This is Rammy

One of the reasons This is Rammy podcast exists is to have converstaions with people who improve Ramsbottom. This episode is no exception with me speaking with Lynn and Pete of the Ramsbottom Countryside Access Volunteers.

You might not be aware of the group, but you might very well have been benefiting from the work that they’ve done around our town.

For example, one of the paths that they’ve tidied up is called “The Nuts” and can be found by clicking on this map:

I travelled down this path with my family just a few days after I recorded this interview and we’ve been down it before:

A post shared by Lee Ball (@thisisrammy)

Listen to the full interview in the podcast to hear what they’re working on next and how you can get involved.

The Ramsbottom Countryside Access Volunteers meet up at 10:30am on the first Saturday of every month at Nuttall Park base, but do check out the Facebook page to make sure.

Check out the Ramsbottom Countryside Access Volunteers Facebook page and meet some of the other volunteers involved.

You can check out more paths around Ramsbottom on the footpath map website.

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At the time of Recording Ramsbottom United were sitting in first place in the league (after tonights 4-0 victory by Workington against Droylseden we’re second).

The last match we were supposed to play was against Osset United however this had to be called off due to Storm Dennis bringing additional rain causing the pitch to be waterlogged.

The next match for the Rams though is a home game against Kendal Town:

La Petite Patisserie to open in Ramsbottom

If you want to check out what events are coming up in and around Ramsbottom take a look at the events page, here are some upcoming events from that list:

https://www.thisisrammy.co.uk/event/the-ultimate-stone-roses-corteeners/

https://www.thisisrammy.co.uk/event/the-smiths-ltd/

https://www.thisisrammy.co.uk/event/hybrid-theory-linkin-park-tribute/

Check out the full events calendar for many upcoming Ramsbottom events, but here are some other great sources too:

Bury Times Ramsbottom Events Page.

If YOU have an event you would like to be included in a future podcast episode, get in touch.

Thanks for listening to this week’s podcast, please subscribe to the podcast which will automatically keep you up to date in your favourite podcast player.

Reviews are very much appreciated, if you would like to leave a review, you can do so easily on Apple Podcasts or the UK Podcasters page.

The post Ramsbottom Countryside Access Volunteers – Episode 163 appeared first on This is Rammy.

On the 9th of February 2020, storm Ciara hit Britain bringing gale force winds and several inches of rain causing the River Irwell to burst its banks.

Nuttall Park and other areas closest to the River Irwell when it burst its banks were worst hit. This flooded people out of their homes for the second time since 2015.

As it currently stands, unless something changes, this is going to happen every few years that we get a big storm hitting us.

Local MP James Daly spoke in Parliant about our situation asking specifically about the potential of flood defences such as has happened in Red Vales:

The post Ramsbottom Flooded Again – Episode 162 appeared first on This is Rammy.

Gu of Tea Atelier has been running the shop for two years this February, so I found out how he went from a tea documentary to running his own Tea Shop.

If you’re unfamiliar, Tea Atelier used to be the old TV Repair shop in Bridge Street, as it had been for many many years.

Gu and his wife Michelle took on the task of renovating the shop and turning into what is now Tea Atelier. They had never done anything like this before, they’d renovated their own house, but that’s about it.

I think they’ve done a fantastic job turning what was once an electronics and repair shop, into a cafe/tea shop. This all happened as a result of having a family walk.

If you’re not sure what tea you might like, if you’ve ever felt apprehensive about visiting Tea Atelier, give it a try, their staff are trained to help you with your choice, and the experience is designed to help you to relax.

The post Finding passion in Tea with Gu from Tea Atelier – Episode 161 appeared first on This is Rammy.

I first spoke to Rowan three years ago, almost to the day, on episode 84 for Ramsbottom Running Club shortly after it was formed.

At the time, there were 60 members of the Running Club, and now, it’s getting towards 400 members which is phenomenal, if you’re interested in getting involved in the Ramsbottom Running Club, which is an inclusive club, there’s even a walk and talk route now, then check out the Ramsbottom Running Club website.

This time I interviewed Rowan to find out more about the epic challenge he will be taking on this May. Rowan is running 20 Marathons, in 20 UK Cities, in 20 consecutive days…. just let that sink in a little.

He is putting himself through this in an effort to raise £20k for homelessness with The Running Charity.

