Mersey Basin Campaign Blog

eco-hub blogging

Exciting developments here at the eco-hub - our neighbours Groundwork Northwest have established a new blog. Have a look and see what you think. I'm off to add it to our blogroll.....

swimming against the tide

Yesterday I took a trip to Sandon Dock, home of Liverpool's wastewater treatment works, to meet another of the Mersey people. Dave Sandman, a United Utilties Field Service Engineer, is a man who leads a spectacular double life. By day (and occasionally by night too, as he's often on emergency call), he's part of the maintenance team at the huge UU site which processes millions of tonnes of waste from Merseyside's homes and businesses. But on a Wednesday evening and a Sunday morning, Dave joins a select band of brave (crazy?) souls training for an annual swim across the River Mersey.

I learned a lot about open water swimming and the associated dangers - treacherous currents, clouds of jellyfish, chunks of errant timber and the ever-present risk of your brain freezing in the cold water and plunging you into unconsciousness. Despite Dave's obvious enthusiasm, somehow I wasn't overcome with the desire to join in with a plunge into Salthouse Dock - maybe next year.

Dave first swam the river in the late 1990s, in aid of Water Aid, and has done it almost every year since. His best-ever time was 22 minutes, which looks pretty good from where I'm standing. He's also a keen cyclist and runner, and tells me that his young daughter is itching to join him for a swim in the Mersey as soon as she's old enough.

Dave will, of course, be featured in Mersey: The river that changed the world, which will be available later this year. Hopefully he will inspire many more of you to take up the challenge of crossing the Mersey for free.......?

Frying tonight

Trout fry hatching

The Ribble Catchment Conservation Trust has started a scheme called Trout in the Classroom. Many schools in the Ribble Catchment have expressed an interest in this project and Horton-in-Rbblesdale Primary School is the first one to be supplied with their hatchery tank.

After several weeks of patient waiting, the children and staff are thrilled that the eggs have all hatched. The fry are now being carefully nurtured by the children and in about 12 weeks time they will have developed sufficiently to be returned to the stream from where the eggs came.

The project brings nature into the classroom and everyone at the school is privileged to witness this the transformation. It really is a unique opportunity - most experienced anglers will not have even seen trout at such an early stage.

The tanks with all the necessary equipment are supplied by Jetset and cost £1000. However, after this initial outlay the tank can be used year on year at very little cost. Jetset staff instruct the school in how to rear the fish and leave full instructions.

More information

Manchester is my planet

Our friends at Manchester Is My Planet have recently launched a Climate Change Survey to find out what people in Greater Manchester feel about the issue, and how far they're prepared to go to fight it. You can complete the survey online here - and you'll be in with a chance of winning a DVD of Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth'.....

Go on, have your say!

cake and conversation on the Albert Dock

Campaign staff got together with voluntary sector representatives last night at the Maritime Museum in Liverpool for the Campaign's annual Voluntary Sector Forum. The evening got off to a flying start with a cracking selection of cakes on offer to revive those flagging post-work energy levels.

First on the agenda was the presentation of 2006's Unilever Dragonfly Awards. Compere Tony Durrant made a bid to be considered for host of the Baftas with his humorous and smooth handling of the festivities. Star of the show was Tom Workman, individual winner, who received a loud ovation from the room. Representatives from the Young People category winner - Canon Burrows School - took advantage of it being half-term to take a trip over to Liverpool and receive their beautiful recycled glass trophy. Overall winners, the Friends of Platt Fields Park, were represented by Victor Blunden, who masterminded their nomination.

After the glamour of the presentations, everyone settled back to enjoy the keynote presentation. Richard Leafe, brand-new Regional Director of the newly-formed Natural England gave us a great insight into aims and plans of the new organisation, as well as detailing some of the ways that volunteers can get involved. He also issued a call for everyone to visit their nearest National Nature Reserve to see the 'jewels in the crown' of Natural England. You can find yours by visiting their website.

There were plenty of questions from the floor for Richard, and even an invitation from one attendee for him to visit a particular trouble-spot. It looks like Richard's got his work cut out in the coming months. Look out for an in-depth interview with him by the campaign's own Matthew Sutcliffe in the forthcoming issue of Source Magazine.

The next part of the programme saw Alan Jemmett from Merseyside Environmental Advisory Service give the forum an insight into the Merseyside Waste Development Plan, before everyone reconvened in the function room for networking...and perhaps just a little more cake?

masquerade ball

Whew, sorry for neglecting this blog, things are hotting up at the home of 'The river that changed the world'........

The book club meeting last week went well, Colin W's initial layouts of one of the chapters were generally met with huge approval, and it was great to see more of Colin M's photographs. It all led to much overexcitement, and talking about the proposed launch event in November. Some great ideas were suggested, which I'm sure you'll hear more about closer to the time. For now I think we need to concentrate on the business of meeting the publisher's deadlines and getting everything into production on schedule.

To that end, Colin Mc's got a fascinating day ahead today - he's being treated to a trip up the radar tower at Crosby to photograph the view (I hope it's a bit less grey and murky over in Merseyside this morning!). Once Colin descends back to ground level, he's going over to the warehouse of Rubies Masquerades on the docks. The warehouse is home to thousands of fancy-dress costumes, so maybe Colin will find something good to wear for the weekend?

You might have a chance to see some of the shots he gets today in the next issue of Source.

In other book-related news, I've arranged to interview another of the Mersey people, Dave Sandman, next Wednesday at Sandon Dock. Dave works for United Utilities, but in his spare time he has an unusual hobby - he enjoys swimming in the river Mersey. I'm intrigued to find out more about this man - but I hope he doesn't expect me to sample his hobby - it's a little cold for a dip right now. On the other hand, I think the best way for Colin to get a decent portrait would be by immersing himself fully in Dave's world.....don't you think?

the book group

The Mersey book's steering group is due to meet tonight. A lot has happened since we last got together in November, at least for Colin and I. We'll have the chance to see a new set of photos, plus the first rough layouts of some of the pages - it's starting to seem real now. I've sent off the latest batch of interview tapes for transcription, so next week will be an editing week, I think.

There will be a chance to see some of the early fruits of our labours in April, when the next issue of Source magazine is due - a snippet from Tony Brand's Mersey People interview about being a River Pilot, as well as a sneak preview of Michael Taylor's chapter on Mersey ports are due to be featured.

Right, I'm off to print out a progress report or several.....

In the news...

I am reliably informed that the Mersey Observatory project is covered on the front page of the Crosby Herald today.  You can read the story here - let me know what you think...