Olympian Matt Walls has been spotted by eagle-eyed residents in Oldham Council’s new animated Christmas advert.
With the adorable animation – which is aptly-titled ‘Christmas in Oldham’, and was released at the start of December – Oldham Council is giving retail giants a run for their money by encouraging visitors to the borough’s town centre to “shop local” over the festive season.
Following a turbulent 18 months for Oldham’s high streets and markets due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Council say the new animation is intended to promote the Christmas season in the town and urge locals to support independent businesses when shopping for presents for their loved ones.
The animation shows a local family exploring the high streets of Oldham for the perfect Christmas gift, and ends with Santa and his reindeer flying high over Spindles Town Square Shopping Centre.
And, to make the film even more “authentically Oldham”, the clip also features the iconic Oldham Lights, reference to the wonderful outdoor markets of Royton and Shaw, and Delph Brass Band – who along with conductor Phil Goodwin provide the music for the clip.
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Oldham Council has worked with Jo and Paul Perry from Delph-based award-winning animation production company, Periscope Studios, to create the festive film.
But that’s not all.
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Eagle-eyed Oldhamers also noticed that 23-year-old Olympian Matt Walls – who was born and raised in the Greater Manchester borough, and won both a gold and silver medal for track cycling events at Tokyo 2020 – made an appearance in the animation.
He was shown with a beaming smile outside the town’s cycle shop.
Matt’s appearance in the animation may be obvious in one scene, but he’s actually hidden in there a few more times than initially meets the eye too, which is why the Council is soon to launch the ‘Where’s Walls?‘ competition – its own take on Where’s Wally – and those who enter can win one of five £50 Love to Shop vouchers by simply watching the video and commenting under the Facebook post how many times they spot Matt in the background of the animation.
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Winners will be notified on Friday 17 December.
Oldham-born Olympian Matt Walls made an appearance in the animation outside the town’s cycle shop / Credit: Oldham Council
Speaking on the launch of the new Christmas animation, Cllr Arooj Shah – Leader of Oldham Council – said: “Christmas is an important time for us all, and a chance for us to spend time with loved ones [so] we wanted to reflect this when creating our Christmas animation, which was commissioned to promote the boroughs retail business offer.
“We’re incredibly proud of our markets and retailers – independent and high street alike [as] they’ve worked tirelessly to adapt against ever mounting odds to keep residents safe.”
The animation shows a local family exploring the high streets of Oldham for the perfect Christmas gift / Credit: Oldham Council
She continued: “People say that it’s a shame that the high street is dying, but if people are sat at home buying online, that is unfortunately what could happen. If you’re looking for the perfect Christmas gift, why not visit your local Oldham high street first?
“The heart-warming message of the animation is something that we can all relate to after the restrictions on seeing loved ones last Christmas.”
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Head over to Oldham Council’s I Love Oldham Facebook page here for more details on the competition.
Featured Image – Oldham Council
Oldham
The Oldham Man and The Sea: the documentary about the Latics owner’s record-breaking Atlantic voyage
Danny Jones
It doesn’t matter if you’re not an Athletic fan or native to the borough; we think everyone should go along to watch the much-anticipated documentary about football club owner Frank Rothwell and his record-breaking journey across the Atlantic Ocean: The Oldham Man And The Sea.
One of the simplest and most satisfying names for a film we’ve heard in a long time.
For anyone who doesn’t know about the Oldham Athletic FC chairman turned OBE’s incredible story, Frank Rothwell has set multiple records with his impressive sea-faring feats in recent times.
This new doc, which just premiered at this year’s Manchester Film Festival, charts his latest trip across one of the biggest bodies of water on the planet in March 2024.
As you can see from the recent trailer, it’s almost as arduous a tale as the original Hemingway story.
This movie – produced by Journeyman Pictures and Chief Productions – made its full debut at the Odeon in Great Northern Warehouse for MFF 2026, and is set to have a number of other screenings in and around Greater Manchester in the coming weeks and months.
One of those is happening rather soon, in fact, over at Saddleworth’s Millgate Arts Centre on Saturday, 28 March, which is ideal for those local to the region; grab your tickets now.
ln fact, there’s also one happening even closer to his hometown the following month, with Oldham’s very own Queen Elizabeth Hall also hosting a special screening of Rothwell’s incredible achievement.
You can reserve your seats for that one right HERE.
Having not only become the eldest (70) Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge finisher back in 2021, but now holding the Guinness World Record for the oldest person to ever complete the crossing while rowing solo at 73 years old, he’s become nothing short of a local hero – and that’s just his stewardship of the Latics…
The film does, obviously, touch on his time at the helm of the League Two side, who finally returned to the EFL last June, but the heart and soul of this inspiring watch is the sail itself.
More importantly, it also documents not just the gruelling nature of the 64-day, seven-hour and 53-minute trek, but also how Frank has now helped raise more than £1.4 million on behalf of Alzheimer’s Research UK.
What an absolute icon.
Hopefully, this should be just about all the reason you need to watch The Oldham Man And The Sea the very next opportunity you get to do so – and, of course, all proceeds from ticket sales will also be going to charity, because just the kind of bloke he is.
And here’s hoping we get a streaming version sometime soon.
Oldham man jailed for ‘non-contact’ child sex offences after pretending to be 15-year-old boy online
Emily Sergeant
A man from Oldham has been sentenced to time behind bars for what police have described as ‘non-contact’ child sex offences.
Ryan Greenhow appeared at Manchester Crown Square Court yesterday (Tuesday 24 February 2026) to be sentenced, after he pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to 22 counts of non-contact child sex offences – including child sexual exploitation, sharing images or film to cause alarm, causing or inciting a child aged under 16 to engage in sexual activity, and malicious communications.
The offences occurred between November 2024 and March 2025, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) confirmed.
It involved Greenhow contacting six victims via different social media platforms including WhatsApp, TikTok, and Snapchat.
The 37-year-old then blackmailed the victims into sending him indecent images.
Pretending to be a teenage boy, he would send the victims – who police say were aged between 12-15 years old at the time – an indecent image, making claims that the image depicted them when it was actually a picture of a naked woman obtained from the internet, and the proceeded to threaten to send the image to their friends and family if the victims did not do exactly as he said.
This led to Greenhow making demands for indecent images from victims across the country, in areas like Greater Manchester and Lancashire, and even further afield in Buckinghamshire.
He would go on to send numerous text messages threatening his victims, including saying: “This is your last chance, everyone will know this is you” and “I have seen your nudes, add me”. On some occasions, police say the victims would respond that she did not know what they were talking about, but kept receiving messages telling them that it was their “last chance”.
Some of the victims did send Greenhow images, and reported his activity to their parents, carers, and school teachers.
At his sentencing this week, Greenhow was jailed for seven years and four months, and will also be made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Speaking following Greenhow’s sentencing, Detective Constable Adair, of GMP’s City of Manchester Division, said: “Greenhow used several different social media platforms pretending to be a 15-year-old boy and followed the same method with each of his victims – sending them random images obtained from the internet, falsely attributing them to the victim, then threatening to share the image with the victim’s friends and family in exchange for an indecent image of the victim.
“Once our investigation was underway, detailed phone analysis led to us identifying further victims. Officers worked to safeguard these victims from any further harm.
“This sentencing is part of our wider work to tackle child sexual exploitation and we’re committed to protecting victims and bringing offenders to justice.”
Emily Sergeant -
9th December 2021 
