Rochdale: The Town that has Faith in Itself

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This tiny pamphlet sits in the Local Studies book stock and is very easy to miss when looking through the shelves, but my eye has always been drawn to the title, so I decided to have a look behind the cover. What I found was a little gem of a book extolling the virtues of Civic Pride, A Great Town Hall, Stability of Industry in the town, including paragraphs on cotton, asbestos, wood working machinery, textile machinery, opportunities for new industries and finally a couple of paragraphs on Rochdale’s People. The book, comprising of just sixteen pages, states that the Rochdale Coat of Arms contains the motto ‘Credo Signo’, which when translated from Latin reads, ‘Have Faith in this sign’. The book goes on to say that the people of Rochdale are ‘shrewd and robust, believers in dogged work, enterprising, loyal to their industry and town….and they say to the world at large ‘Aye, we have faith in ourselves-Forward, Rochdale!’ Probably written to attract trade to the area in the 1930’s/40’s the booklet includes a colourful map of Rochdale which was drawn by S.E. Morgan the Borough Surveyor.