Summer 2022Highlights of a mayoral year

Councillor Aasim Rashid was the 150th Mayor of the Rochdale borough for the 2021-22 year. Here he talks to Real Rochdale about representing ethnic minorities, raising money for charity and some of his favourite events of the year.

You’ve raised £15,000 in your Mayoral year. Which causes will benefit from a donation?

My chosen charities will receive the majority of the monies raised:

• Parkinsons UK (Heywood)
• Springhill Hospice
• Petrus
• Jolly Josh
• Rochdale Shopmobility

I will also be donating smaller amounts to a few small community groups or volunteer organisations that need help. The main aim is to help as many groups as possible as well as the volunteer sector.

My year started in a difficult time during restrictions, so there were three months of no activities. We slowly came back to normal life but we had to hold some events later than usual. The same thing happened at the start of 2022 because covid levels rose and we had to cancel one of the main charity fundraisers, Mayoress at Home. The mayoress was really disappointed and we were expecting a high turnout from across Greater Manchester.

What were your focuses for the year?

My first priority – like every mayor – was to raise as much money as possible, and highlight our borough across the UK. I was lucky to be the 150th mayor of Rochdale as we celebrated 150 years of the town hall. Showing our rich history was a wonderful thing. I believe Rochdale is one of the most beautiful, diverse towns in the borough.

Another focus was discouraging discrimination, inequality and any kind of racism. I belong to the BAME community and we have many ethnic minorities in Rochdale, and this is the beauty of this town: the strong integration and multi-cultural society we have, and strong relationships with varying communities. I am proud of the diversity, but I think we need to work more on -discouraging those who try to divide us. It still exists in society and policies should be very strong. This is work we have to do collectively within all political parties.

Which events really stood out to you?

The visit of the Pakistan High Commissioner in July 2021, the first visit for about 20-25 years. This was a positive sign for both diplomatic and trade relationships locally. We played a charity cricket match, which was my first event.

The visit of Little Amal was a really proud moment and I was also really honoured to be part of a service at St Chad’s for the start of the Queen’s Jubilee programme.

Did you find out anything new or surprising?

I was able to meet a lot of new faces, new businesses, volunteers and community groups which I was not previously aware of. I believe I learnt more in the last 12 months than the last eight years as a councillor.

I now have more knowledge about my own ward [Castleton] and the borough. I am really proud of what I have achieved and how I have served as a mayor. I think I had a very successful year and a lot of support from different groups, proving that if we work together, we can deliver better.

I am really humbled.