Eventful goings on inside this lady’s Chamber...

Pauline is a woman of many organising talents

Martyn meets... one of Oldham’s top organisers, Pauline Pawlykiwskyj
JUST getting Pauline Pollythingy to agree to talk to me at all was an event.

For Pauline, nee Mellor but for the past 35 years Pawlykiwskyj — thanks to her marriage to Alex is, for one who makes a living organising things for other people, quite a shy, retiring type. And we’ll talk about the pronunciation at the end...

From her school days at Our Lady’s in Royton —tell me, did everybody in Royton go to that school? — to the present day, she likes to keep under the radar.

But I’ll bet anyone in Oldham who’s ever been to a Chamber of Commerce event, a breakfast workshop, a seminar, an annual dinner, will know her.

Pauline Pawlydoodle has been organising you, me and just about everyone else she can coerce, into attending a networking gathering of some sort or other ever since.

And she’s good at it, too.

For example, of the 10 boroughs that make up Greater Manchester Chamber’s extensive membership, only two — Oldham and Wigan still have an annual Chamber Gala Dinner. And we do ok too, we had more than 120 at the last, a tad down on 140-plus from 2010 but way up on the 80-plus from 2009.

Pauline, you see, is tenacious, she hates to give up on anything, which is probably why she still counts me as a pal after all these years and, as lost causes go, I’m way up there in the stratosphere...

For instance, before my last marriage — I’ve had only two by the way so let’s not get carried away — she did warn me off, but I won’t go into that here.

Suffice to say she’s a good ’un, one of us despite the name, although hubby Alex, of Ukrainian heritage, is pure Oldham stock, too.

They met at that haven of Friday and Saturday nights in Oldham, the ‘Sheddings rugby club. Oh happy days...

Where was I?, Oh yes, a glorious 50-something now living in the cosy suburbs of Springhead, Pauline is one of two events managers for the 5,000 member Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce. She looks after seven of the boroughs which make up the GMC, these being Oldham, naturally, Rochdale, Tameside, Bolton, Bury, Stockport and Trafford.

We in the know who have enjoyed the company of this single-minded woman for quite a few years — in my case closing in on 25 — like to think we have exported her talents to these other, perhaps deserving places.

Having learned her trade in Oldham, the other boroughs are now enjoying the benefits of a her experience.

She almost stumbled, accidentally, into the world of events for, on leaving school, she took up a place at Moston College of Further Education studying office skills.

It was a one-year course and Pauline was happy to leave school.

I can empathise with that, for I was exactly the same, and Pauline embarked on a career in business administration — I am forbidden on pain of excommunication from every Chamber event henceforth from divulging her first job but I can reveal it was in Middleton — though she wanted to be a librarian.

“Why, I don’t know. I did like reading when I was younger and I thought that being a librarian would mean I could read every day, while at work. I didn’t fancy stamping books or fining anyone, not at all, but it didn’t come to anything anyway.”

It was a chance interview and job with Oldham Enterprise, then a fledgling organisation based in Prince Street, that set Pauline on her events career path.

She began working with Roy Newton, organising his dairy — and diaries of other counsellors — for start-up businesses.

Roy left soon afterwards and Ed Stacey, who was with the council marketing team which was being wound up, was seconded to the post.

Ed used his background to organise seminars and workshops and, little did she know it at the time, Pauline Pawlykindle had set up her new career.

Twenty-five years on she is still organising events — up to seven a month now — and doing rather well, too.

When Oldham Enterprise became part of the Oldham Training and Enterprise Council in 1995, Pauline and Ed were moved over.

She worked with several chief executives at the TEC, which was the brainchild of Norman Stoller, who was insistent that Oldham could not only have its own organisation but thrive and survive, going deeper into the intriguing world of events.

“We seemed to have a new chief executive every couple of months in those early days. I think we started with Dick Curry and then there was Michael Mealing, and I forget the others. John Gracie came in and we had some stability for a while and, I have to say, it was a terrific organisation.

“We did some good things. I know TECs weren’t universally popular all over the country and many failed, but Oldham’s was a huge success.”

A change of political scene nationally spelled the end of the TECs and Ed and Pauline, by now almost a double act, moved out of the Meridian Centre and into the new Oldham Business Centre in Cromwell Street to take over the newly-established Oldham Chamber of Commerce, which had devolved itself from the TEC.

Funding issues eventually dragged Oldham, kicking and screaming it has to be said, from its independence — “we just didn’t get the promised European funding that seemed to be coming every day in the post” — and the Chamber joined Rochdale and Bolton and Bury to form the North Manchester Chamber of Commerce. Pauline moved with it.

Then this crescent grouping became part of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and, guess what? Pauline moved with it.

There was talk of Pauline having to move to an office in Preston, which wasn’t appealing to our local lass, but guess what? Yep, Pauline became part of Manchester Solutions Group, on the events team, serving the Chamber of Commerce.

There have been glorious highlights — a trip to the Millennium Dome, a member proposing to his now wife on a Chamber away-day on the East Lancashire Railway — and some wonderful memories of meeting some exciting people.

“Meeting Mary Peters, the Olympic gold medal winner at an event in Oldham, will always stay with me. She was such a wonderful, warm and engaging person. It was a real pleasure.” Spending time with Pauline, with whom I can remember attending the first ever Oldham Export Club meeting at Foxdenton Hall, is a pleasure in itself.

They were happy, innocent days when we would all turn up, have a chat, listen to a speaker and then have a lovely lunch before disappearing back to our desks.

Did we ever export anything, did we ever learn anything?

I have no idea, but Pauline certainly did and that experience has led to a career from which an awful lot of people, now across Greater Manchester, have enjoyed the benefits.

She does not see herself as anything over than a facilitator who enjoys her job immensely.

Away from work she has a daughter Nicola and she and husband Alex spend their spare time seeing the world.

They simply love travelling — they have visited many part of the globe and have lots left to see yet.

I believe I speak for lots of people when I say that we enjoy what you do Pauline Pawlykiwskyj.

And it’s a great surname: pronounced Pawlikooski.