Shaw cyclist Matt Walls has put his hometown, Shaw, and Crompton, on the sporting map through winning both Gold and Silver medals in cycling at the recent Tokyo Olympic games, and Shaw Councillor Howard Sykes MBE has backed calls for Matt to receive the honour of being made a Freeman of the Borough of Oldham.

“Matt Walls has demonstrated that he is pure gold.  He is an incredible athlete, an incredible ambassador for Shaw and for Oldham, and a tremendous role model to inspire young people in our borough to participate and achieve in sport”, said Councillor Sykes.  “As a Borough we should do him the honour of making him a Freeman of the Borough.”

“We made hockey player Nicola White a Freeman when she became a gold medallist in 2016 so must do the same for another citizen who has achieved the same high-water mark,” he added.

Councillor Sykes has written to the Leader of Oldham Council, Councillor Arooj Shah, to “state emphatically for the record that I am in total agreement with making Matt Walls a Freeman of the Borough and would be honoured to propose or second such a proposal.”