It’s an absolutely amazing challenge, and you can follow along with Rowan at these sites:

• https://www.twentyin2020.com/

• Donate via the 202020 Just Giving Page

• Follow Rowan on the 2020.twenty Instgram Page

• Follow Rowan on Twitter with @twentyin2020

• Twenty in 2020 Facebook Page

When I just had a look at the Just Giving page, Rowan is around £1800 in fundraising so far, let’s see if we can get him to £2000 before the end of the week.

The post Running to help the homeless – Episode 160 appeared first on This is Rammy.

This is possibly, one of the most commonly asked questions I see, and commonly corrected too (usually pretty quickly and, let’s say passionately).

It’s a simple question, and you’d think would has a simple answer. I’m hoping that this episode of the podcast will serve as a reference for future generations, but most people will probably continue to argue online about it (sorry, discuss passionately).

To give you an example of how often this comes up, it has actually spawned two poetry books from local poet Paul Jenkins, namely Poems from VillageTown Volumes 1 and 2.

Let me start by explaining that I honestly thought a quick “Google” of this question would provide me with some background. I know what Ramsbottom is, but I wanted to try my best to explain WHY it is what it is. Not just say, it’s this, because it is.

One thing that does come up is people will say “Ramsbottom has always been a town” which I understood to be the case, but the massively helpful people at the Ramsbottom Heritage Society, in particular Keith Burrows pulled out this nugget for me, it would appear, that Ramsbottom went through a bit of a transformation in the mid to late 1800’s:

1850 Heap’s Directory
Tottington-Lower-End.
Comprising the villages of Tottington, Ramsbottom, Nuttall, Holcombe, Etc.

1871 Worrall’s Directory
Ramsbottom, Tottington—Higher End, Tottington— Lower End, Holcombe, Edenfleld, Shuttleworth, Summerseat and Neighbourhoods.
RAMSBOTTOM is a large manufacturing village (or town), situated mostly in the town­ ship of Tottington, lower end, parish of Bury, hundred of Salford, diocese of Manchester, and in the electoral division of South-East Lancashire

1880 Barrett’s Directory
RAMSBOTTOM is a manufacturing town, situated mostly in the township of Tottington Lower End, parish of Bury, Hundred of Salford, diocese of Manchester, and in the electoral division of South East Lancashire.

One of the first sources I came across was a website called Gorgeous Cottages which outlined that a town is:

To be classed as a town, the location must have multiple places of worship as well as central meeting points. Traditionally in England and Wales a town was a settlement with a charter to hold a market or fair.

I’ve trawled through a few other websites to find some references too, here we go:

A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages but smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish them vary considerably between different parts of the world.

Wikipedia does also refer to towns as being:

…the term town is employed either for old market towns, or for settlements which have a town council, or for settlements which elsewhere would be classed a city, but which do not have the legal right to call themselves such. Any parish council can decide to describe itself as a town council, but this will usually only apply to the smallest “towns” (because larger towns will be larger than a single civil parish).

Whilst researching and collecting various sources (I hear this is what you do when you’re trying to prove a point, collect evidence, give a bibliography, something else clever and wordy) I came across the City & Town Classification of Constituencies & Local Authorities published in 2018.

The House of Commons Library has developed a new classification of constituency and local authority areas according to the size of the settlements people live in… Each constituency and local authority is assigned to one of six categories, e.g. “Core City” or “Small Town”, which most closely matches its population distribution. This is intended to offer an alternative to rural/urban classifications in analysing variation.

This is based on the classifications outlined in the above publication from 2018, this is also referenced on the Centre for Towns website.

In addition to the chart, the Centre for Towns website provides a spreadsheet you can download, this shows you that Ramsbottom, in the 2011 census has a population of 20,713 which isn’t a million miles off from being classed as a medium town.

The post Is Ramsbottom a Town or a Village? – Episode 159 appeared first on This is Rammy.

I had originally intended to be putting out at least one “proper” episode of the podcast between Christmas and now however I’ve not been 100% so I’ll be pausing the podcast until the new year.

Thank you for all your support over the year. The podcast has been around since 2015 but this year even more people have been able to hear about our town through the podcast because of your sharing and listener-ship.

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2020.

All the best,

Lee

The post Merry Christmas and Happy New Year – I’ll see you in 2020 appeared first on This is Rammy.

The press release on the 29th of November looked like good news, a title of “We’re improving Irwell Line from 26 January” however it soon became clear this was anything but for Ramsbottom.

