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Results of 2015 General and Local Elections

May 8, 2015 by Lee Leave a Comment

The votes have been counted and verified for the 2015 General and Local Elections and the winners are:

Local Election Councillor:

General Election:

Roy Hodkinson and David Nuttall retained their places in Ramsbottom and Bury North respectively.

It was a very close race between James Frith and David Nuttall. With which David Nuttall came out the victor.

I hope that all of the issues people have highlighted with Ramsbottom and Bury North are taken notice or, regardless of which party they were originally directed at.

We’re lucky in Ramsbottom but we’re not without our own issues, parking for example is one that is mentioned often. I know Labour candidates were looking into the parking issues, I just hope this continues.

Melanie Southworth Update

April 26, 2015 by Lee 3 Comments

If you recall Melanie Southworth was recently interviewed on the podcast as she was embarking on a journey to climb Everest.

On Saturday the 25th of April 2015 Everest and Nepal were hit by a devastating earthquake, followed by crippling aftershocks on Sunday the 26th of April.

News outlets are currently reporting over 2,500 people have lost their lives in this tragedy.

I haven’t heard from Melanie for a while but when she last sent me a message she provided a phone number. I have sent a txt message to that number but not received a response as of yet. However, from Mel’s Facebook page someone has posted an update to the situation. I’m awaiting confirmation but so far as this is the only news I have, and I hope that it is accurate.
The update reads:

“Just to keep everyone posted, Mel is safe and back at basecamp helping with rescue and recovery operations x”

This was posted on Sunday the 26th of April at around 9pm.

If I hear anything more I’ll let you know.

Edit: There has been another update on Mel’s Facebook page:

Update
Mel is in base camp to aid with operations there for another few days before making her way down to one of the more stable villages and ride out the next couple weeks in the valley where there is shelter and supplies. Going back to Kathmandu is not an option at the moment so she has opted to stay in the valley till the situation improves and international flights begin to drain the backlog of people trying to get out.
She is maintaining focus and good spirits all things considered and will update her progress best as possible

Update: 28/04/2015

Thanks.

Ramsbottom benefits from record average house prices

April 22, 2015 by Lee

The Guardian recently announced a record high in average house prices across the UK.

Although these record average house prices are good for existing home owners, it’s sadly not that beneficial to those yet to get on the housing ladder. Something that was raised with the parliamentary candidates recenlty in Ramsbottom.

Last Sunday (Sunday the 20th of April) at the Pre-Election debate in Ramsbottom, one of the talking points was what the parties will do to help people get onto the property ladder, and part of the reason was that due to the shortage of houses in the UK, the prices have increased. Thus putting them out of the range of first time buyers.

Based on this recent information, I set out to graph the average house prices across the UK and compare them to the average house prices for the North West.

Avalanche on Everest One Year On

April 18, 2015 by Lee Leave a Comment

12 Months ago today there was an avalanche on Everest which took the lives of 16 Sherpas.

Today there is no climbing as a mark of respect and reflection on the tragedy.

Melanie who we interviewed a few weeks ago is there now, she had this to say on Facebook:

A sad day today. One year ago exactly, I was sat in this self-same lodge, the Himalayan Hotel in Pheriche, when an English man named Tim, shaking with nerves, walked in and announced that there’d been a bad avalanche in the Khumbu Ice Fall. It’s a ‘black day’ for the whole of Nepal – with businesses closed and Pemba and myself staying put for the day, to remember the sixteen lad’s who lost their lives that day…Rest in peace

Melanie is climbing Everest and is raising funds for Canine Partners, you can donate on her JustGiving Page here: http://www.justgiving.com/MelSouthworth

Wishing Melanie all the best in her expedition and a safe return.

Electric Car charging points in Ramsbottom

April 15, 2015 by Lee

Electric cars have taken off in the past year or so, with many news outlets pumping out how they are cleaner, greener and can help cut costs (ignoring the fact that most are considerably more expensive than their fossil fuel burning equivalents).

Well with our Electric Car charging points in Ramsbottom we can certainly cater for this growing class of driver.

Some of the more popular electric cars, at least when it comes to a news standpoint are the Nissan Leaf, Volkswagen e-UP (can’t help but say this in a Yorkshire accent), and the Tesla Model S to name but three.