Cllr Andy Hollis

We moved to Todmorden from Salford in 1986 after spotting an advertisement for a house here one year earlier. We’d contacted the owner immediately, travelled to Todmorden and were bowled over by both people, buildings and landscape. We moved here. Ten years later the long awaited children had arrived.

I lectured in German at the University of Salford from 1973-2017. The more I studied German and the more I moved around the world (one year in West Germany, another in Canada, then two years in ‘communist’ East Germany), the more interested I became in politics. But it never occurred to me to become a member of a political party – until George Osborne delivered his first budget in 2010, setting the wheels of austerity in motion. At that point the only way was Labour.

In 2015 I was elected onto Todmorden Town Council. Whereas Branch meetings concentrated on national or international matters, the Council was entirely focused on local issues, which were hardly influenced by national politics at all. Being on the Council provided an opportunity to see what was actually going on in the town I’d lived in for nearly 30 years and to become much more involved in the community.

This included joining Todmorden Flood Group, the Town Twinning Association and Todmorden Information Centre; as well as volunteering for the Drop in Centre, Todmorden Emergency Support, and becoming a governor at a local primary school. I also teach German through the University of the 3rd Age.