Ramsbottom Heritage Society - The Early Years. 1989 to 2009.

Описание: FOREWORD: THE RAMSBOTTOM HERITAGE SOCIETY, 1987-90
ORIGINS
We owe our beginnings to a public meeting convened by Mrs Dorothy Moss, held at St Paul's School on 25th February 1987, and attended by about 70 people. It was the prospect of the East Lancashire Railway's re-opening, planned for the summer of that year, which had led to a growing consciousness of the town's identity amongst many townspeople. As well as our society (interested in the town's history and heritage), the Ramsbottom Chamber of Trade revived that year and, for a time in 1987, a small group calling itself the Ramsbottom Trust toyed with ambitious plans to develop the old Co-op stores building (with theatre) and, when this scheme stalled, the Model Lodging House, on Paradise Street, as a possible heritage Centre The Ramsbottom Heritage Society has some roots in the town's Local History Society, which had become moribund about 1980. The Rev Roy Carmyllie, who unfortunately died last year, was that society's chairman, and so it was fitting that he should have been speaker at our inaugural public meeting in April 1987. Any local history society, unless blessed with a very active membership, risks exhausting the supply of local speakers quite quickly. We were concerned, from the outset, that we should not suffer such a fate, and so we very deliberately sought a wider role than that pursued by the old local history society, and a broader constituency of members. Indeed, very varied interests were expressed at our first meeting in February 1987 - exhibitions, guided walks, museum visits, local fieldwork, civic issues and conservation, cultural issues, local buildings, photography and historical research - as well as simply listening to speakers! At the earliest meetings, we split up, after the public business, into four groups - historical research; walks, buildings and footpaths; photography as a record; and 'town activities'. Although this structure was initially geared towards the coming of the railway (set for 25th July 1987), we generally envisaged the RHS as being an umbrella, a forum for varied activities, and not simply as a monthly lecture venue.
By Andrew Todd (Chairman)
Taken from the first newsletter “Ramsbottom Local History Newsletter (Ramsbottom Heritage Society) June 1990.
More information about Ramsbottom and how to join the RHS:
www.ramsbottomheritage.org.uk