Chadderton news

Chadderton Town Hall will host its first-ever wedding fair on Sunday 25 January, and one couple will leave with their entire ceremony paid for. The giveaway, quietly confirmed by organisers, is the first time the council has offered a full wedding package as a community prize.

The Victorian ballroom and adjoining chambers will be dressed for the day by twelve local suppliers, giving residents a rare chance to see the building decorated without booking a viewing. Brides and grooms can sample cakes, try DJs and speak to registrars on site; the winner will be drawn at 4 p.m. and must marry before 31 December 2026.

Across town, Berries Field Park now has a locked, heated polytunnel and twenty raised beds after Oldham Council finished a small brick utility building just before Christmas. Plot holders have already started winter lettuces, and the council says the first spring seed swap is pencilled in for March.

Alex Norris, the government minister responsible for neighbourhood funding, walked the same streets in May to inspect how £1.8 million earmarked for Chadderton will be spent. He visited the half-refurbished library on Chaucer Street and the former health-centre site on Burnley Lane, both slated to become small business units.

Neither the council nor Norris's office has published a final list of which projects will proceed, leaving traders uncertain about timelines. The wedding fair, at least, has a fixed date, and couples have until the 25th to try their luck.