Last night a public meeting was held at Ramsbottom library headed by Lynn Leyland-Mather to get ‘Rammy’s Big Dig’ underway. With the waiting list for allotments longer than an MP’s expense claim her vision is to increase the volume of local produce grown in the town. Who knows, maybe one day Ramsbottom will become self sufficient. There was no doubting the interest in the project with a large number of residents descending on Carr Street.

Nick Green from ‘Incredible Edible’ was on hand to impart his knowledge and experience from their hugely successful and well publicised scheme just up the road in Todmorden. You could be forgiven for thinking that Lynn had mistakenly booked ‘A Night with Rory McGrath’ as Nick entered the room but there was nothing light-hearted about his truly infectious passion for the project. Driven by Pam Warhurst ‘Incredible Edible’ has been running for two years with the ambitious target of making Todmorden completely self-sufficient within 10 years. Every nook and cranny is used to plant all sorts of weird and wonderful fruit and veg for the community to enjoy – even disused plots of land are turned into horticultural havens thanks to a spot of Guerilla Gardening. Exciting eh?

Their success to-date has been achieved through 3 main criteria:

1. Convincing individuals about the merits of the project
2. Educating folk about gardening
3. Marketing and promoting the project

For more information about ‘Incredible Edible’ visit www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk

What they have achieved in Todmorden is fantastic and with a little bit of elbow grease and a healthy dollop of community spirit there is no reason why we can’t achieve something similar in Ramsbottom.

In the coming weeks Lynn will be calling a more extensive follow-up meeting. Details of this will be posted on the site so keep an eye out. In the meantime she is asking for volunteers to form a core group in order to drive the project forward. Please contact Lynn by emailing leylandlynn@phonecoop.coop if you would like to be part of this group. Whether you want to grow local food or just eat it please share your ideas, skills and resources below. You don’t have to be a gardener!