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Clean-up prayers are answered!

WASTING no time . . . members of the World Mission Society Church of God collected 50 bags of rubbish

PEOPLE power saw 80 volunteers clean up Clarksfield as part of a worldwide campaign to rid streets of rubbish.

Members of the Trafford-based World Mission Society Church of God decided to lend a hand after reading in the Chronicle about reported litter problems in the area.

The mass clean-up comes amid fierce debate between Oldham politicians as to who is responsible for tidying our streets.

The Lib-Dems’ alternative budget proposes employing two extra enforcement officers to

Date published: 03/02/2012

£300,000 lifeline for Coliseum

EASY TO SPOT: the temporary Coliseum box office

OLDHAM Coliseum has been given a £300,000 boost to cover expenditure on running, production and actors’ costs, for three years.

The money comes from the Association of...

Date published: 03/02/2012

£31,000 pay-slip man’s bite of the Big Apple

A STRUGGLING worker couldn’t believe his luck when he found more than £31,000 had been credited to his bank account by mistake.

The money which was intended for a pension funds account, was transferred into Mark Rafferty’s name by his former employers, Oldham-based Auto Battery Services, weeks after he had lost his job with them.

Manchester’s...

Date published: 03/02/2012

Soap stars sign up to donor campaign

PERFECT match: Alias and Shahnaz Ahmed

A LOVING wife who donated a kidney to her critically-ill husband is backing a campaign to boost the number of donors.

Shahnaz Ahmed (50) went under the knife to save the life of her...

Date published: 03/02/2012

Surprise at rap for tram staff

METROLINK operators say they are surprised by criticism claiming “appalling” behaviour by contractors.

The cross-party accusation was levelled during the full council meeting on Wednesday night.

Contractors M-Pact Thales (MPT) consortium was criticised for having little regard for the way staff speak to residents and the council.

It was also alleged...

Date published: 03/02/2012

Come dine with us!

Cocktail master Ben Brooks has been planning his menu for years

THE culinary skills of four local foodies will be on show to the nation tonight in a much-loved television series.

The brave cooks invited the cameras from Channel 4’s “Come Dine With...

Date published: 03/02/2012

Mobility car stolen at charity jumble sale

A 12-year-old disabled girl’s mobility car was stolen at a fund-raising event organised by her brother.

The vehicle used to get Elle Jakeman around was taken as her brother, Ben, held a jumble sale to fund a school trip to do community work in poverty-stricken Ecuador.

Mum Julie was helping at the event at St Thomas’s Church Hall, Glebe Lane, on Saturday...

Date published: 03/02/2012

Official start of Jubilee events

THE Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year off gets off to a sparkling start next week.

Town crier Reg Lord will read a proclamation to mark the occasion at Chadderton Town Hall on Monday.

He will be accompanied by the Chadderton standard bearer, the Chadderton prince and princess and Oldham’s deputy and youth mayors.

The event starts at 3.30pm and has been...

Date published: 03/02/2012

Forced marriages ‘against Islam’

AN Oldham community was today poised to meet a Pakistani official as part of a campaign to end the “brutal and unacceptable” tradition of forced marriages.

District Mufti of Mirpur, Hafiz Nazir Ahmed, was due to visit the borough to discuss moves against forced and early marriages among Oldham’s Pakistani families.

The event — backed by the...

Date published: 03/02/2012

400 log on to council

SCREENING a full Oldham Council meeting from live over the internet has been declared a success after achieving nearly 400 viewers.

The pilot scheme designed to make decision-making more open and transparent, and bring public meetings into the digital age, meant residents could watch Wednesday’s meeting from the comfort of their own homes.

The live streaming...

Date published: 03/02/2012

£15,000 for band contests

ORGANISERS of the Whit Friday Band Contests have been given extra money to help with this summer’s event.

Saddleworth Parish Council members have set aside £15,000 for the village contests, but a question mark still hangs over what financial support will come direct from Oldham Council.

Around £7,000 would fund traffic-management stewards —...

Date published: 03/02/2012

Friday's news and sport headlines

PRAISE FOR BIG CLEAN-UP

COLISEUM'S GRANT LIFELINE

DICKOV'S CALL FOR SQUAD ACTION

... THERE'S MORE (CLICK STORY)

Date published: 03/02/2012

Tram workers in line of fire

LAID down: Metrolink tracks in place at Mumps roundabout

A scathing cross-party attack has been levelled at the “appalling” behaviour of Metrolink contractors.

Lib-Dem councillor Howard Sykes led the criticism at last...

Date published: 02/02/2012

Three held in police blitz on metal thefts

THREE people have been arrested in Saddleworth following a day of action to clamp down on metal thieves.

Police focused their efforts on the Denshaw area, issuing over 15 fixed-penalty notices for a variety of traffic offences.

Six vehicles were seized and four people were summonsed. The area was targeted after the number of metal thefts rose by nine between January...

Date published: 02/02/2012

6,300 waiting for a home

OPPOSITION MPs have warned of “the worst housing crisis in a generation” after it was revealed that more than 6,000 people are waiting for social housing in Oldham.

Figures released yesterday by the National Housing Federation showed that 6,345 people in the borough are languishing on the waiting list.

But despite the high numbers only 30 affordable homes...

Date published: 02/02/2012

Dynamic duo on a drug-bust mission

PCs Eric Grantham and Graham Turner make the drug find in Egerton Street

POLICE discovered a bedroom brimming with cannabis plants during a raid yesterday.

Eight mature plants were found in the second-floor flat in Egerton Street by officers from the Oldham...

Date published: 02/02/2012

Burst main road chaos

RUSH-hour traffic was brought to a crawl in Royton this morning as water flooded on to High Barn Road.

The road was shut off during the busy commute at around 8am due to a burst water main.

United Utilities were aware of the incident and had sent engineers to investigate and repair the burst.

Date published: 02/02/2012

Pet rescue

RSPCA Oldham branch manager Mandy Tierney, with animal welfare officer Donna Holt, holding a rescued chicken and dove from the fire which took hold of Booth’s Garden and Pet Centre in Royton last Friday evening

Children have been showing their heartfelt support to animals rescued in a blaze which has reduced a garden and pet centre to rubble.

Youngsters from Royton Hall Primary School wrote...

Date published: 02/02/2012

Thieving postman avoids prison

A THIEVING postman from Failsworth who ripped open letters and parcels to steal cash has walked free from court with a suspended jail sentence.

Father-of-two Andrew Burke (46) had an unblemished, 26-year career with the Royal Mail.

But a court heard that he resigned in disgrace last July when his thieving emerged following a covert sting investigation involving dummy...

Date published: 02/02/2012

Security guard groper jailed

A CHADDERTON man has been jailed for six months by magistrates in Manchester for groping a security guard.

Andrew Cunningham (29) had approached the victim in a city centre supermarket and said “Give us a kiss, sexy”. Afterwards he committed the offence before the guard shoved him away and there was a scuffle.

At the time Cunningham was already on the Sex...

Date published: 02/02/2012

Leisure review ‘full of holes’

THE Labour party has been blasted in ldham Council for a leisure review the opposition claims is “full of holes.”

Lib-Dem leader Councillor Howard Sykes argued he suggested three valid sites in Shaw for the proposed new facilities — but insists they were never considered.

He told council leader Jim McMahon: “Only one site was considered in Shaw,...

Date published: 02/02/2012

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