Mersey Basin Campaign Blog

Chorley pupils get clued up on climate change

Trucking for Climate Change, a travelling exhibition stopped off at Yarrow Valley Country Park for three days to teach pupils from local primary schools and park visitors about how we are impacting on climate change.

Over 100 primary school pupils took part in a workshop run by an environmental education officer from Global Link, a Development Education Centre followed by a trip through the multi-media, interactive exhibtion.

As a finale to each session, small groups presented adverts, news reports, plays and songs to their class to promote ways in which we can help slow down global warming. We even had a 'Who wants to be a millionaire' style gameshow where teh contestant had to answer questions about climate change! Brilliant!

The exhibition was funded by a Green Partnership Award from Lancashire County Council.

Thrashing the trash in Bash

A small waterway called Woodnook Water which flows through Baxenden, the home of Hollands Pies was cleaned up as part of MWH Mersey Basin Week. Nope, we didn't find any pie trays floating down the stream but we did find some other interesting items...

The event coordinated by the environmental charity Prospects Foundation involved volunteers from the Baxenden Prospects Panel.

We found lots of wire, metal fencing, tarpaulin, tv casing and a couple of tyres - well, a clean up wouldn't be a clean up without a tyre! On the banks and hidden in bushes we found quite a few beer cans, crisp packets and chocolate wrappers.

Thanks to the Prospects Foundation and Baxenden Prospects Panel for their involvement in MWH Mersey Basin Week

Holy Trinity Scouts clean up Hoghton Bottoms

 

21 volunteers from Holy Trinity Scouts and their families worked for 2 hours clearing litter and debris from the Rivber Darwen and its banks at Hoghton Bottoms this morning.  The youngest volunteer was just 3 years old!  The difference made in the time spent working was phenomenal – well done to all involved.  Thanks also to Chorley Borough Council for providing the waste container and to the de Hoghton Estate for staff who move bags of litter and debris along the bank to the container.  Without all these efforts, the river clean up at Hoghton Bottoms would not be so successful. 

Unusually low flow for the time of year meant that we could reach lots of small bits of litter that make the banks look very messy.  We emptied the bin bags and re-filled them – over 40 sacks of rubbish and lots of other big stuff that wouldn’t fit into bags.  The sun shone and the river sparkled.  Afterwards the volunteers enjoyed a picnic lunch courtesy of Sainsbury’s.

I asked a few volunteers for their BLOG coments – here are a few:

‘It’s disgusting what gets into this river.’

‘How do people’s clothes and shoes end up washed down the river to here?’

‘We found bits of a car – why are they in this river?’

‘We’ve had a good morning together and in a strange way it is good fun to clean up an area and see it looking nice afterwards.’

Mersey Basin Campaign partners avoid Nelly Longarms to conserve National Nature Reserve

Day 5 of MWH Mersey Basin Week 2007, and the Mersey Basin Campaign's Cheshire Partners' Day saw 20 volunteers from the Environment Agency, Brunner Mond and Crewe & Nantwich Borough Council give up either personal leave or environmental leave days to help Natural England to remove birch saplings from their Wybunbury Moss reserve. 

These saplings threaten the natural ecology of the Moss by shading out smaller plants, and by changing the nutritional value of the environment.  Our task was to remove birch and other invasive shrubs, and to burn them safely. 

The sun shone on us and great progress was made during the day, spurred on further by the threat that Nelly Longarms, a legendary creature of the Moss, might get us if we didn't do as we were told.  John Bailey, a local resident who has written a book about Nelly, joined us for lunch and to tell us more about her story and the area.

Thanks to Natural England for letting us work on their site, and to all the volunteers who came and worked so hard, more photos to follow soon

RIVER GOYT SPARKS LIGHT SHOW 27TH September to 4th October

“Intriguing, atmospheric, spooky”  are some of the many descriptions you might use on visiting the ‘light show’ at Chadkirk Farm Estate near Stockport.

