Posted:10th May, 2019

Pupils help launch Cedar Gardens

Children from St Lukes CE Primary School and stars from local rugby club Rochdale Hornets helped to launch the new show homes at Cedar Gardens.

Picture of St Lukes pupils and Hornets players at Russell Homes' Cedar Gardens showhome opening
St Lukes competition winners with Hornets stars (L-R) Seta Tala, Remi Sedgley, Genipher Payne, Hercules, and Brandon Wood

As part of its commitment to the local community, Russell Homes has pledged sponsorship to Rochdale Hornets for two seasons, helping to fund its schools training programme and allowing the club to offer free season tickets to the borough’s children.

The club already works closely with local primary school St Lukes CE, which Russells recently visited to discuss topics including how to build a house, careers in construction, health and safety, and avoiding building sites. As part of the visit, the Year 6 pupils were set a challenge to design their dream home and win a place at the show home opening, picking up a goody bag filled with a Hornets shirt, ball and scarf.

Gill Richardson, Russell Homes sales manager, said: “The school visit was fantastic, the children had so many questions and we were all very impressed with their ‘dream home’ designs. Unsurprisingly most of them included a pool and some water sides, and there were some really creative additions like heli pads and recording studios. We couldn’t quite fit those elements in here at Cedar Gardens, but we are very pleased with the development and proud to be launching the show home for visitors to enjoy exploring.”

The overall winner was Cory Broadhurst [who couldn’t attend on the day], with runners up Remi Sedgley and Genipher Payne helping to cut the ribbon alongside managing director Andrew Russell, Hornets mascot Hercules, the visiting players and councillors.

Year 6 teacher Anthony Highnett said: It’s been a fantastic day, the children have enjoyed looking at the development and the finished houses, and they are really, really pleased to have won. It’s great how Russell Homes is getting involved with the community and we really appreciate them coming into school to work with the children. We spent several lessons working on the designs for the dream homes and they got a lot out of a really valuable learning experience.”

Cedar Gardens Showhome opening Russell Homes 14

Pictured: The ribbon cutting outside the new Cedar Gardens show home and sales office in Heywood (L-R) Seta Tala, Remi Sedgley, Coun Ray Dutton, Genipher Payne, Andrew Russell, Coun Peter Rush, Hercules, and Brandon Wood