Ramsbottom Online

Ramsbottom – It’s Surroundings and our Heritage, Lost?

Within the heart of the industrial north-west lie many towns founded and developed during the Industrial boom of the late eighteenth century onwards, including my home town Ramsbottom. I have lived here for the vast majority of my twenty-seven years and have witnessed its ever developing growth.

Valentines Survival Guide (or is it?)

Yep it’s here once again and doesn’t it seem once Valentine's Day draws near everywhere you turn all you see are a plethora of the ‘oh so cliché’ "single person survival guides." As a single person, I find this to be a horrendous practice. A survival guide? Really, a "survival guide??" This is supposed to help? Survival guides are for desperate people lost in the wilderness, starving, freezing, and hunted by wild animals. Apparently that's what I and my fellow singletons are to the non-single world: the metaphorical equivalent Bear Grylls!

Late Night Licences – Are We Missing Out?

Now I know I’ll cause controversy with this article and it’s likely to split opinions like a hot knife through butter, but I’d like to hear your thoughts. I’ll divide the post into two sections; for and against. I’ll pop what I believe to be both sides of the argument, then please add your own comments so we can get a well balanced debate and ‘temperature check’ on this topic.

Late Night Licences

Water water everywhere… (but not on Bolton Road West)

I'll keep it short & sweet and this only directly applies if you live in the vicinity of Bolton Road West in Ramsbottom or have been stuck at the traffic lights there for the past 5 days!

Tales From the Pub Rock Circuit

In his first in a series of 'Tales from the Pub Rock Circuit' Rik Entwistle from local institution Big Lix gives us a taster of life on the road for a rock 'n roll superstar...

Big Lix, Rik Entwistle

Hibernation…

So our lovely white Christmas is over and we're stuck in the deep midwinter. Life has reverted back to its old routine, with the additional pleasures of unheated buses and slippery pavements.

You F’coffee?

Having recently moved here I hadn’t quite grasped the pace of life in the rain (and lets face it, there’s a lot of it). Everything seems to slow to the answering speed of the Virgin Train Call centre, which is deathly slow if you’ve ever been unlucky enough to need to call them.

Get down to that market!

I’m always on the look out for healthy food, preferably reasonably priced. Being well and staying well shouldn’t be expensive in my book and to that end I think we have one of the best sources of cheap, healthy food right on our doorstep in the shape of the fruit and vegetable stall on Ramsbottom’s Saturday market.

Manchester madness

I've been panicking about not having bought any Christmas presents, so - at the request of a relative for something very specific from Marks & Spencer - I went in with my best friend on Sunday.

A Dollop of Festive Goodness

I’m a self confessed scrooge. Fact. I have been ever since the glitter of Christmas wore off and the myth of Santa was dashed following a midnight stakeout and seeing my parents with a bin liner containing mine and my sister’s presents.....

Baileys, Rotary Club of Ramsbottom

The Annual Mind, Body & Spirit Fair

Give it a try, what’s the worst that can happen? Those very words can potentially either become life changing or the last you ever utter... or perhaps nestled in between those two extremities (which is the more likely) sits the possibility that if you don’t give something a go how will you ever know.

It’s Not All Doom & Gloom

It’s time to smile everyone. I mean it... go on... smile. Ok, what was all that about I hear you cry? Let me explain before you send out the men in white coats… It’s all too easy to get bogged down with the harder side of life all the while forgetting to recognise the great and the good. I read a lot of articles and blogs that as informative and relevant as they are...

Loose ends

I've been writing this blog for a few months now and, whilst I've been writing a newsletter at work for the past 5 years, I have to say my Ramsbottomonline experience has been great. So far I've covered a range of random topics, each linked in some way to trying to be a bit greener.

Aldi, land share, Tesco, X44

Plastic bags

I mentioned in a previous post that it would be good to think about plastic bags, having been out walking along the Irwell Valley Way and noticed how many bags were caught up in tree branches and along the banks of the river. A few people agreed that they are a problem. The question is, what to do about it?

