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Potted history of OAP’s campaign
Frank Wood23/ 4/2008
AFTER a battle lasting 33 years, a facelift for potholed Farm Street has come a little too late for campaigner Marjorie Chadwick.
She knows her dirt street is being made up at long last, ready for a coat of tarmac, because she can hear men at work. But all she can do is listen to the sound of their picks and shovels, because 89-year-old Marjorie is now blind.
For the past 20 years, she has had another, personal battle to fight as her vision has gradually deteriorated.
Despite years of treatment, she has now totally lost her sight and is registered blind.
Marjorie said: "I’m so pleased the work is being done at last, but I’m a bit sad that I won’t be able to see it when it’s finished.
"I can tell there’s a lot of work going on outside because I can hear it, and my little Jack Russell terrier lets me know when the workmen are here." Her street of little terraced houses, off Manchester Road, Hopwood, used to lead to Walsh’s Farm, but all that disappeared many years ago when the fields were swallowed up for housing.
Marjorie and her neighbours campaigned vigorously to persuade the council to adopt their street and give it a decent surface.
Over the years, the Advertiser has carried several pictures of either Marjorie or her neighbours showing MP Jim Dobbin or local councillors their famous potholes. Matters came to a head at a Hopwood ward forum meeting last summer when residents demanded action and Mrs Chadwick told how she had hurt herself when she fell into a deep pothole.
Township councillors sympathised with residents and, after talks with Township officials, they came up with an idea to get the work done. Although the council still refuses to legally adopt the street, the Township has provided £20,000 for the repair work.
But residents have had to form their own committee and hire their own contractor, Heywood road surfacing company John Lloyd Ltd of Hall Street, to do the work. Residents will also remain responsible for keeping the street up to scratch.
At the same time, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing is spending £6,000 improving a paved path which links old people’s bungalows with Farm Street.
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25/04/2008 at 08:25