Spring 2024Man (and dog) of Rochdale: Wesley Dowd and Finley

Hundreds of children have been helped over the years by the latest Man of Rochdale, Wesley Dowd – and his faithful Jack Russell, Finley – but they won’t know about it as he doesn’t take credit for anything. Michelle Kight went to meet the 2023 Man of Rochdale and Finley.

Over the last nine years, Wes and Finley have raised over £100,000 for the borough’s children with their long-distance fundraisers and mountain climbs, such as the Cumbria Way, Dales Way, Pennine Way.

The primary beneficiary has been Wes’ baby, the Rochdale Children’s Moorland Home at Nab Farm, which provides holidays to around 1,300 disadvantaged children each year.

Wes said: “I did community service there when I was a young lad. First time I’d ever seen the place, I cut the grass with a lawnmower and thought what a brilliant place that it was. I wanted to give them something back.”

When he was named Man of Rochdale in November, Wes promptly presented his dad, the inspiration behind all that he does, with the trophy.

“My father was fostered everywhere, brought up in care and children’s homes. That’s 100% why I do what I do. It was an awful time. I’ve sat there when he told me the stories. That’s why I passed him my trophy when I got it. I said to him, ‘there you go, dad, that’s for you.’

“The Dowd name, my name, was the mud name, basically, and I turned it around and now it’s the biggest name for helping children.”

In addition to the tens of thousands raised for the Moorland Home, electrician Wes also raises funds to send children with cancer or disabilities on holidays, Christmas present collections for needy children, and provides furniture, clothes and food for local families in need. He’s also worked with Parents Against Grooming UK on fundraising fun days and bike rides.

“The children don’t know anything about me; I want to be a ghost,” he explained. “They don’t see me. My job is to give them some school uniform, nice trainers and a console, because that blends you in with the other children. I want them to think their mum and dad have done it.

“If they go to school and other children find out they’re being supported by you, they bully them because you’re a charity kid. You can’t allow that; children can be cruel to other children.

“I was that kid who rips on you, who’d go ‘state of them trainers, man, I wouldn’t put them on my feet.’ I was that kid because I was spoilt, and I didn’t realise.”

Wes isn’t shy about his past. An only child who attended St Cuthbert’s, he says his teachers said he “wouldn’t amount to much” as he spent 18 months in juvenile detention following an incident when he was 15.

“Even though I went because of a bad thing, I didn’t go in with a bad attitude,” he said. “I had good people around me, and I let a lot of people down; that’s why I never went back.”

Finley came into Wes’ live by chance when he was three after his former owner had a double heart bypass. Wes admits he didn’t want a dog – “I was working 12-hour days and I wasn’t that kind of guy” – but the little Jack Russell is now his best friend. He retired from distance fundraisers in 2023 after needing an eye removed.

With Finley’s retirement, Wes adopted his second dog, Butch, from Pennine Pen Animal Rescue. Wes thinks for a moment: “Without that little dog coming into my life, this wouldn’t have happened.

“I wish I could explain my dad, Finley, the Moorland Home, the other children I help, but I can’t. It was like some mad movement and people got behind me. A lot of people help and I’m so lucky for that.

“I go round and make sure children have uniforms and go to school, make sure they’re not getting looked down on for having dirty clothes and ripped trainers… My dad went to school like that and got ripped to death. He always said if he’d had a bit of help, he wouldn’t have gone into care – and that’s what drove me on.”

He added: “When you get in trouble when you’re young, don’t think you can’t do anything about that or change your life. Because you can: focus on what you want to do and don’t let anyone get in your way. It’s nice when people see what you’ve gone and done, ‘cause no-one’s perfect.

“If I can inspire another lad in this town to possibly do what I’ve done, to do stuff for children, that would be it for me.”

Wes’ 2024 fundraisers will include the West Highland Way and the 500-mile Camino de Santiago pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela through France and Spain.