Plastic Bags

Keeping Rammy’s Character

I noticed a few comments where people have been concerned about the frontage of the new discount store in Ramsbottom. I agree completely - sadly, we're unable to do much about the supermarkets and their love of illuminated plastic signage, but at least they're off the main street. The vast majority of businesses on Bridge Street and Market Street are in keeping with the area and look attractive.

Ramsbottom, Supermarkets, The Hidden Jem, War Weekend

They’re not all bad…

I’m currently researching the whole ‘plastic bag free’ issue and will be writing a blog about that very soon. In the meantime, I intend to carry on doing what I’m doing (taking my collection of jute bags with me on my Saturday morning shop).

Booths, Holcombe Hill, Morrisons, Plastic Bags

Lets get physical…

So I'm continuing to try the events that Rammy has to offer, a few weeks back I went to my first wine tasting and last week I went to my first aerobics class at the civic hall... I was the first person to arrive and was a little nervous when I arrived and everyone was dressed in Karate outfits...

Aerobics, Fitness, Ramsbottom Civic Hall

My first wine tasting…

So… it’s Friday night and I’m getting ready for my first ever wine tasting event at the Civic Hall.

Ramsbottom Civic Hall, The Vineyard, Wine Tasting

Out and About

Firstly, I'd like to say thanks to everyone who's been commenting on the blogs about land share. And it's always good to know there are like-minded people concerned about issues like plastic bags littering our lovely countryside. Talking of lovely countryside, I enjoy walking and getting out and about as much as I can. Wednesday and Thursday last week were so fabulously sunny that it nearly killed me going into work. Being deskbound in Manchester is pretty uninspiring at the best of times. But when the weather's lovely and autumn is in the air it's miserable to sit on the bus and head out of the hills for the day.

Buckden Woods, Holcombe Moor

More land sharing….

Continuing with the subject of land sharing, I had a comment (thanks Kate) suggesting a community garden in Nuttall Park. It’s interesting how once you start looking you notice just how many patches of unused ground there are. Allotments are like gold dust at the moment; some councils seem to be more militant about neglected-looking plots [...]

allotments, hebden bridge, land share, sarah h

Fix the Food Chain Film

Friends of the Earth in Bury are promoting a campaign called ‘Fix the Food’ and we had a chat with Lynn Leyland-Mather from FoE about the need for more local shops to get involved in the campaign. Tell us a bit about the campaign? The Fix the Food Chain campaign by Friends of the Earth national is [...]

Farmers Markets, Fix the food chain, Friends of the Earth, Ramsons, The Chocolate Café

Land share

Like many people in this area, I live in a Victorian terrace. I love the house but unfortunately I have a back yard the size of a postage stamp. Last year I put my name down with the council for an allotment. 18 months later and I’m still 20th on the waiting list. So while I wait I’ve [...]

Allotment, Blog, Tomatoes

And yet another supermarket is built…

In my amateur attempts to live greener, I decided a few years ago to become less reliant on supermarkets and to shop local. This was partly down to reading Shopped by Joanna Blythman. It gave me an insight into the effects supermarkets are having on their suppliers, the environment, our high streets and our diets. Don’t [...]

Green, Helmshore, Market, Park Farm, Rammy, Shopping

Cheap booze outlets could have ramifications for Rammy

One of the things that attracted me and my wife to Ramsbottom when we were considering where to move to in the North West a year ago was the plethora of unique, local suppliers and traders the town has to offer. It’s certainly something that visitors to chez-Walker refer to when we take them down [...]

Aldi, Booze, Manchester Evening News, Morrisons, Rammy, Ramsbottom, Tesco

The Witch Way season ticket – proceed with caution

Back in January I got really ill and was off work for ten weeks. I started off feeling a bit under the weather and ended up with anaphylaxis. Something nasty had got into my system (turns out it was from the Christmas tree – I’d grappled with it and either pine sap or preserving chemicals [...]

Helmshore, Manchester, Rawtenstall, Travel, Witch Way, X44