Within this came the announced death of the Red Express/x41 service due to happen at the end of January.

To get a better understanding about why these changes were happening and if there was anything that could make Transdev reconsider, I contacted Alex Hornby, CEO of Transdev Blazefield for an interview and Alex was more than happy to come on the podcast.

One key area of discussion was the cost of the service. The article mentioned above details Transdev are losing £300,000 a year running the Red Express and Alex was keen to highlight this didn’t come lightly:

“We’re not a public body, we can’t share our secrets with everyone. We wouldn’t be withdrawing the service if it did work, it’s not in our interest to do that.” – Alex Hornby

Many people in Ramsbottom rely on this bus service not only for commuting but for leisure activities to and from Manchester City Centre. In addition, this service brings in people from outside the town, allowing them to sample our ample nightlife and restaurants.

Ramsbottom residents are fully aware of this, which is why this petition was created:

I speak about this in the interview with Alex to try to understand if the backing of this would make any difference on their decision.

Parent company Transdev have three company values on their website, these are: “Fighting against global warming, committing to regional development, mobilizing employees. It’s not clear which of these the removal of the Red Express falls under.

Bet Victor North West League Table

The next match for Ramsbottom is against Tadcaster Albion away, I don’t have a result for this due to recording the podcast a little earlier and as there was no match on the Tuesday I have no results for you either.

If you want to check out what events are coming up in and around Ramsbottom take a look at the events page, here are some upcoming events from that list:

https://www.thisisrammy.co.uk/event/ramsbottom-civic-halls-christmas-craft-fair/

https://www.thisisrammy.co.uk/event/ramsbottom-christmas-get-together/

https://www.thisisrammy.co.uk/event/ramsbottom-late-night-christmas-shopping/

https://www.thisisrammy.co.uk/event/friday-night-bite-december-2019/

Check out the full events calendar for many upcoming Ramsbottom events, but here are some other great sources too:

Bury Times Ramsbottom Events Page

If YOU have an event you would like to be included in a future podcast episode, get in touch.

Great to have you all onboard, feel free to get in touch any time.

If you’re not yet following the social channels for This is Rammy, take a look and maybe you’ll hear your name mentioned next week.

Thanks for listening to this week’s podcast, please subscribe to the podcast which will automatically keep you up to date in your favourite podcast player.

Reviews are very much appreciated, if you would like to leave a review, you can do so easily on Apple Podcasts or the UK Podcasters page.

The post Transdev CEO Alex Hornby Explains Red Express Bus Stop – Episode 158 appeared first on This is Rammy.

This interview surprised me in several parts. I had no idea that Matt was in to so many things, he doesn’t just own and run Roots, which you’ll hear in the interview.

Originally starting out from his own home (Matt has a very understanding wife 😄) they then moved to their own premises

I’ve been to Roots a few times now and if you’ve never been I’d argue it’s certainly somewhere to try. It’s a set menu and if you don’t like anything or if you’re allergic to anything you can mention before you go and they’ll accommodate you.

Personally, I eat lots of different things, and what I don’t like I’m always up for trying it done properly, or in a different way.

As Matt says in the episode, lots of people have commented that they’ve been surprised by things they didn’t think they liked.

Matt is also only the second person ever to take on the new section “Quickfire Questions from Kids”.

As well as Roots Food and Drink, there is also the Ready Meal service so you don’t have to miss out if they are fully booked. Not only is it great food (Matt even brought me some to try before the interview) but they are delivered in reusable glass trays which you pay just a £10 deposit for.

The ready meals are cooked Sunday and Wednesday and delivered the evenings of.

Thanks to Matt for coming on the show.

Bet Victor North West League Table

Ramsbottom United Club Info

Ramsbottom United Match Centre

City of Liverpool Match Report

I talk about two great wins recently for The Rams, loving the form and the scorelines too.

If you want to check out what events are coming up in and around Ramsbottom take a look at the events page, here are some upcoming events from that list:

https://www.thisisrammy.co.uk/event/ramsbottom-royal-british-legion-christmas-fair/

https://www.thisisrammy.co.uk/event/love-earth-at-christmas/

https://www.thisisrammy.co.uk/event/helmshore-museum-christmas-fair/

https://www.thisisrammy.co.uk/event/ramsbottom-civic-halls-christmas-craft-fair/

https://www.thisisrammy.co.uk/event/ramsbottom-christmas-get-together/

Check out the full events calendar for many upcoming Ramsbottom events, but here are some other great sources too:

Bury Times Ramsbottom Events Page.

