Mersey Basin Campaign Blog

Scrap Metal

What do you get if you find 15 bags of rubbish, two bikes, a pram, a scooter and a strimmer?……

….a hot-pot dinner!  Well at least you would have if you helped clean-up watercourses in Whaley Bridge for MWH Mersey Basin Week this year.

Seventeen people turned out for the weekend events that were organised by Whaley Bridge Amenity Society and the Friends of the Memorial Park.  However, because of the recent downpours, the litter pickers were confined to the banks and sadly did not get to use their waders.

Above: Cllrs Tony and Andrew Bingham and Bert Bowles

High Peak Borough Council Parks department supported the events by helping with publicity, equipment and a lorry to take the rubbish away.

Other events organised by the Society during the week were guided walks along the Peak Forest Canal to Bugsworth Basin and to Brookfield Pond Local Nature Reserve and Todd Brook Reservoir.

Stockport schools seek out source

Last Thursday, I accompanied some highly excited children from All Saints Primary School, Heaton Norris in Stockport, up to near the source of the river Etherow in the Peak District National Park.

This was one of four Stockport primary schools and 174 children that were supported by MWH Mersey Basin Week grants to participate in the river field studies organised by the Longdendale Environmental Education Centre.  This is a service run by a partnership between United Utilities and the Peak District National Park Authority.

We travelled to the beautiful Crowden Valley in Longdendale where, guided and inspired by leaders Sarah and Chris, we learned at first hand the special qualities of the Peak District and the features of the babbling upland streams.

The children composed poems about their favourite views and found their own ‘magic spot’ to both experience and sketch the river landscape.  21 vivacious children suddenly became quiet for the first time that day and this was a truly inspiring experience.

The highlight of the trip, for the children, was the river dipping.  Equipped with nets, trays and hand lenses, no stone went unturned in the search for mini-beasts.

The trip was nicely rounded up by locating the places and features we had talked about on a giant floor map of the Mersey Basin.  The children then created their own ‘River Symphony’ using the centre’s junk instruments.

The feedback on the visit from the teachers was extremely positive.  One school mentioned that the grant and the free service of the Longdendale Environmental Education Centre had enabled them to do such a trip for the first time in seven years.

Huge thanks go out to Jo, Sarah and Chris at the Longdendale Environmental Education Centre who put so much work into making the trips a success.  I would also like to thank Amanda Kelly, Primary Curriculum Consultant at Stockport MBC, for helping promote the sessions to the schools.

For more information about the services of the Longdendale Environmental Education Centre, telephone 01457 868127.

Rubber and Reed Mace

Staff from Government Office North West and the Mersey Basin Campaign donned their rubber waders and gloves and got stuck in (literally in some cases!) to the task of weeding out Reed Mace from the wildlife pond at Mersey Vale Nature Reserve in Stockport.  The task was organised and lead by Stockport MBC’s ranger, Rachel Bennett.

After the first few tentative steps, people were soon up to their waist in pond water with vegetation flying in all directions!  There was time, however, to rescue a small toad and make sure it got safely home. 

Great team work produced two truck loads of reeds and 13 very mucky and hungry people.  After a quick clean up, a fabulous feast was soon demolished at Burnage Rugby Club.

The group then went on a tour of some of the lesser known sites of Stockport.  Merseyway shopping centre was the first stop: not for some retail therapy (shame!) but to go underground to visit the source of the river Mersey, some 65 feet below.

The tour, lead by Merseyway Shopping Centre, revealed many fascinating facts about the river:  like the numerous colonies of bats living in the culvert;  fish species such as Roach, Chubb, Barbel, Gudgeon and the mighty Atlantic Salmon are now found in the river due to improvements in water quality.  Otters have also been spotted both up and downstream of the shopping centre.

Next on the list was Stockport Art Gallery to see the photographic exhibition, ‘Mersey: the river that changed the world’.  The exhibition in Stockport has an added local flavour with features on local characters.

