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 route for the 2027 Tour de France Femmes revealed ahead of Manchester debut
Danny Jones
The route for next year’s women’s historic Tour de France has been announced, with some of the best riders in the world set to pass through Greater Manchester and more.
Yet another big coup for the region and our sporting scene.
Speaking with the City Council, now that the full route has been revealed, our very own Dame Sarah Storey joined many in celebrating another huge moment for us; the female Tour de France is not just back up and running, but aiming to become bigger than ever.
🚴♀️ The world’s best cyclists are heading to Manchester! 🚴♀️
The routes for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift 2027 have now been revealed, with Manchester set to host the Stage One finish on Friday 30 July and the Stage Two start on Saturday 31 July. pic.twitter.com/OMMlhdorqP
— Manchester City Council (@ManCityCouncil) April 21, 2026
The Stockport-born swimmer turned Team GB cyclist and multi-Olympic gold medallist knows all about what makes this particular sport special, having swapped a previous and highly successful career for an entirely different discipline.
As has now been fully confirmed, the 2027 Grand Départ will be getting underway with our friends in Leeds, before heading through Yorkshire and into Greater Manchester.
Upon entering our neck of the woods, the course will pass through the likes of Rochdale and Oldham into Manchester city centre, before heading into Stockport and neighbouring North West county, Derbyshire, and finally heading back through the Peaks.
Spread across two incredible days, the race itself will finish in Sheffield, with another UK first happening down in London, as the capital will also host the inaugural team time trial held in this country.
You can see the official event’s breakdown of what locations feature in which stages of ‘The Big Loop’ in more detail below.
Leader of Manchester City Council, Bev Craig, went on to add: “Being able to watch the world’s best cyclists in action and in such an iconic event, taking place right here on our doorstep in the heart of Manchester next summer, is going to be epic on so many levels.
“Championing women and girls to participate in and enjoy sports – including cycling – at all levels from entry through to elite, is really important to us and next year’s Tour de France Femmes is set to play a huge part in helping inspire the next generation of sporting talent from our city.
“With millions of spectators expected to line the routes, including here in the city centre, we’ll be going all out to help ensure the event’s success with what is set to be a ‘Tour takeover’ of the city to maximise opportunities for local people and businesses to get involved, to grow their own sporting skills, and to take part in the many community activities being planned.”
Having hosted everything from the BRITs and the MOBO Awards to another Super League Grand Finals in both netball and rugby, not to mention numerous other huge events over the past couple of years, it truly is a great time to be living in Greater Manchester.
Featured Images — Publicity pictures (supplied via Manchester City 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.
Emily Sergeant -
9th December 2021 
