Irish solution for peace in our town

Peter Hanlon, director of the charity Good Relations Oldham

THE Northern Irish peace process is being brought to Oldham in a bid to create better community goodwill.

Good Relations Oldham, a mediation charity, is launching a series of training sessions for community groups and organisations based on techniques used to broker peace following The Troubles.

Director Peter Hanlon (59) helped to set up the charity in 2002 and visited Northern Ireland in 2009 to learn ways of bringing together divided communities.

He said: “As part of a mediation course, we spoke to people involved in the peace process who taught us their techniques.

“Their advice can help people stop fighting, start listening and get on better.”

Mr Hanlon now trains key members of all communities to deal with mediation and resolve issues before they escalate into conflict.

Over a decade after the 2001 Oldham riots, he believes measures need to be put into place to tackle underlying tensions and ensure conflict does not recur.

He said: “The Ritchie Report, a major review into the Oldham riots, found that the problem here and in other towns like Blackburn is that different communities were living parallel lives.

“The challenge is how to break that segregation down. What we do is listen to people and find out what their fears are and what they want to achieve.

“Unless you allow people to talk honestly about their fears, you can never progress.

“There are very similar issues affecting all communities but you can’t force resolution, it has to come from people themselves.

“The aim is for communities to talk to each other and identify common goals.

“The training we offer gives people the skills to find a joint aim and joint methods to achieve that.”

The charity has been training people as independent mediators for the past two years who are carrying out the good work in communities across Oldham.

Mr Hanlon said: “It’s too late when there is conflict, there has to be a structure in place beforehand so people think first and act second.

“It’s also about ensuring respect for others and respect for faith among all parties.”

Good Relations Oldham is holding a launch event for invited guests at the Regional Science Centre Oldham tomorrow.

For more information contact Karen Whitworth 07771-618 805.