A youth-focused Oldham charity has received royal recognition following the Platinum Jubilee of the late Queen Elizabeth ll.
Mahdlo Youth Zone has been given one of the 350 trees that made up The Queen’s Tree of Trees sculptor that stood outside Buckingham Palace as part of the jubilee celebrations earlier this year.
The tree will now be planted outside Mahdlo’s base on Egerton Street in the town centre on Wednesday 2nd November in a civic ceremony starting at midday.
Mahdlo’s Chief Executive, Lucy Lees, said: “This is something everyone in Oldham should be really proud of. The Queen, before she passed away, has chosen a charity in Oldham because of the value we bring to the community, and all the hard work that goes into it by the professionals and volunteers who work here.
“Thank you to each and every one of our supporters for the role they have in ensuring the young people of Oldham have the opportunity to be the best they can be.”
All 350 trees have been awarded to charities across the UK, with Mahdlo one of 12 recipients in Greater Manchester, and the only charity in Oldham to be recognised.
And Lucy has described how the honour dropped through the letterbox out of the blue: “A letter arrived from the Lord-Lieutenant of Greater Manchester saying she had nominated 12 charities from across Greater Manchester - and all 12 had been chosen, including us.
“When we received the letter, the Queen was still alive. But a couple of weeks later when she passed away, it made the honour really poignant because the Tree of Trees was part of her jubilee celebrations, and part of her legacy.”
The 21-metre-high sculpture was designed to draw attention to the Queen's Green Canopy tree-planting campaign, which has seen over a million trees planted in the UK to mark the 70 years of her reign. It was made up different types of trees found all over the UK.
Representatives of all 12 Greater Manchester charities collected their trees from Bolton Wanderers Football Club, when Lucy was joined Chris Wareing, Mahdlo chair, vice chair Janelle Barker and other civic dignitaries to collect the rowan tree allocated to them.
Mahdlo Youth Zone first opened in 2012 and is dedicated to young people from all over Oldham aged 8 to 19 years, and up to 25 for those with a disability. Its mission is to provide opportunities for young people to be the very best they can be. It employs 74 full and part-time staff and is supported by an additional 69 volunteers.
Lucy added: “As well as the extensive activities we host in the town centre, we have pop up sessions all over the borough – one night we might be in Hollinwood, another night in Saddleworth or Greenfield, and then Royton. With all the different venues we have, we want more young people to take advantage of what we have to offer, and we want more people to start supporting our charity.
“We’ve got different opportunities for different people from all over Oldham. If you don’t do your Duke of Edinburgh award at school you can do it through us, we have the cheapest gym in Oldham, for 50p we have facilities that compare to most adult gyms. You can play football and basketball, take part in multisports and we support young carers and families – we have so much to offer.”
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