Rock and roll Rochdale revealed

Deeply Vale was a major rival to Glastonbury in the late 70s

A new exhibition celebrating Rochdale's contribution to pop music opens on Saturday.

Rockin Rochdale, at the Touchstones arts centre in the town, goes on show until 26 April 2006.

The borough's connections with popular music from Gracie Fields to The Mock Turtles are chronicled.

Among the memorabilia will be previously unseen footage of the Deeply Vale festival, which was the Glastonbury of the north in the 1970s.

It promises the answers to such questions as which track on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club has a Rochdale connection, or who once made a single with boxer Prince Naseem?

Also promised are rare guitars hand built in Rochdale - one specially for Top of The Pops.

There will also be memorabilia from the legendary Drake Street recording studios, Cargo and Suite 16, that hosted bands such as New Order and Teardrop Explodes.