#LoveRotherham

It’s time to #LoveRotherham

I CAME to Rotherham three years ago with little or no preconceptions except the word ‘former’ seemed to be applied to it whenever it was referenced: former mining town, former steel industry, former Championship football club.

Pretty quickly we were hit by a series of scandals and setbacks that put the town on the national map for all the wrong reasons. Now, we need to fight back and shout about what is good about this town.

Periods of transition can take a  long time. Towns and cities have been down and almost out before but recovered, though the cities gets- the regeneration money first. Hopefully, when they’ve got their heads above water again the towns come next.

We believe it is now our turn and that is why we are kicking off our #LoveRotherham campaign with a 16-page supplement highlighting the positives that are happening here.

Columnists from the worlds of business, education and sport, as well as Rotherham MP Sarah Champion, have backed the campaign and written columns which are printed in this supplement alongside articles about town centre trade, the wonderful regeneration work taking place on the High Street, the community work carried out by Rotherham United and Rotherham Titans, an update on progress at Rotherham Hospice and the selfless dedication of the borough’s army of volunteers.

I think Rotherham’s key strengths are that it is has a strong backbone and a great sense of community, which means it refuses to accept defeat.

Hence, the fightback of the independent shops — you can vote for your favourite in our council-sponsored competition in the supplement — on the High Street, Rotherham United’s rise from the dark days in League Two at Don Valley to Championship life at the fabulous New York, the tremendous spirit of the Titans in their relentless battled against bigger moneybags rugby clubs, the investment in the incredible, but not shouted about enough, Advanced Manufacturing Park.

The reborn football club and the New York have breathed new life into an area that was seriously struggling and that has knock-on effects for the whole community. Rotherham United is a name read out on national TV every weekend. People know who and where we are.

All this, and it still has a a strong sense of community despite many of those communities being ripped apart. People have remained loyal. They stay here and talk it up whatever the downsides.

Working on a paper, you find people concentrate on the negatives and look for the negatives. People write in to complain, but I am finding we are now also getting a good number of letters in praise of what is going on here.

Reputation wise, Rotherham has undoubtedly been damaged over the past year, though conversely, some potential investors may be tempted by a perceived cheaper option.

I think we can all be seen as not acting to combat this and that is why we must work better together.

Obviously, this is where the Advertiser comes in. We will never bury the issues and wrong-doings that threaten our town — and we promise we will always do our best to hold those responsible to account — but we can help to get positive messages across.

In the coming weeks we will be highlighting stories that tell people just how great this town is and we need you to tell us exactly what you love about their town.

We will always support campaigns that are genuine, can have an end result and instil pride in the area, but we do need to know about them.

You can tell us why you #LoveRotherham by writing to our letters page at Postbag, Rotherham Advertiser, Brookfields Way, Manvers, Wath-upon-Dearne, Rotherham, S63 5DL, email at [email protected], comment on our website at www.rotherhamadvertiser.co.uk, visit our Facebook site or follow us on Twitter at @rotherhamtiser

Andrew Mosley, editor