Oldest solo Atlantic rower asks Prince William for royal party in hometown

The note read: “In July 1992, Oldham enjoyed a royal garden party in our beautiful Alexandra Park, which was attended by Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh and over one thousand guests.”

He asked if it would be possible to “replicate the royal garden party in Oldham” to celebrate the NHS’s 80th anniversary and the birthday of Louise Joy Brown, the IVF baby born on July 25, 1978.

Mr Rothwell, 74, said he discussed his plans for a 20 metre-wide embryo-shaped statue with the Prince of Wales, to act as a tribute to the world’s first IVF baby being born in Oldham.

The proposed artwork, described by the football club owner as a “dirty, great, big statue… just like the Angel of the North”, is part of his mission to make the Greater Manchester town a “better place”.

The 74-year-old spoke about his intentions while being formally recognised with an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

Mr Rothwell was honoured after rowing solo across the Atlantic twice while he was in his 70s to raise more than £1.4million for Alzheimer’s Research UK.

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In 2021, he became the oldest person to achieve the feat, beating his own Guinness World Record on his second voyage in 2024.

After the ceremony, he said: “(The Prince of Wales) wanted to know about the rowing.

“First of all, he wanted to talk about that, but I didn’t want to talk about that – I wanted to talk to him about Oldham.

“Because my job in life is now to make Oldham a better place.”

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Mr Rothwell, from the town, owned Oldham Athletic when it earned promotion into the football league in June.

He shared: “Because I’ve got an OBE and I’m also the most known person in Oldham – because of my rowing and because of the football – I want to make Oldham a better place.

“And how I’m going to do that is I’m going to put a dirty, great, big statue – just like the Angel of the North – on the side of the M60 motorway in Oldham.

“People will know then, and they will ask the question: ‘What? Why is that there? What does this mean?'”

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He continued: “We don’t know what form the statue is going to be yet, but it’s going to tell the world: ‘You’re in Oldham’.

“Forty million vehicles a year go through Oldham on the M60, and there’s no sign to say ‘Oldham welcomes careful drivers’, and I’m going to change that, I’m going to make it so everybody knows they’re in Oldham.

“That will encourage businesses to think: ‘Oh, we want to move out of the South East’. Because labour’s so expensive down here.”

Mr Rothwell was honoured for services to dementia research.