Researcher’s tribute to tree-mendous staff

STAFF from Chadderton Town Hall and Cemetery (from the left): Angela Urbanek, Stuart Ogden, Samantha Hodges, Heidi Brooks, Penny Flynn and Michelle Lewis

A CAN-do attitude has scored staff at the Oldham Crematorium and Chadderton Town Hall a Pride in Oldham nomination.

Going that extra mile has paid off for the busy workers who were nominated by 66-year-old Failsworth resident Roy Potts, who encountered them while trying to trace his family tree.

On piecing together the history of his ancestors, he discovered that his grandmother, grandfather and great-grandmother were buried in a grave at the cemetery in Hollinwood.

Staff in the registrar’s office at Chadderton Hall also took the time to help him find essential records that showed his family had moved from Shropshire to the local area in the 1920s.

Roy said: “I’ve been doing my family tree for many years and I was so pleased with how they helped me.

“Nothing was too much trouble and it was as if they would go to the end of the Earth to help me.

“Without them I wouldn’t have known part of my history.”

Shocked staff were overwhelmed with the gesture. Registrar service manager Marina Brown, based at Chadderton Town Hall, admitted that the trend in people uncovering their past has increased thanks to TV programmes such as “Who Do You Think You Are?” in which celebrities are helped to trace their ancestors

She said: “It’s so nice to be recognised in this way.

“Some people know exactly what they’re looking for but some need someone to sit down with them and take some time. We put an awful work into the service and go that extra mile, it’s great to be noticed in this way.”

The Oldham Crematorium has even hosted an episode of the hit BBC show when local actress Sarah Lancashire was tracing her roots.

Registrar Penny Flynn said: “Whatever people are looking for it is important to them, therefore it’s important to us.

“Anything we can do, we will do for people and you get quite involved in their searches. It’s lovely to be nominated.”


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