Allsopp: ‘One of the greatest days of my life’

Neil Allsopp with local MP Debbie Abrahams

THE beaming chairman of Saddleworth Parish Council had plenty to smile about at his inaugral service.

Councillor Neil Allsopp, accompanied by his wife Carol, and speaking after the service at St Chad’s Church, Uppermill, on Sunday declared: “Today has been one of the greatest days of my life.”

Wearing his father Frank’s gold pocket watch and chain awarded for long service at Robert Fletcher & Son, Councillor Allsopp added: “To be surrounded by so many family, friends and well-wishers was exhilarating, exciting and humbling.”

The service was attended by the Mayor and Mayoress of Oldham, Councillor Atteeque Ur-Rehman and Yasmin Toor, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester John Battye, civic dignitaries from local and parish councils and Debbie Abrahams, MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth.

And in a colourful sermon, the Rt Rev David Walker, the Bishop of Manchester, linked to the arts theme at the service, which also signalled the opening of Saddleworth Festival of Arts.

The Bishop, born in Mossley, said the arts had a profound effect on his life and asked the congregation to contemplate how a play, a piece of music or a picture had brought good into their lives.

Recalling childhood theatre memories, he said that after waiting in a corridor at Friezland Primary school, he missed his cue in a nativity play.

“I obviously wasn’t playing a part anybody missed,” he quipped. “I eventually found my love of theatre and was hooked. As you can see, I’ve been dressing up and performing in public ever since.”

Music, he said, had always been an important part of his life.

“When I was six, my mother opened a record shop in Stamford Road, Mossley, and a few years later a second on Melbourne Street, Stalybridge.

“You could say my school clothes and bus fares were paid for by The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.”

He went on: “Yet it was almost by chance I went to study at King’s College, Cambridge, easily the most famous choral institution in the whole university world.

“There I discovered the capacity of music to lift my spirit right up to heaven. I wasn’t oblivious to the raw energy of punk rock but I was also discovering Mozart.

“I used music as a backdrop to my prayers, playing over my headphones pieces that would help me to be joyful, or penitent, or to intercede for the needs of the world.

“Music, like theatre, is too precious to be left to the professionals,” he declared.

“The arts are for all, both as audience and as creators. I still have a love of comic song, rooted equally in Gilbert and Sullivan and the Oldham Tinkers.”

And he added: “Painting is the art form has always totally defeated me.

Procession

“So I’ve tried to allow my lack of ability to translate itself into an interest in what those who can paint are producing.

After the service, Councillor Allsopp, accompanied by Boarshurst Band, headed a procession from the church to Uppermill Civic Hall for refreshments.

Thanking the army of people who helped at his service, he looked skyward, adding: “When people ask what’s so unique about Saddleworth, just show them days like today.”