History

HISTORY OF RCT

Here you will find key points in RCT history

THE FUTURE IS IN THE MAKING...

We are committed to continuing to evolve our services to remove complex barriers and meet the changing social health and well-being needs of our community.

2023

RCT conducted a procession in aid of the White Ribbon Campaign's 16 day's of action. To work towards the end of men's violence against women.

2022

Rochdale Connections Trust celebrated 25 years of supporting people in the Rochdale Borough!

2019

Rochdale Connections Trust are the winners of the Rochdale Business of the Year Award 2019 (turnover less than 1 million).

2017

We celebrated our 20th anniversary of supporting local people in greatest need.

In our first 20 years we have supported over 7000 families.

2015

By this point we were established as the leading independent provider of Domestic Violence and Abuse services throughout the Borough of Rochdale.

In 2015 we supported over 800 female survivors of Domestic Violence and Abuse across Rochdale.

2012

During delivery of the DWP contract we became aware of the critical scale of Domestic Violence and Abuse in the Borough. With no other services to refer into, the Board of Trustees took the decision to invest in staff training to undertake this much needed work with female victims and RCT launched delivery of the Freedom Programme.

2011

The charity was awarded a significant 4 year DWP contract to work with families with multiple and complex needs.

900 local residents benefited directly from our input.

2009

We received funding through the local authority to launch a new programme, Young Runaways, to provide daily support to those young people who were excluded from education.

This provision included an alternative education curriculum and lots of physical activities. It was at this time that we recognised the need to extend our remit and offer support to the whole family.

2006

We were awarded our first National Charity Grant through BBC Children in Need to work with Young Runaways. Until then we had been reliant on local funding pots.

We went out to local businesses to recruit business mentors to champion the young people we worked with and motivate them to re-engage in education.

2004

Sufficient funding had been accrued to enable us to purchase and fit a fully functioning kitchen on our ground floor. This was opened by the Mayor and the Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester.

And up on the third floor a computer suite was installed for use by the young people we worked with.

2002

Following a period where the charity was located on Kirkholt, sufficient funds had been raised to allow the move to our premises on Drake Street.

The premises were officially opened by Her Royal Highness, The Countess of Wessex.

1999

With sufficient funding in place the charity was able to recruit their first staff member, who trained a bank of volunteer mentors to begin working with young people.

A Mentoring Service was launched to provide much needed support to young people at risk of engaging in criminality and anti-social behaviour.

1997

The Charity was founded by a group of Youth Court Magistrates who were concerned by the number of young people who were disengaged from education, with little or no family support coming before the courts.

The Board of Trustees were keen to provide a service to young people that would allow them to choose a different path and embarked on a period of fundraising to allow their vision to become a reality.