Mahdlo rolls out the royal carpet

ONE declares Mahdlo officially open: the Prince unveils the plaque

Excited children, an array of proud local dignitaries and beaming volunteers lined the Mahdlo welcome avenue to greet Prince Edward yesterday.

Visiting Oldham to perform the official opening ceremony at the £5million ‘youth zone’ in Horsedge Street, the Earl of Wessex congratulated Mahdlo’s board of trustees for their commitment to the state-of-the-art centre - then mingled with young members keen to show why they love visiting.

Prince Edward was greeted by Oldham council leader Jim McMahon, Mayor Olwen Chadderton, Mahdlo’s chief executive Helen Taylor and Norman Stoller MBE, the businessman who started the fundraising appeal with a £250,000 donation five years ago.

Prince Edward was shown round the three-storey building and saw the range of activities available to the 2,000 members.

Chatting and laughing with some of Mahdlo’s most frequent visitors, Prince Edward impressed those eager to meet the town’s first Royal visitor since 2005.

A crowd gathered and silence descended as the Prince began his official duty of unveiling a silver plaque marking Mahdlo’s official opening - but not before he shared some wise words and a joke.

He told the crowd: “Congratulations to everybody who was involved in seeing this project through to fruition.

“For young people in particular this is a very special place. I hope you all continue to make the best use of it and have a lot of fun doing so.”

Cheers and applause greeted the Prince as he pulled back the curtain to reveal the plaque.

Mahdlo chairman Terry Flannagan said: “This is an amazing celebration. From being an idea, to getting the council to talk about it, to achieving what we have, is an amazing testament to the stakeholders here today. One thing that is evident is the amount of teamwork there has been along the way.”

Mr Flannagan thanked board trustees Norman Stoller, Bill Holroyd, William Lees-Jones, Oldham Council and the 2,000 young members of Mahdlo before continuing: “There is still so much to do. We have to raise the bar with fundraising again. We charge young people 50p every time they come to the centre, but that has to be subsidised. We need to get out there in the next year or two, to do fundraising challenges and go forward in maintaining the momentum we have created so far.”

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