We couldn’t have done it without you!

THANK YOU!

Hi John,

It was great to meet you at the last ROCA

panel meeting (my second meeting!); what a

fantastic project you have helped to develop,

you will be missed from the group.

Best wishes, Steph Hodgson, Contour.

John, thank you for all your support, you’re going to be very difficult to replace. Good luck for the future, All the best from Anne McCulloch.

CHAIR OF

ROCA PANEL

Feb 2008

to July 2015

Thanks John for making me feel so welcome on the panel . I wish you all the best for the future.James Gore, FixAuto.

ROCA APPLICATIONS FUNDED“Drop In – Box In” at Oldham Boxing & Personal Development Centre

A taste of real India

ACE (Art and Craft Experience)

Across the Ages

Active Citizens

Alex Carter Memorial Garden

Alexandra Cluster Summer Holiday Bridging Project

Alliance Fun Day

Alt Youth Club

ANEW education project

A-One+ Cartmel Crescent Allotments

Apfel Lane

Arts & Creativity - Summer University Medlock Valley

Asha Girls Project

Bride the Gap - my generation

Byron Green Welcome Pack and Community Website

Café Mocca

CAOS cic - Community Action Outreach Services

Cartmel Crescent Allotments open day and family event

CDYF Summer Volunteering Project

Chadderton Boxing Club

Chadderton Events

Chadderton Street Pastors

Chilax Oli

CHOOSE HEALTH

Clarkwell Community Linking Project

Coldhurst D of E

Coldhurst Summer Party

Commemoration of WW1/Hollinwood Together Festival

Community Football magazine

Community Garden Development - Raised beds

Community Services

Cooking Counts

Coppice Community Garden

Coppice Mil Jul Initiative

Coppice Rangers Football Academy

Coppice United Football Club and Partners

Creative Arts and Digital Media Workshops

Creative Consultation

Creativity

Crossing Boundaries

Crossley Activities Group

Cycle Club

Dads and Lads Club

Derker Community Garden

Derker Together

Derker Youth Club

Devon Street Heaven

Diggle Village Green

Don’t Fence me In

Drop In Beats

Eden Drop In Café

Friends of Coalshaw Green Park - Craft Club

From Cowhill to Crossley

Fun For All

Gardening tools project

Gardens For All

Gems Parent and Toddlers Group

Get Growing at Oldhal Gallery

Get Hooked

Groundwork Street Party

Growing Growers

Growing Together

Happy Days and Holidays

Higginshaw Village

Holts Art Club

Holts Village Junior Youth Activities and Lunch Club

Honeywell FC

Improving Derker

Inside Out

Inspired

International Day Against Homophobia - 170514

Knitting Angels

Know My Neighbour - An Alternative View on Community Cohesion

Kultura

Laughter In Mind

Life on Limeside

Life Space

Limehurst’s Lunch

Limeside and Westwood Sports in Action

Lol’s art classes Crossley (Chadderton)

Looking Inside Out

Lynton and Walkers Road ROC Hall

Mahdlo Stars Annual Awards Ceremony

Memorial Garden and vegetable area

More Opportunities New Activities - MONA

Net-tastic

Newbridge Scouts Camping Trip for Children with special needs

OL8 Steppers

Oldham 7’s league

Oldham Camera Club display boards

Oldham Carnival Rootz Festival

Oldham Community Website

Oldham Friendship Club

Oldham LGBT Pride

Oldham LGBT Youth Group supported by the Young Women’s health Project

Oldham Life Story Steering Group

Oldham Love and Peace

Oldham Mela 2013

Oldham Percussion Academy

Oldham South Street Pastors

Oldham Stone Carvers - Outreach and Development Project

Oldham’s gifted and talented youth dance company improve and recruit project

Our Crossley

Our Town - PSHE Community Programme

Out in Oldham

Performance Plaza - The Arts Hub

Place

Portraits of Recovery

Portraits: The Pilot Community Partnership Scheme

Pride in Our Community

Prison? Me? No Way!

Project Good neighbour

Project Setting Sail for a Brighter Future

Radclyffe Outreach Centre

Respect - Urban dance and music

Respect Programme

Royton Community Picnic

Schools Out for Summer

Schools Out For Summer 2011

Schools Out For Summer 2012 Holts and Alt

Sensory Play

Shaw Derby Day

So Way North

Sport in Our Community

St Hilda’s/Clarkwell Play Area

St Mary’s Summer Splash

Step Into the Spotlight

Stoneleigh Park Young people bowling

Summer Fiesta Coldhurst

Summer Fun Day

Swift Court Gardening Project

Taste of Oldham

The Caribbean Group

The Friendship Foundation

Time Out

Tudor Community Sports

UFE

Valuing Oldham’s History

Volunteer Training Programme

Washbrook

Waterhead Community Choir

West Oldham Torch Relay Festival

Westwood in Bloom

Woodpark Court Gardening Club

Young people bowling

Young Peoples Hip Hop Horror Musical Film

Thank you John for 7 years great ROCA service. You have ensured ROCA has been able to provide over £400,000k of funding to over 140 community groups doing great things inOldham. You have also built up a strong partnership of key stakeholders that will endure, and all the time making surewe have enjoyed ourselves You truly did it “My Way”Dave Smith

On behalf of the Executive Team and the Board of FCHO I would like to express our thanks

and appreciation for the wonderful work you have done as Chair of the ROCA panel since

it first started in 2008. Your enthusiasm and commitment to the role has undoubtedly

made ROCA the great success that it has become and you will definitely be a “hard act to

follow”. You should be very proud of the contribution you have made to the success of so

many community projects; FCHO are certainly very proud of your achievements.

