Home is where my heart is . . .

Reporter: Martyn Torr
Date published: 17 December 2013


MARTYN MEETS...Oldham town centre manager Sara Hewitt


CHRISTMAS will come early for the languid Sara Hewitt — and by early I mean her first day back at work in the markets office after the festive holidays.

And by Christmas I mean NEXT Christmas...

For Sara is Oldham’s town centre manager and if there has been a more thankless, soul-destroying job in Oldham over the past three years, I’d be pleased to hear what it was.

But Sara will begin planning Oldham’s Christmas 2014 events in January with a renewed sense of optimism and a spring her step. That’s what’s she like, pragmatic and buoyant - happy to work with the hand dealt by cuts, austerity, the retail revolution and the internet.

Sara remains undaunted and will continue managing the expectations of every town-centre trader. Not to mention her local authority bosses and the demanding Oldham public.

But as we chatted over coffee, she was a bundle of enthusiasm:: “I love my job, I just love it. I really do.”

And I could tell she meant it Unbridled enthusiasm is not, I suspect, a prerequisite for the post but it surely helps. Barely a week has gone in recent times when this newspaper hasn’t run a story about another town-centre issue - usually about Metrolink construction. To suggest the past couple of years have been a transport nightmare is an understatement.

But Sara, a bubbly 32 year old from Clarksfield, remains resiliently upbeat, refusing to be cowed by the challenges or the daunting stories that have shrouded the massive engineering project.

“There is no doubt the whole Metrolink process has been painful; my heart goes out to every town-centre trader, it really does. But we have all worked through the largest engineering contract many of us have ever seen, and we are coming out the other side.

“Metrolink work has had a huge impact, but when the town centre is complete, having trams run through our town centre will be hugely positive.”

It was an upbeat statement of belief from an Oldham woman — yep, she’s one of us, born here and educated at Clarksfield and Hulme — and loves Oldham with a passion.

But she is the first to acknowledge that Metrolink isn’t a panacea for the town centre’s ills.

Once the tram is running through Union Street, the focus of attention will fall on the £10 million project to convert the former town hall into a cinema, restaurant and bars complex.

Talks are under way with the new owners of the Spindles-Town Square shopping centre to regenerate the Clegg Street facade vacated by TJ Hughes.

The day we chatted, Sara, who has worked for Oldham Council since leaving Manchester University in 2003, was deep into the organisation of Brass Monkeys, a music event in the High Street — one of a series of events leading up to Christmas in Oldham. We’ve already had a reindeer parade and the Christmas lights switch-on, the latter a mammoth event requiring around 30 sectors to pull together an hour’s entertainment for the thousands of Oldhamers who flock to the town centre to watch.

“We all work together with one aim — to help Oldham. It’s all about getting families into the town centre to help boost trade and help Oldham economically.”

The festive programme — including the the winter wonderland and the Victorian Christmas weekend which winds up the weeks of activities before Christmas, costs around £200,000, which comes from private and public-sector purses.

“The fact that thousands of people come into the town centre every year to enjoy the event speaks volumes for the quality of what we do and makes it all worthwhile,” she said, “but it does require a lot of work from a lot of people.”

Which is why Sara’s thoughts will soon turn to next Christmas She will sit down early in the New Year and set the train rolling. Next year will bring challenges with the Clegg Street car park: that’s where most people stand to watch, but it will be largely out of bounds next December thanks to work on the new cinema.

But it’s a challenge Sara will relish. She loves Oldham - something that shines through every aspect of her work.

“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life when I finished my degree. I knew I wanted to help create order and continuity — don’t ask me why — so I looked at the legal profession and the police and local government. Then I saw the advert in the national press for a job in Oldham and here I am.”

Sara was part of the team responsible for the report on how Oldham should look in the wake of the riots of 2001.

“We got the views of more than 2,000 people. It was a fascinating experience and a lot of the information helped compile what became the Oldham Beyond report.”

Sara then helped to put together funding bids to Europe, to help turn some of the hopes and aspirations into reality: “I like to think I have played my part, as part of a wider team.”