Councillor Ian Duckworth has been appointed as the Deputy Mayor for Rochdale for the municipal year 2016/17. In a ceremony at Rochdale Town Hall Ian was appointed to the deputy role as Councillor Ray Dutton was given the role of Borough Mayor. Ian will serve alongside Councillor Dutton for the next year before taking on the role of Mayor in 2017-18.
Ian was born and brought up in Rochdale. He attended Lowerplace Primary School and Kingsway High. On leaving school he became a time served painter and decorator and later trained as a barber.
Tiring of ladders and haircuts In fulfilled a lifelong ambition and joined the army, serving in the Royal Corps of Signals. He completed a five year tour of duty in the British Army of the Rhine, meeting his future wife Christine whilst on leave ,they married in 1979 and she accompanied Ian in his travels from that time forward. In 1982 they were posted to the permanent staff of the Royal Military College Sandhurst for three years, during which time his two daughters Elizabeth and Catherine were born. On promotion to sergeant in 1986 Ian was transferred to Lisburn for a two and a half year tour of Northern Ireland. Retiring from the army in 1988 Ian returned to Rochdale working in warehousing and logistics finishing his career as a manager at Littlewoods National Distribution Centre. In 1997 Christine gave birth to their son Richard who is currently studying at college.
In 1992 Ian, encouraged by old family friend Arnold Bagnall, stood for election in Balderstone, and to everyone’s amazement, including his own, he won. He served this ward for a total of 8 years, transferring to Bamford ward in 2004 due to boundary changes. He has represented this ward for a total of 8 years up to the present time. He has also been a member of Transport for Greater Manchester in its various incarnations for many years.
Ian has just taken up watercolours describing himself as an is an accidental exponent of the “naïve” school of painting.
Commenting after tonights ceremony Ian said “It is an especial honour and privilege to be selected to be the Mayor of the town where one was born and I will carry this knowledge with me wherever I go and whoever I meet and try my best to do Rochdale Borough proud."