I wish you all the best for the future,

whatever that holds for you and thank.

Cath Green, CEO,

First Choice Homes Oldham

John – it’s been a pleasure. The meetings were productive and funny. I missed a few but looked forward to them. You’ll be missed. Good luck in your new endeavours. Chris Standish, Regenda.

MARTYNMEETS

A regular profile ofOldham’s movers

and shakersby MARTYN TORR

Ex-bailiff used to chase debts, now he distributes funds

Rewardingrole forleadinglawyerWHEN I sat down withJohn Porter, one ofOldham’s leading legaleagles, little did I expectto step into a world of sub-terfuge, intimidation andkidnapping!

For here I was in the com-pany of the chairman ofROCA — more about theamazing organisationbehind the acronym later —a man of substance who isalso an independent memberof the board of First ChoiceHomes Oldham.

In short, a man from the old-est law firm in town, a firm thatwas involved in the building ofthe Coliseum Theatre when itacted for construction firmEmanuel Whittaker almost twocenturies ago.

Not that John was aroundthen, he assures me, after allhe’s only 48 and doesn’t look aday older.

But he has been in Oldham fora long time, often workingbelow the radar, and as head ofthe commercial department atlaw firm Wrigley Claydon,which has offices in UnionStreet and a branch inTodmorden, he specialises inemployment and housing.

Hence his connections withOldham’s major social housingprovider, FCHO, which has morethan 13,000 properties in the bor-ough. A neat fit, you could say.

DegreeBut how many of John’s col-

leagues on the board, the execu-tive management team, thecouncillors, the tenants and, ofcourse, his fellow independents,are aware of his dark past —deep in the depths of Redditch,that Worcestershire town of a1,000 (and probably more) round-abouts?

For reasons known only tohimself John chose to spend 12months in the Midlands on com-pleting his law degree at near-by Wolverhampton University— “Wolverhampton is where yougo if you only just get the A lev-els,” he confided, almost as anaside.

He took a year out — andbecame a bailiff.

Yes, a bailiff, one of thoseguys who goes around collectingdebts on behalf of others, inJohn’s case the local councilwhich was chasing people whohad not paid their council tax.

“I didn’t wear a leather jacketand carry a baseball bat. It was-n’t at all like that.”

So what was it like? I was notexpecting to hear half of whatcame next —a fascinating taleof distress warrants, hystericalwomen with bread knives, beingchased by a man driving a JCBand, oh yes, that minor kidnap-ping...

When John told me that hehad once been a bailiff I couldn’thelp but ask: But why?

The incredulity in my voicemust have triggered a defencemechanism because Johnimmediately, well, defendedhimself. “It’s wasn’t a danger-ous job, well, not for me anyway.Well, not really. OK, there weresome incidents, but generally Iwas serving distress warrantsand distraining.’

Distress warrants, ok, we haveall heard of those, but distrain-ing?

That’s the list that the bailiffmakes on his visit to thepremises of the person who has-n’t paid the bills — and distrain-ing is listing all the items thatthe bailiff believes he can sell tomake up the debt.

“I would make the list andthen say, ‘Right these are minenow, if you can’t pay up this iswhat I will take when I comeback with the van’.

“People would get upset, ofcourse they would. I wouldvalue a television at, say £50,and they would tell me they hadpaid £500, but the value to thebailiff is what he can get at auc-tion. And that’s the value Iwrote down.”

So, interesting times . . .Oooohhh yes. “One lady was

rally upset and chased me roundher coffee table with a breadknife....it was like one of thosescenes at the end of a Benny Hilltelevision show.

“I wasn’t worried she wouldcatch me, but she could havefallen and there could have beenan accident.”

The most hair-raising inci-dent concerned a debt collec-tion from a small family busi-ness.

“Eventually the father and hissons paid the debt, but thenthey said, ‘Now we’re going tohave some fun’.

“And they did. They put us in aroom with a burly guy on thedoor to make sure we couldn’tleave. Then these guys walkedaround with metal pipes andevery now and again they wouldgive us a light tap. Not seriousbut enough to bruise.

“I was only 22 and obviously iwasn’t happy. My colleague wasmore senior and after while hesaid we were going to make arun for it.

“We legged it past the guy onthe door and when we got to thevan it was snowing and the haz-ards were on, so the van would-n’t start!”