East Lancs Railway Facebook events page.

Your Local Bury events page.

Tower FM Events Calendar

The Bury Directory Events

If YOU have an event you would like to be included in a future podcast episode, get in touch.

Thanks for listening to this week’s podcast, please subscribe to the podcast which will automatically keep you up to date in your favourite podcast player.

Reviews are very much appreciated, if you would like to leave a review, you can do so easily on Apple Podcasts or the UK Podcasters page.

The post Matt Holland of Roots Restaurant – Episode 157 appeared first on This is Rammy.

I nipped round to Paul’s house recently and had a nice long chat with him, and surprise surprise, I recorded it so we can all listen to what he had to say. We talk about everything from Ramsbottom United to The Queen to guitars vs Ukulele.

This is the first episode of the podcast with a new section which is called: Quickfire Questions from Kids. This is where I ask some kids I know (one being my son) to think of some questions for the guest and the guest answers them. They could be anything as you’ll hear on this episode.

If you’ve never heard UkePunk perform then you have the chance to hear them on the 13th of December at the Dog House Music Bar in Ramsbottom IF tickets are still available. You can pick up tickets on the Facebook Event

Paul and UkePunk will be performing with The Pukes and poet Thick Richard will be there too. Please note, if you’re offended by swearing, Thick Richard might not be for you.

Please do check out the fantastic new album from UkePunk on bandcamp. for just £8!

If YOU have an event you would like to be included in a future podcast episode, get in touch.

Thanks for listening to this week’s podcast, please subscribe to the podcast which will automatically keep you up to date in your favourite podcast player.

Reviews are very much appreciated, if you would like to leave a review, you can do so easily on Apple Podcasts or the UK Podcasters page.

The post Paul Davies of UkePunk – Episode 156 appeared first on This is Rammy.

Sam Gibbs and her husband Christian took over The Major in Ramsbottom on the 4th of November and before that happened Sam got in touch and I said I’d love to have her on the show.

Not only is The Major a popular local pub, it’s one of the first pubs I ever went to in Ramsbottom and I know lots of the regulars are keen to see what they have planned.

Sam has had a manic first week, she told me she thinks they’ve only had about 25 hours sleep since they took on The Major.

In our chat I found that they are planning on taking it more back to how it used to be at The Major, namely some craft beers and pub food. In addition, dogs are more than welcome, not only that but there are some free treats for dogs too. I know this will sit well with many local canine owners.

They are aiming to have the kitchen open and serving food as early as this coming weekend and looking at getting some more craft beers on the pumps.

I really enjoyed my chat with Sam, and I got a great feeling about the future of The Major, so far she’s ticked many of my own personal boxes.

Please listen to the full interview on the podcast to find out more, including if Sam were a drink, what it would be called and what would be in it 😄

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The big news coming out of Ramsbottom this week is two new signings for The Rams.

Midfielder Richie Baker joins Ramsbottom from Colne having played at previous clubs such as A.F.C. Fylde, Barrow and more notably Bury.

Richie joins new defender Rick Peters coming to Ramsbottom from Congleton Town. Peters has previously played for Irlam and Maine Road.

The next match for 11th placed Ramsbottom is at home to 15th placed Runcorn Linnets on Saturday the 16th of November. Kick off is at 3pm.

If you want to check out what events are coming up in and around Ramsbottom take a look at the events page, here are some upcoming events from that list:

https://www.thisisrammy.co.uk/event/november-waffle-with-zoe-siobhan-howarth-lowe-lisa-bower/

Check out the full events calendar for many upcoming Ramsbottom events, but here are some other great sources too:

Bury Times Ramsbottom Events Page.

East Lancs Railway Facebook events page.

Your Local Bury events page.

Tower FM Events Calendar

The Bury Directory Events

If YOU have an event you would like to be included in a future podcast episode, get in touch.

The Major Ramsbottom on Twitter

Thanks for listening to this week’s podcast, please subscribe to the podcast which will automatically keep you up to date in your favourite podcast player.

Reviews are very much appreciated, if you would like to leave a review, you can do so easily on Apple Podcasts or the UK Podcasters page.

The post New owner of The Major Sam Gibbs – Episode 155 appeared first on This is Rammy.