Ramsbottom’s Big Dig
Clare Westhead looks at plans for a new community vegetable patch…
Veg. When I was growing up in the seventies it was the overcooked mush you tried to hide under your mash on a Sunday. Tinned if you were normal, frozen if you were posh, it wasn’t fun, and it certainly wasn’t trendy.
Of course it’s all different now. The surveys came out revealing our kids thought carrots grew on trees and hens laid courgettes. Celebrity chefs took up the mantle, and hey presto – vegetables have had a brand re-launch. Growing greens is where it’s at.
And that’s where Lynn Leyland-Mather comes in. She is spearheading a plan to get the whole of Ramsbottom growing our own. We‘re not just talking about the odd tomato here. Lynn has big ideas for a community gardening project.
‘I was totally inspired by a trip over to Todmorden where every part of the town is used for growing fruit and vegetables’, she tells me. ‘Even the flower beds have been converted to grow artichokes, and there’s fruit being grown all over the place. The locals there are allowed to help themselves. It’s a great community thing.‘
Lynn is keen to bring the same idea to Ramsbottom, starting with a local patch and building momentum from there. What she needs from us is ideas. Where would we put a garden like this? How many people might be willing to help look after it?
‘It’s about working together to find the spaces to grow more,’ she says. ‘I’ve been offered a small plot in Nuttall Park for herbs, but we need more and we need to be creative. Who knows? One day I’d like to see fruit trees in Nuttall Park and vegetables growing in the ornamental beds!’
But that’s the dream. Before Lynn gets to swap the pansies for potatoes and fill Rammy’s famous urn with onions she needs your help getting started. There’s a public meeting in the library on February 23rd at 6.30pm. She wants us to get our thinking caps on, scope out some spaces to grow, and put plans together for how we can all make a community fruit and vegetable patch work. So come on – turn up, put your back into it, and perhaps we can create a community project that’ll not only keep us fit and put us on the map, but taste pretty good as well.
February 11th, 2010 at 9:49 am
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I have just seen your post and think it sounds like a really good idea, I was wondering if the gardens at St Paul’s church would be a good idea it would save money for the council if local people agreed to maintain them and its in a central spot so would get people thinking about growing their own fruit and vegetables.
What do you think?
February 11th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
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maybe St Andrews would be a good idea
February 13th, 2010 at 10:44 am
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what about the area below peel brow? there’s a huge expanse of grass and there are already some allotments there. i think it’s a great idea! i just moved here from Rawtenstall, the local housing assosiation (greenvale homes) were talking of using peoples gardens to grow fruit and veg and giving the tenants a percentage of the produce.
February 17th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
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BRILLIANT!
Go Lynn!!!
See you soon
Incredible Edible Rossendale
February 17th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
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I think this scheme will work brilliantly in Ramsbottom. I can’t wait to see veg growing all over the place.
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:57 pm
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I was at the meeting tonight and was elated to see such a great turnout and show of interest. I think the scheme will be a really exciting and positive future for Ramsbottom, I can’t wait to get started!
February 25th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
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The area below peel brow was landscaped by RUDC to replace a slum terrace. Its called green hill locally and there used to be allottments to the back of it.
my dad used to ski down it in winter to the pub!