Don’t forget that this is a podcast, you can listen by clicking the play button above, or subscribe to get this and any future episodes straight to you.
It’s difficult not to dedicate this whole episode to Ramsbottom United given their recent amazing and well publicised win over Weymouth, but I will keep the regular format and you can hear more about that in the Ramsbottom United section.
There has been several bits of news recently for Ramsbottom that I want to talk about. One of them regards the proposal of 200 car parking spaces being made available for Ramsbottom. Surprisingly, this hasn’t had quite the expected response. It does seem to be a bit of, you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t. Nobody would argue that there isn’t a parking problem in Ramsbottom, you just have to visit during various times of the day, it really is pot luck if you find a space. So you’d think 200 spaces would be welcomed. Not quite.
Taking out the quite tiresome back and forth bickering between the Conservative and Labour councilors about who came up with the idea first and who is at fault for it not happening sooner. I know of several people who have voiced concerns not just over the location but also due to the parking expecting to be paid parking.
Firstly, the location for the parking site is currently planned for next to Ramsbottom Leisure Centre. There is currently a smallish car park there for the centre itself adjacent to which is a children’s play park.
Now, if the plans prove to remove that playpark, I’ll be arguing against the carpark, if however they plan to be on the areas around, such as some of the frankly boggy field, then I’m less concerned by it. There have been suggestions to use the old Mondi Paper Mill site, which is kind of like saying why not just use everyone’s drives who are out during the day. It’s private land, and you can’t just plan a carpark on it.
Ramsbottom does need parking, does it need 200 parking places, apparently it does. My opinion would be that a small amount of parking which allowed some of the green space to remain, and possibly even be improved (although I have heard before of schemes which include regeneration which then unsurprisingly run out of money once the main bit has been done) would be meeting in the middle?
I’m not sure, it’s another of those age old Ramsbottom arguments, we need something, we don’t know where to put it but wherever it goes, someone won’t be happy.
Another item of news is that a proposal has been made by Councillor Kevin Thomas in his maiden speech at the full Bury Council meeting to move towards making Bury a Plastic Free Council by 2022. This was also reported by The Bury Times
You can see the full meeting on YouTube, I’ve skipped straight to Kevin Thomas.
Our very own Ramsbottom has been leading the way with the fabulous Fulfilled Plastic Free shop being the first of its kind in Bury.
Bury Times this week posted several pages of food hygiene ratings for Bury. Thankfully I can report that the lowest rating Ramsbottom has is a 3 star, which seems to be classed as “Generally Satisfactory”.
I’ve got the full list of places coming out this coming week on the website, so keep your eyes open for that.
17:00 – Ramsbottom United News: ⚽What a season we’re having. We’ve played two matches since the last episode of the podcast, one of which was in the FA Trophy where Ramsbottom United (and 17 fans) took on the monumental trip to Weymouth down on the south coast, on a Tuesday night.
That’s around a 550 miles roundtrip which would roughly take around 10 hours. That’s some feat, even on a weekend but to do that midweek really does take some dedication. Thankfully the 17 supporters were treated to a masterclass of football. That last kick of the game equaliser when Weymouth came here could have been considered a bit of luck, well if it was, that luck continued on the away leg.
After some fierce pressing attacks from Ramsbottom, we were able to get a goal after one of the Weymouth players headed our cross into the back of his net. A great start, but the home team quickly got back into the match equalising just a few short minutes later. Little did they know at the time that this would be their last goal of the match. Goals from Eddie Moran and Jason Carey on the 54th and 79th minutes were enough to sink Weymouth. Not only that but we got a penalty towards the end of the game which was missed but at 3-1 I don’t think anyone was too bothered.
Katie Worsick has described the match as “one of the best footballing experiences of her life” Which possibly makes up a little bit for the journey which took just over 14 hours including the match where she arrived back in Ramsbottom with three others in the car at 3am.
The coach with players and fans on didn’t get back to Ramsbottom until 4am. I’m sure the singing was still going well into the early hours.
This has been an historic moment for Ramsbottom United. We are now furthers in the FA Trophy than we’ve ever been, down to the last 16 with the next match against AFC Flyde on the 2nd of February at home.
This brings me on to our second match, where you’d be forgiven for thinking that we’d have possibly had a rest with the next match coming up, well you’d be wrong. On Saturday the 19th of January Ramsbottom United were away to Glossop North End. I think a 5 nil stonking is an accurate description. The first goal for The Rams was by Jamie Rother seconds before the end of the first half at 45 minutes taking us into the break 1 nil up. Then after the break, regular goalscorer and fan favourite Nic Evangelinos scored at 51 minutes, then another just five minutes later, that’s 12 goals in total that Nic has now scored. Not to be outdone, Jamie Rother scored another on 71 minutes taking the score to 4 without reply. A final goal for The Rams was scored towards the end of the match.
This is our best away win since 9th Feb 2013 when we beat Garforth Town 5-0 and not only that, we are unbeaten away since Chris Willcock took over at the beginning of October having won 9 and drawn 4 on the road. Scoring 29 goals in the process and conceding just 6!
If you want to check out what events are coming up in and around Ramsbottom take a look at the events page, here are some upcoming events from that list:
https://www.thisisrammy.co.uk/event/ramsbottom-united-v-skelmersdale-united/
https://www.thisisrammy.co.uk/event/ramsbottom-united-vs-afc-fylde-fa-trophy-r3/
Check out the full events calendar for many upcoming Ramsbottom events, but here are some other great sources too:
Bury Times Ramsbottom Events Page.
East Lancs Railway Facebook events page.
If YOU have an event you would like to be included in a future podcast episode, get in touch.
Thanks to all the new likers and followers of the This is Rammy social sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, including:
Catherine Walkden, Matt Simpson, Zoe Legge, Luke Lomax, Steph Dale, Anna Jameson, Steve Youngs, Carol Davidson, Helen Proctor, Jason Serember.
Great to have you all onboard, feel free to get in touch any time.
If you’re not yet following the social channels for This is Rammy, take a look and maybe you’ll hear your name mentioned next week.
Plans for new car park to ease parking problems in Ramsbottom – Bury Times
Bury Council aims to be plastic-free by 2022 – Bury Times
Thanks for listening to this week’s podcast, please subscribe to the podcast which will automatically keep you up to date in your favourite podcast player.
Reviews are very much appreciated, if you would like to leave a review, you can do so easily on Apple Podcasts or the UK Podcasters page.
The post Ramsbottom United do it again – Episode 123 appeared first on This is Rammy.
