News

Search for mystery artist after 19 year discovery under wallpaper

October 6, 2019 by Lee 2 Comments

It’s not uncommon to discover things whilst going through some home improvements. An old newspaper here, a height chart drawn on a door frame there, or, in this case, a work of art under the wallpaper.

Ramsbottom resident Bobbie Dowding posted to the “What’s on in Ramsbottom” Facebook group asking to help track down a mystery artist:

So my mam has stripped the wall in my sisters room and uncovered this art work 😂 it’s been signed at the bottom right hand corner by ?.Holden. We’ve lived in Ramsbottom since 2000 so she’s curious to find out who painted it all those years ago and hopes that they might see this post, if anyone might know who this is then please tag them 😊
Bobbie Dowding – Facebook

It’s a little tricky to see the signature, but after asking Bobbie, she has provided a better shot, and it looks like R Holden.

I did a little digging into the cartoon piece, and I believe it’s originally from Asterix in Britain:

Are you the mysterious R Holden?

Rossendale rail link ‘investment’ backed but timescale ‘tremendously disappointing’ – LancsLive

August 19, 2019 by Lee 1 Comment

The Shadow Transport Minister visited Rawtenstall’s East Lancashire Railway this week

Source: Rossendale rail link ‘investment’ backed but timescale ‘tremendously disappointing’ – LancsLive

Lancs Live has this week reported on the situation with regards to the potential of setting up a commuter link between Manchester and Rawtenstall.

Commuting between Manchester and Ramsbottom is something that has been raised in the past by various podcast guests.

There doesn’t appear to be any clear information in the article suggesting which out of the “five different options for a route” is most likely.

I’d be interested to see the plans with regards to how the overhead power cables would be handled should the “train-tram” option on the East Lancs Railway be chosen, I presume there would be enough distance between the lines and the chimneys on the steam trains.

It begs the question, would this potentially open up trams into Ramsbottom? Is this something you’d want to see?

There does seem to be issues with the Bury line from time to time, at least what I noticed online. I wonder if this tram would go via Bury or some other line?

One to keep an eye on for the future, it’s probably no faster to go from Ramsbottom to Rawtenstall to Manchester than the Red Express though.

Popular bus service Red Express due to change next month

August 1, 2019 by Lee 4 Comments

Yesterday it was announced by Transdev that the popular Ramsbottom bus service Red Express will no longer be operating every 30 minutes.

A quote from the announcement states:

Red Express has been performing better than it ever has before since we
made the change, but quite simply, we are not carrying enough people
outside of the morning and evening rush hours to keep Red Express going
in its current form.

It’s not clear what passenger numbers would have been enough, despite it now performing better than ever. It was, however mentioned on the Bury Times just last week that:

Fifteen per cent more people are said to be using their services, following Transdev’s takeover

A spokesperson for Transdev has been in touch with this quote:

The 15% growth figure you’ve quoted relates to routes taken over as part of our purchase of Rosso. Red Express is actually part of our existing Blackburn operations, and isn’t a Rosso route – we made changes to the route to divert it through Rammy in order to create a direct link to Manchester, and of course, Rosso tickets are valid on Red Express now that Rosso is part of the Transdev family.
The new service pattern through the daytime better reflects the number of customers we have travelling outside of the peaks, and should hopefully create a much more solid ground from which to build upon for the future.

What’s going to change?

Sunday 1 September, Red Express will become hourly during the daytime, Monday to Saturday…

We’ll be maintaining our current levels of service during the busy
morning and afternoon peaks, with a bus roughly every 30 mins.

How will this affect you? Is it better to have a service, even hourly than risk losing it due to profits?

Source: http://lancashirebus.co.uk/news.jsp?newsID=2764

Roots launches range of “Nowt fancy” Ready Meals

July 31, 2019 by Lee

An email from Roots just dropped into my inbox, not something I was expecting, and now I’m hungry, so thanks for that.

Roots is situated roughly to the South West of Ramsbottom on Bolton Road West. It’s not like a normal restaurant (which sounds bad, but hear me out), it’s based on a set menu and paired with wines should you wish to upgrade your offer. It’s laid back, and only open once a week (unless that’s changed).

If there’s anything you don’t like, be sure to mention it too as they’re accommodating even though it’s a set menu.

It’s probably my favourite place to eat in Ramsbottom, which given all the options we have is quite a tough to pick.

Due to the popularity of Roots, you do need to book early, like a month in advance. Also, make sure you’re on their mailing list, as this will give you a heads up if a cancellation happens, which does from time to time.

It’s being on this mailing list which is why I became aware of their just launched ready meals. Lovely stuff, I love it when a Ramsbottom business branches out.

It looks like there’s an introductory offer on at the moment, here’s a menu/list from the site:

Thanks to audience member John for these additional details:

The meals are delivered Wednesday and Sunday between 6 and 7. Orders by email only week before. Payment by cash or bank transfer only. There is a £10 refundable deposit for the glass trays.

Source: Nowt Fancy – Ready Meals — Roots

Summerseat Players clear up at Manchester Drama Federation Awards 2019

July 12, 2019 by Lee 1 Comment

*Girls Like That* by Evan Placey won Best Production

We are very lucky here in Ramsbottom, not only do we have many fantastic restaurants, but we have a fantastic local amateur theatre group the Summerseat Players.

If you’ve not heard of Summerseat Players before they’re based at the Theatre Royal on Smithy Street in Ramsbottom. I actually spoke to Stephen Gill back in January 2016 and Elizabeth Dunn in August 2016 of Summerseat Players.

Summerseat Players enjoyed fantastic success at this year’s Greater Manchester Drama Federation (GMDF) Awards which took place at the Last Drop Village Hotel last Saturday.

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