New York, Paris... Oldham?

OLDHAM is to join some of the world’s major cities as part of a revolutionary Twitter festival to raise money for a local charity.

Twestival, as it has been dubbed, started as a one-off event in London in 2009.

Now it has gone global with iconic cities such as New York, Paris and Sydney hosting their own social networking celebration — and Oldham is among them.

The borough is now raising the bar and becoming one of the first towns to host its own event.

Taking place at Oldham Athletic’s Corner Flag Suite, a hospitality room at Boundary Park, the event on March 24 will coincide with worldwide celebrations while at the same time, raising money for Oldham Mountain Rescue team.

The community extravaganza will include a celebrity auction and fundraising activities on Clayton Playing Fields. Admission will be by ticket only, with the proceeds for goods sold, bar sales and fund-raising activities donated to the mountain rescuers.

Organiser Liz Lancashire said: “We want to make this a really fun event.

“We’ll have a big screen where people will be able to tweet and link up with all the other events across the world. We really need support from locals and it’s gaining momentum, there is already 100 supporting us on Twitter.”

Local businesses have already signed up, with Rainbow Delicious bakery in Tameside due to sell cakes and donate the profits.

The organisers are now calling on Oldhamers to get involved and come up with ideas for the mountain rescue team, which is based in Saddleworth.

To get involved visit www.twitter.com/twestivaloldham.