themselves in that way, getting into print in two anthologies Weaving Words and Poems to Change the World. Becoming published authors and some of them even performing their poems at the Rochdale in Rhyme public launch of Weaving Words.”
“Mentoring Sasha and Alende, two very different poets. Alende’s poems reach a wide audience with his tone and generous use of language , his poems really build compassion. Sasha can be very surprising, coming at things in oblique ways, making ordinary things extraordinary. Seeing them grow across the year has been really amazing. I had done lots of workshops before, but one-to-one mentoring was new for me “
What is difficult to convey in writing is just how enthusiastic and rightly proud she is of the outcomes and legacy of her year in and amongst the people of Rochdale.
I asked her what she had learned over her time as a vital cog in our year as GM Town of Culture.
“I already knew Rochdale quite well but Heywood and Middleton very little. I got to know each area and found that they are very different. It was fascinating, especially linking up with different community groups. I learned that the whole borough though has a real grass roots, caring feel, completely at odds with its portrayal in the media. When I mentioned Rochdale to family and friends, they tended to remember bad news stories which is not at all representative.”
“I felt that this whole project spoke to Rochdale’s rich history of pioneering and co-operation. I was struck again and again by ordinary people doing extraordinary things.’
“ Rochdale is on fire through this year as Town of Culture, every week bringing something new such as the mural festival and FAB, the kids festival and the family picnics in the park”
“ A local love of green spaces, reclaimed spaces linked to the industrial past, people taking loving care of little stretches of industrial land that in the past would have been spoils heaps or piles of rubble. I especially experienced this with a walking group in Middleton, not seeing rose gardens but beauty growing out of rubble.”
“Seeing diversity celebrated such as in a workshop with the New Pioneers in Spotland , some of whom had English as their second or third language, with kids and babies in the room, we had a great session with a group of people many of whom had had troubled experiences who had built a home here but also had experience multiple homes on their journey.”
What next for Sammy?
I was delighted by the revelation that she is currently working on compiling a full collection of her poems for the first time as well as working on themes for new poems.
Before rushing off to deliver her next workshop, this time in Huddersfield, she underlined the power of poetry.
“Poetry is a bridge, it builds compassion, metaphor itself builds compassion, a bridge linking two distinct things into a similarity, it’s not just for wedding and funerals but for every day. It is about expressing yourself, not about having perfect grammar or strict structure like rhyme or metre or sonnets, it is literally about expressing things as you see them! Poetry can create immense clarity and also hold immense confusion, the whole complexity of being human, a mirror to the emotions we all experience, expressing it so other people can feel that hurt as it puts into words what they have been feeling. . Language always falls short but the humbling attempt to do it is a bridge, a connector.”
I highly recommend following Sammy on https://www.instagram.com/sammyjweaver/
To keep in touch with the culture scene in Rochdale visit and follow: https://www.rochdalecreates.co.uk/ The central hub for the creative community in Rochdale borough.
And of course follow our AATA column in the Rochdale Observer, InYourArea, at allacrossthearts.com and across social media.
You can buy copies of the two anthologies, Weaving Words and Poems to Change the World in Rochdale Town Hall and Libraries across the borough.
Skylight Circus Arts secures £125,990 to transform Rochdale creative hub
By Steve Cooke
Delighted that Skylight Circus Arts has been awarded £125,990 from the Arts Everywhere Fund through Arts Council England to upgrade its Rochdale base and expand access to creative opportunities across Rochdale and Greater Manchester.
For over 35 years, the wonderful Skylight Circus Arts has been bringing people together through circus, building confidence, creativity and connection in one of the UK’s most disadvantaged communities.
This very well deserved new investment will strengthen the organisation’s home at St Chad’s Fold, transforming it into a more accessible, sustainable and flexible creative space for local people.
The funding will support a programme of improvements including energy-efficient heating, enhanced security, new aerial infrastructure, flexible seating and upgraded theatre equipment. It will also enable the purchase of a small electric van to support its valuable outreach work in communities with low cultural engagement.
Together, these developments will help Skylight reduce its environmental impact, improve reliability of delivery and open up more opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to take part in circus.
“Circus brings people together, builds confidence and helps people discover new skills. This investment means we can create a space that truly matches the ambition of our work and the communities we serve. It will help us welcome more people in, reach further out across our
communities and keep creating joyful, life-changing experiences through circus for years to come.”
Skylight Circus Arts is regularly featured in our AATA columns but for those who don’t know it works with children, young people, families and adults, including those experiencing disadvantage, disability or social isolation. From weekly classes and youth performance to outreach in schools and community settings, the organisation uses circus as a powerful tool for creativity, wellbeing and inclusion.
This investment will help secure the long-term future of the organisation while enabling more people to access high-quality arts and culture close to home.
The project is also being supported by Rochdale Borough Council and Rochdale Development Agency.
Jim Riley, Chair of the Board of Trustees said:
“This is fantastic news for Skylight, each year we work with over 10,000 participants across local communities. Capital investment was urgently needed to continue to provide create life changing experiences for local people”
Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy said:
“I want everyone, everywhere to feel a sense of pride about where they come from. Cultural organisations across the North West are important custodians of local identity and play a key role in the story we tell ourselves as a nation. Our Arts Everywhere Fund is delivering on our commitment to support cultural assets across the country, increasing access and preserving them for future generations. This is demonstrated by grants announced today that will benefit seventeen culture venues, museums, and library services across the North West. Arts and culture are the beating hearts of our communities; they have the power to unite us in the face of division and break down barriers to opportunity. We want to harness the power to help us build a brighter future for the people of the North West.”