John smiled as he recounted

this tale and how they had runaround the industrial estatetrying to blag some jumpleads...

Happy days? “Of course, I real-ly got a handle on what life waslike for everyday people, whowere always struggling to paytheir way.

“I honestly felt I was connect-ing with people and now thatI’m a lawyer, I honestly believethat I have connected with peo-ple more than your averagelawyer.”

On leaving the bailiff servicehe completed his legal trainingat Chester College of Law andwas articled to a firm inCheetham Hill for two years.

John then took a job inOldham with Wrigleys, initiallyat the Todmorden office with

the firm’s current senior part-ner Godfrey Pickles.

That was in 1991 and after onlysix weeks he was moved into theepicentre of the Wrigley opera-tion at the Union Street offices,then in the PrudentialBuildings.

His early days saw him inOldham Magistrates’ Court —as an advocate I hasten to add —and many questions were askedof the young Mr Porter for hisfather, Bill, was once Supt BillPorter of Oldham Police andBill had been a formidablepoliceman and popular man.

A life dealing with felons andcriminals clearly wasn’t for thebudding young lawyer. “Iremember being locked in a cellwith a violent criminal whom Iwas representing. I just wasn’t

comfortable, not one bit, andended up hammering on thedoor saying ‘Get me out ofhere!’”

And so it came to pass that henow lives in Littleborough towhere he moved when he tookthe Todmorden office job —with wife Jo, whom he had metwhen she was student inBirmingham, and children —and he began the slow climb towhat is obviously a morerespectable calling as a com-mercial lawyer.

He was always encouraged bycolleagues, in particular formersenior partner Paul Vincent, toget out into the community andnetwork.

“I didn’t know what network-ing was, but I do rememberbeing sent to Oldham Export

Club lunches in Foxdenton Halland being made to mingle.”

Mingling is something he hasdone extremely well. He was aboard member at the Kickstartcharity before the organisationwas taken over by Positive StepsOldham and that experience andgrounding led to his currentappointment as chair of ROCA— the Respect Our CommunityAwards.

This is an initiative estab-lished within First ChoiceHomes by (now retired) execu-tive director Steve Yorke andhis colleague JayneWinterbottom.

TributeFCHO provides core funding

and this is matched by dona-tions from the private sector.Emanuel Whittaker has beenlong-term, committed ROCApartners, says John, paying ful-some tribute to everyone whocontributes to the fund.

“People can apply for help, beit money or physical, practicalassistance. We help in any waywe can.

“We support communities andgroups and people. We helpgrassroots projects and work inany area where FCHO has prop-erties.

“The truth is we can’t alwaysfund everything, but we canalways help in some way.

“It is hugely rewarding. Iremember ROCA beingapproached by a group ofFilipinos who had been relocat-ed to Oldham. They wanted tointegrate into their new sur-roundings and expose their newneighbours to Filipino food andculture.

“Now they are a successfuldance group and have mademany, many new friends.

“That’s was ROCA does. Itworks in the community for thecommunity and we hope we pro-mote respect within the com-munities of Oldham.”

JOHN PORTER . . . as chairman of ROCA — the Respect Our Community Awards — he helps supportgrassroots projects

‘I got a handle on what lifewas like for people struggling

to pay their way’

OLDHAM EVENING CHRONICLE, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2012 —— 25

John

Thank you for the pleasure of working alongside you for the last 5 years

and for your help and support during this time. I wish you every success for

the future and I know the meetings just will not be the same without you!

All the very best,

Lisa Fowles, Villages.

Best wishes and good luck in your future ventures John. You will be sadly missed by everyoneFrom Jackie at OCL

Dear John, I am sorry you are

leaving the panel; it has been an

absolute pleasure working with

you, thank you for all your support

over my last 4 years with ROCA.

Panel meetings just won’t be the

same without your style and sense

of humour!

Best wishes Joanne

Best Wishes for the future and thank you from Rachel – Arts Development

Dear JohnMany thanks for your commitment and leadership of the ROCA group since its inception. You will be sorely missed, Best wishes.David Martin and the Coliseum Team

John, you have been a great ambassador for ROCA and Oldham and can be proud of your achievements. We will miss you. Best wishes for the future, from Mike Beaman and all at Housing & Care 21

Dear John,Just want to say what an absolute pleasure it has been working with you on the ROCA panel. You have been an amazing Chair bringing humour to the role and making the meetings thoroughly enjoyable while ensuring we got through the business in a timely and effective way. You held the Reins Well while still ensuring everyone’s views and opinions were heard and your commitment to ROCA is inspirational. Thanks you for leading us (not into temptation), your contribution has ensured that many community projects and activities have made a positive difference to Oldham,

All the best, Jodie Barber

Best wishes and thank you for your inspiring and committed approach as Chair. Daniel Mountford.

Sorry to hear that you are no longer going to be the Chair

of ROCA, thanks so much for all the time you have given.

The very best regards, Jayne Winterbottom.