Podcast

10th Anniversary of Ramsbottom Chocolate Festival – Episode 105

March 18, 2018 by Lee Leave a Comment

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With just a week until the annual Ramsbottom Chocolate Festival, I thought as its the tenth year of the festival, I’d go back over the history of the event, as well as giving you some information on what you can expect from it this year.

Paul Morris of The Chocolate Café Ramsbottom — Paul Morris, Chief Chocolate Taster from The Chocolate Café Ramsbottom

The very first Chocolate Festival was on Sunday April 5th 2009, the number one single in the UK charts at the time was Lady Gaga, giving away no hints with her Poker Face, if you can cast your mind back that far (here’s a link to the original programme). The brainchild of Paul Morris who having recently opened The Chocolate Cafe wanted to promote the café and the town.

2009 Ferrero Rocher Eating World Record Attempt

The festival first started life as a handful of stalls featuring traders such as Slattery’s, Meantime Chocolate Beer and Ramsbottoms regular Park Farm. There were also activities such a Giant Easter Egg Competition, World Record attempt at Most Ferrero Rocher Eaten in 1 Minute and even Chocolat being screened by Real2Reel Cinema.

From these beginnings the festival has grown year on year, Paul Morris has now sold the chocolate café and neither he nor the cafe have any involvement in organising the festival.

I spoke to Terri Fletcher of Ramsbottom Markets to get the lowdown. Terri and her husband began helping with the festival as volunteers back in 2010 having opened a shop of Bridge Street (Purple Tiger).

In 2016 the festival received a record number of visitors so in 2017 the footprint of the festival was extended to use more of the town centre.

This was in part to encourage people to wander around the Town enjoying all of the independent shops and bars along their way. It was also to make the chocolate festival easier to move around.

KG Hypnobirthing Teacher and Doula, Kati Edwards – Episode 104

March 11, 2018 by Lee Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:01 — 32.3MB)

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It’s Mother’s Day, and on this episode of This is Rammy, I bring someone who has had many close connections with expectant mothers.

I was introduced to Kati by a local resident who basically said she’d be great to have on the show. Little did I know exactly how much that Kati actually did, from drumming to spoken word poetry to being a doula and hypnobirthing teacher.

At first, I’ll be honest, I was not entirely sure how I could do Kati justice, let’s face it, I’m a man and often a males perception of birth is completely different.

Fire, Ice and cancelled events – Episode 103

March 1, 2018 by Lee Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:29 — 10.6MB)

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It’s been bitterly cold this week with the UK taking on the force of the “Beast from the East” providing consistent snow fall causing traffic problems as well as several events to be cancelled including, The Summerseat Players had to cancel their MacBeth Reading and Irwell Works Brewery have had to cancel their Folk and Americana night.

One person who’ll be hoping the weather here in Ramsbottom is as cold as it gets for her is Fiona Botham of popular Ramsbottom restaurants Baratxuri and Levanter as reported recently in The Bury Times.

Fiona and the team of 21 other people from the restaurant business will be trekking Nepal in aid of Action Against Hunger for their Nepal Trek 2018 from April 24th to May the 4th 2018. They hope to raise £110,000 and each team member will be aiming to raise at least £5000 to go towards this total.

Action Against Hunger is a world charity working to carry out innovative, lifesaving programmes in nutrition, food security, water, sanitation and hygiene.

Fiona states on her bio for the trek the she “feeds lovely people all week in our restaurants in Ramsbottom & at home tell our 4 young children all the time, “eat up”,”don’t waste food”, & remind them how lucky they are compared to other children & families around the world”. Fiona goes on to say that she is putting her very scared feet where her mouth is to help raise awareness & funds to help this amazing charity.

As of the 28th of February when I’m recording this, Fiona currently has £421 in her pot, if you’d like to donate you can do so at the link below.

Donate to Fiona Botham’s page for Action Against Hunger Nepal Trek 2018.

Hearts for Homes with Kerry Khan – Episode 102

February 18, 2018 by Lee Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:40 — 9.9MB)

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If you’ve never visited Hearts for Homes in Ramsbottom then you’re missing out on a real gem of the town. Not only can you take away a little Ramsbottom emblazoned souvenir but you can also buy a variety of unique one of a kind crafted items made by very talented locals such as Lynne the Mudlark and artist Stuart Barkley who I interviewed on the podcast back in episode 73.

Opening Day

Originally starting out as a place for Kerry to sell her upcycling works, Hearts for Homes has been in business since May 2016 where Kerry had an opening day with bubbles and cake.

This is the first shop that Kerry has ever owned, previously working as a nurse and before that an accountant, although Kerry now pays for someone else to do her books.

Kerry is a self proclaimed “chatterbox” so don’t think you can just nip in for one or two things, you’ll be there for a lovely catch-up too and Kerry is always on hand to provide a lovely warm welcome.

Shop by Day Social Media by Night

Kerry is always busy with the shop, even when she’s finished in the shop for the day she is still working at home responding to messages and creating content for the Facebook and Instagram pages.

One thing that has changed since the shop opened is that people are more often than not coming to Kerry with their crafts and stock as opposed to Kerry having to go source items although she still does enjoy sourcing items that she’d like to have herself.

If you plan on visiting Ramsbottom Hearts for Homes needs to be on your list to visit, and once you’ve been there you can nip for a coffee and some cake (or even cheese) in The Mouse Trap and say Hi to Mellissa Brown or even nip down to The Brewery for a pint or two.

Ramsbottom 101 – Episode 101

February 10, 2018 by Lee 1 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:06 — 6.0MB)

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I’ve decided to take the opportunity of episode 101 to recap on a bit of Ramsbottom information, maybe you’re new to the podcast or new to Ramsbottom in general.

Let’s be honest though, episode 101 was a great chance to do a Ramsbottom 101, or a basic guide to Ramsbottom in audio form.

If you’re new to the podcast, I’m Lee, a local resident of Ramsbottom and each week (that’s the dream at least) I provide some information, entertainment, or at worst some light relief.

Ramsbottom is a small-ish town around 4 miles north of Bury. Bury itself is around 12 miles North of Manchester in the North West of England.

Ramsbottom, although your typical Milltown in construction with its many classic stone buildings all helping to provide a spectacular backdrop to your daily life has an anything BUT typical vibe running through it.