Mersey Basin Campaign Blog

We're going to the show....

Wahey! We've just had a letter confirming that Mersey: The river that changed the world will have a stand at the BBC's Big History Show, which takes place at St George's Hall, Liverpool on 14th, 15th and 16th September this year. No doubt we'll have pre-order forms available so that you can reserve your copy of the book, and a special sneak preview of some of the images and audio material that'll be featured. If we're lucky, there could also be a chance to hear from one of the Mersey People themselves, or perhaps Colin, our lovely and intrepid photographer.

So we'll see you at the show - apparently it's a heuuuuge three-day celebration of all things historical, and the BBC expects several thousand people to come and join in the fun........see you there........

fly through the future....

Developers have released a cool virtual look at future plans for Liverpool's former International Garden Festival site at Otterspool. This vision of loveliness could be a reality in just a few years, providing the first new public park in Liverpool for 25 years (all 56 acres of it!). See what the Liverpool Daily Post have to say about it, and take a trip through the park here. It seems like just yesterday that I was a six-year-old visiting the Garden Festival myself............

ship canal drama

There was drama in Trafford Park on Wednesday when a 44 tonne lorry plunged into the Manchester Ship Canal! Thankfully the driver managed to jump clear before the vehicle hit the 30ft deep water, and the container was carrying plastics which shouldn't cause any environmental problems, but it must have been a heck of a surprise.......

Check out what the Manchester Evening News has to say about the episode here.....

Lancashire's Mayors admire Litter Trap

All the Mayors of Lancashire visited the litter trap today and were please to see it removing floating debris.  The litter trap installed in Blackburn with Darwen Borough will also improve the look of the catchment downstream as the river flows through Chorley and South Ribble, where Action Darwen Valley intends there will be a concerted effort of river clean ups.

At a site visit on Monday the Chairman of Action Darwen Valley (Bruce Bendell) and I discussed how we can remove litter that is already in the River Darwen downstream of the litter trap.  We're planning to have a big clean up throughout the catchment, starting from the litter trap downstream and hope to work with local volunteers on the banks.  By also involving other partners we should even be able to remove huge items like this unsightly pallet truck, which is silted into the bank just next to the litter trap (how and why these things end up in the river is beyond me!).

Action Weaver Valley News

Marshall's Arm community group which manages a riverside nature reserve in Northwich is the successful winner of the North West Park It awards.  They've beaten off 50 contenders & we are now working towards a big community event on 1st July.  Park It are marketing it as their opening bash for 2007/8.   This will be the first time that we've tried to organise an event of this size.  It's worth keeping an eye on the Park it award as they supply grants & staff to help you including all the services of their communications & marketing team

Interesting issue came up today on a site visit in Frodsham.  I was out with BTCV assessing a site for a potential hedge planting & hedge laying scheme.  One of our problems is the number of old crack willows, some of which are dangerous.  BTCV suggested I contact Chester zoo as they are on the look out for willow for their giraffes!  I can't wait to look into that one.  Hopefully some good PR is coming our way.

See the Darwen litter trap in action!

The Litter Trap is complete!

Yesterday was most exciting - seeing the litter trap working properly and being emptied for the very first time. 

Tomorrow I am showing the trap to the Mayors of Lancashire and have made a small flier (attached) about it and how it works. 

Download A5flier_2400dpi.pdf

famous mersey people - it's not all about the Beatles

Well, we all know that the Mersey changed the world, but what about some of the people born or brought up along its banks? At the moment we're trying to compile a list of famous or influential people from the banks of the river - including the Wirral, Stockport, Warrington, Urmston, Flixton, the Heatons, and so on, as well as Liverpool. Can anyone help? We're trying to stick to living people, and any nominations would be most welcome. Leave us a comment if you can think of someone we've missed.......

Beryl Bainbridge / Tom Baker / John Birt / Alan Bleasdale / Chris Boardman / Tony Booth / Cherie Blair / Kim Cattrall / Daniel Craig / Edwina Currie / George Davies / Shelagh Fogarty / Peter Goldsmith / Ian Hart / Gillian Kearney / Bill Kenwright / Carla Lane / Lynda LaPlante / Sharon Maughan / Paul McGann / Joe McGann / Stephen McGann / Mark McGann / Roger McGough / Paul McCartney / Mike McCartney / Ringo Starr / Jimmy McGovern / Stephen Norris / Tom O'Connor / John Parrott / Alan Parry / Brian Patten / John Power / Simon Rattle / Phil Redmond / Anne Robinson / Robert Robinson / Patricia Routledge / Willy Russell / Kevin Sampson / Alexei Sayle / Lesley Sharp / Alison Steadman / Bill Tidy / Ricky Tomlinson / Brian Reade / Paul O'Grady / Richard Stilgoe / Glenda Jackson / David Morrissey / Peter Sissons / Terry Leahy / Mike Myers / Krishnan Guru-Murthy / Niall Griffiths / Ian McCulloch / Jonathan Harvey / Ralph Steadman / Cathy Tyson / John Conteh / Lisa Tarbuck / Jimmy Tarbuck / Billy Butler / Lord Alton / Maria Eagle / Angela Eagle / Melanie Chisholm / Rita Tushingham / Wayne Rooney / Steven Gerrard (I'm not going to list every Liverpudlian footballer.....) / Colleen McLoughlin / Cilla Black / Ken Dodd / Gerry Marsden / Austin Healey / Matt Dawson / Paul Heaton / Shirley Hughes / Ray Stubbs / Chris Evans / Sue Johnston / Pete Postlethwaite / "Comedy" Dave Vitty / Matthew Kelly / Suzanne Charlton / Judy Finnegan / Judith Chalmers / Katie Derham / David Dickinson / James Hickman / Damon Gough / David Gray / Ian Brown / Gary "Mani" Mounfield / Stephen Patrick Morrissey