Oldham could have had the fame of Venice - Clarke

Artist Brian Clarke looks at the changing face of Oldham as he views tramlines in the process of being installed in Union Street

OLDHAM-BORN internationally renowned artist Brian Clarke has urged the people of Oldham to make sure they have a voice when it comes to redesigning the town.

Lamenting the loss of the cotton mills that once dominated the skyline, he said they were the greatest influence on him as a young boy.

He said they were born out of Victorian and Edwardian England, and had the decision-makers of the day had the foresight to preserve them, Oldham would have compared with Venice as one of the most protected, preserved and valued towns in Europe.

Brought up in Limeside and a pupil of the Oldham School of Art, Brian, who moved south at 15, said the mills were one of the Victorians’ greatest bequests and represented Oldham at its zenith.

He urged Oldham’s leaders of today to act in the spirit of Oldham’s Latin motto, Sapere Aude, (“dare to be wise,”) when planning the borough’s future.

Pledging to return to Oldham to talk more about his passion for cotton mills, he told the Chronicle: “I would do anything that is humanly possible to bring back some of Oldham’s essential grandeur.

“It did have it, and there is no reason it can’t have it again. It’s all about the decisions people make. They have to make the right decisions, and the public has to make sure they have a voice in it.”

Brian spoke before giving a talk at Gallery Oldham, linked to an exhibition of his work which runs until September 14.

He returned to his home town in the year he celebrates his 60th birthday.

He still makes what he called “very erratic and irregular visits” to Oldham to visit his family, but seized on his public talk to speak frankly about his birthplace.

“When I was growing up here, Oldham was not only the centre of the cotton industry, but was almost the entire cotton industry,” he said.

“Yet the mills were seen as buildings that were disposable and dispensable once their use had gone.”

He urged people to look at their resemblance to some of Britain’s great buildings, such as Kensington Palace and Hardwick Hall, to see what a great loss they were.

“They were extraordinary, majestic and beautiful, indescribably wonderful and proto-modern at the time.

“But between 1961-1977, something happened. One by one they accidentally burned down, at the rate of almost one a month. This extraordinary thing, that made Oldham as unique as Venice, was disposed of by wanton, wilful vandalism and the very heart of the town ripped out.

“I understand that here in Oldham, there is now a plan to create a cultural quarter and great schemes to connect Oldham through the tram service. I hope that masterplan includes at least an approach that will allow the people of Oldham to take possession of their own town again.”