There were very positive comments about the varied programme of the day and we would particularly like to thank Rachel Bennett, Louise Murphy and Jo Ward from Stockport MBC; Bob Russell and Rebecca Tabener from Merseyway and Andy Green from Burnage Rugby Club for all their help.

Beech bashing

On a beautiful balmy late September day, six enthusiastic staff from the Environment Agency’s Ecological Appraisal team and Mersey Life Project descended on a Stockport woodland as part of the Agency’s Environmental Leave scheme.

The event was organised as part of MWH Mersey Basin Week, by landowners Stockport MBC and Action Etherow and Goyt.

Poise Brook woodland is a beautiful yet little visited Local Nature Reserve just two miles from Stockport town centre.  Following the production of a management plan, a successful £12,000 Greening Greater Manchester bid was submitted by Stockport MBC.  This has allowed woodland management work to be carried out and new seating and interpretation to be installed.

The woodland management has involved removal of many of the mature beech trees that shade out the woodland floor, preventing many woodland plants from surviving.

Agency staff, along with Stockport’s Nature Development Officer Emma Wilson and Action Etherow and Goyt’s co-ordinator Mary Lee, worked tirelessly, (fuelled by some dinner plate sized pastries!), to remove some of the numerous beech seedlings and to do a litter pick. 

Ecological Appraisal Officer, Sharon Weaver said:

“It was good to get out as a team to do some practical conservation work and we would definitely do this kind of event again.”

Emma Wilson, Stockport MBC’s Nature Development Officer, remarked

“The Agency team worked really hard and made a great contribution to the management of the woodland.”

Woodley Primary School - The Brabyns Park Iron Bridge Restoration Project

Two Year Six classes from Woodley Primary School visited Brabyns Park and the Peak Forest Canal in Marple recently in order to study the River Goyt and also to see the early stages of the restoration project of the iron bridge (built in 1813) on the edge of Brabyns Park.

The one day trip was partly funded by ‘The Mersey Basin Campaign’ which promotes activities and the scenery of the River Mersey. Woodley Primary is one of only two schools in the country that is linked with the improvement of this highly significant bridge which dates back to the start of the industrial revolution.

Whilst the Woodley pupils were at the site, they were given a special talk by the restoration project manager, Tim Boylan, and the heads of the fund-raising team, Peter Clarke and Mark Whittaker. In addition, Richard Booker, a Parks and Gardens Redevelopment Officer from Stockport Council, and Pat Flanagan, who represented Stockport LEA and the Construction Industry Training Board, were present.

After the talk and a question and answer session with Peter Clarke, who also doubles as a local historian, the children were shown the work in progress which included the recently removed bailey bridge which had supported the iron bridge for sixteen years . In addition, they could hear the sound of the grit-blasting which was cleaning the ironwork prior to repainting.

The event was filmed by ‘Fusion Films’, a company that is producing a film of the whole project on behalf of Stockport Council. The film will be shown in museums around the town and will be available on the internet.

Comments from Year Six Pupils:

• I was jealous when I heard how wealthy Nathaniel Wright (the owner of Brabyns Hall) was. The bridge was just to how off. I think it was a good idea to restore it. (Aidan)

• I found it interesting because Peter Clarke talked to us about how the bridge was built. I found out that it was built in 1813 and that when it has been refurbished it will not need refurbishing for 200 years. (Shauna)

• I didn’t know that bridges could be made of iron before we went to Marple, so it was very interesting. (Mia)

• I never knew that the cast iron bridge in Brabyns Park was there. I’m very pleased with Peter Clarke doing lots of things for Marple. I wish there were more people like him. (Jacob)

• I found out that if you had a bridge in those days, it was like having a Porsche in these days. (Rihaan)

• I think Nathaniel Wright was trying to show off and the bridge told me about him. I found it interesting how the park got passed through the generations like a family item. (David)