\
Rebecca Ball, Area Director, North, Arts Council England said:
“Our museums, libraries and arts organisations have the power to change lives, they give us access to new worlds, teach us about our heritage and give us new perspectives on life. I’m so pleased that we’ll be supporting so many of our cultural organisations in the North with this capital investment, which will ensure that they can continue to deliver incredible arts and culture to their communities.”
Skylight Circus Arts
Phone 01706 650676
A rare treat to see an accomplished, self-accompanied classical singer at TLC
Review by Dr Joe Dawson
A rare treat to see an accomplished, self-accompanied classical singer Lucy Farrimond is a British lyric soprano who first appeared at St Mary in the Baum as an RNCM student in 2020 and is clearly fulfilling the considerable promise she showed then. It is great that Rochdale’s generous audiences at Toad Lane Concerts are helping such talent to hone their performing skills. What is more, her latest album was to be presented the following day in Manchester.
At just 21, Lucy made her BBC Proms solo debut with Haydn’s The Creation at the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and she has featured on BBC and ITV and on BBC Radio.
It takes a special singer to dare to be self-accompanied. Issues arise assuming you are competent in both sets of skills, (which Lucy clearly was), on the one hand you can dispense with an unsympathetic or incompetent pianist, but you could miss the shared interpretation and combined nuances of two individual musicians. You can keep control of your personal interpretation yet focus on the score could limit your rapport with the audience … and so on. Lucy coped with these issues remarkably well.
Her determination to develop this as her USP (unique selling point) is reminiscent of the late, great, twentieth century singer, pianist and composer Professor Michael Head FRAM who gave his first public recital as a self-accompanied singer at Wigmore Hall in 1929. For over fifty years he was a pillar of the profession as an examiner, festival adjudicator and recitalist.
In Lucy we had a gifted performer with a captivating manner; she introduced and delivered her varied programme with charm and panache. Twentieth century British traditional songs and settings by Britten, plus songs by Quilter, Vaughan Williams and Coates were all beautifully executed.
A well-earned breather allowed her full use of her pianistic skills with Wagner’s Album - Leaf. The high spot of her interpretation, Sure On This Shining Night by Samuel Barber was an American ‘interloper’ that required all her skill and technique in both voice and piano. She finished gently with the perennial standards, We'll Gather Lilacs by Novello and the evergreen, I'll Walk Beside You.
Like Head, Lucy is also a composer. having studied composition at Chetham’s and the RNCM. In 2016, she won First Prize in Chetham’s Biennial Carol Competition which was premiered at Manchester Cathedral and later broadcast on the BBC. Her works span orchestral, chamber, brass band and choral repertoire. Her choral work ‘HER VOICE’, commissioned by Voices of Women in 2023, was performed at EMPOWER (Manchester, 2024).
Originally from Standish, Wigan, Lucy is passionate about promoting and representing music in the North of England and is a proud trustee of Wigan Music Society. As with Michael Head in the last century, Lucy’s self-accompanied recitals could be an accessible way of keeping our rich heritage repertoire alive and enjoyed in this one.
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. Entrance fee is £6. Contact 01706 648872 for further information.
RECOMMENDED
Saturday, 2 May 2026
Code Club - Rochdale Central Library
Every other Saturday. Come along and learn how to code at our Code Club.
The sessions will be fun and informal.
For families with children aged 7 and over, and teenagers.
No need to book, you can just come along.
Free
11am - 12pm
Rochdale Central Library, Number One Riverside, Smith Street, Rochdale OL16 1XU
Saturday, 2 May 2026
The Ultimate Bubble Show
Ray Bubbles, international Bubbleologist and Guinness World Record holder, is on a mission to master the art of bubble-making and create the ultimate square bubble.
Ray uses various gases to craft stunning bubble sculptures, effects, and magical displays in this whirlwind of excitement and surprises.
Prepare to be amazed as Ray creates a volcano bubble, a soap bubble carousel, a bubble ghost, and even a tornado inside a bubble.
For this show at Heywood Civic, they have three prices to choose from for the same seat:
£8.50: A standard price – fair pricing for the show you’re going to see
£7.50: A slightly lower price – for people who need it
£10: A slightly higher price – for those who want to help support our programme
You can select the right price for you at checkout: https://heywoodcivic.co.uk/event/the-ultimate-bubble-showc
I.00pm
Heywood Civic, LCpl Stephen Shaw MC Way, Heywood, Greater Manchester, OL10 1LW
Accessible viewing platform area / wheel chair and pram accessible
Monday, 4 May 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.
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.
For families with children aged 2–6.
No booking required, you can just turn up.
Free
10am - 10.30am
Rochdale Central Library, Number One Riverside, Smith Street, Rochdale OL16 1XU
Wednesday, 6 May 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.
Free
1.15pm - 3.15pm
Heywood Library, LCpl Stephen Shaw MC Way, Heywood OL10 1LW
Wednesday, 6 May2026
Toad Lane Concerts - Rochdale's Weekly Music at Lunchtime
This week we have - Madeleine Brown piano (RNCM)
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
Comments