No less than 1000 fluorescent light tubes have been planted into a field on either side of the river Goyt.  As dusk descends, the soft glow of these light sticks that conduct the energy field from the overhead power cables, becomes increasingly apparent.  There is a crackling sound all around you.  Further adding to the experience are the Pipistrelle bats darting about overhead.

The wide TV, radio and press coverage has encouraged a wider range of people to visit the river valley than usual.  Families rub shoulders with keen photographers.

This installation is the creation of artist Richard Box and has been commissioned by Stockport Council to raise awareness of their proposed project to build a new bridge over the river Goyt.  This is one of 79 schemes that make up Sustrans Connect2 which is an exciting UK-wide project to improve local travel by making walking and cycling routes for the short journeys we all make every day.

Connect 2 will be one of the projects that will compete for Big Lottery Funding.  This will be decided by a public vote following a Granada TV programme in December this year. 

To support this project, you can start by registering your details with www.sustransconnect2.org.uk so that you can be kept updated with information on the TV vote.

The light show is on until 4^th October and the Chadkirk Estate off Otterspool Road near Marple in Stockport.

The Manchester Oriental Organisation Alliance and Chinese Elders hit the canals

As part of MWH Mersey Basin week the Manchester Oriental Organisation Alliance (MOOA) and Mersey Basin Campaign invited the elders to join a healthy living heritage walk around Castlefield and the Bridgewater and Rochdale Canals.

   

Over 20 of us made our way along the towpaths getting some exercise and fresh air while listening to our heritage guide, Mike, paint a picture of the development of the canals and people that made it all happen. One of the Elders said "We have been living in Manchester for 35 years and this is the first time we have heard the stories about the canal in the city centre". Another said "this is the first time I have walked through this area, it is beautiful and quiet".

The day was a great success, we all learnt a lot and had a fabulous time, helped along by the dry weather and dim sum buffet which followed our expedition. Many thanks to MWH and MOOA for sponsoring the day.

   

Sunny Lancashire's Partners Day Success!

Lancashire Partners Day at the new Brockholes Nature Reserve was a resounding success and the sun even shined for us.  Who’d have thought 19 degrees full sun for the day? We hadn’t bargained for that (sun cream crossed off the risk assessment)!  We had a great turnout from partners across the county and made a huge difference to the habitat for wildlife at Brockholes Nature Reserve. 

 

Organisations involved include BTCV, Lancashire County Council, North West Development Agency, Save The Ribble, Sefton Borough Council, South Ribble Borough Council, Lancashire & Blackpool Tourist Board, Care Ltd and The Wildlife Trust.

 

All the volunteers were most keen to get on with their tasks and attacked the unwanted trees and overgrown scrub with gusto despite the unusually warm working conditions.  There was a great deal of networking between partners involved and everyone there felt a great sense of collective achievement looking at the site when we had finished work.  A big thank you to all the volunteers and staff involved – a most satisfying day out for all. 

Here are a couple of photos from today.

Whilst work was going on:

After encroaching trees and shrub had been removed:

 

I asked several groups of volunteers if they’d like to give a comment for the BLOG – answers ranged from ‘what a fantastic day’ and ‘this place has such huge potential’ to ‘I want to get on with this’ and ‘I’m coming back next week’ (which has been happening quite regularly). 

 

Here’s a specific quote from Lancashire & Blackpool Tourist Board staff Diane Blakemore and Tim Dixon  ‘Our aim as an organization is to promote destinations in Lancashire and we want to see this site develop and to be a part of its future.  Anything we can do to help. We will.’

Now we can look forward to the coming weekend of activity and hope to post and share more comments from participants at other events. 

Until then, enjoy your MWH Mersey Basin Week 2007!

Addendum - November 2007 Since partners day, groups of volunteers have been back again at least twice and are helping the Wildlife Trust in its programme of regular volunteer days.

Unilever Staff out in the Wetland!

Tuesday 02/10/07

 

As part of the MWH Mersey Basin Week, staff from Unilever's Port Sunlight factory 'got down and dirty' to protect the important wetlands at Dibbinsdale Local Nature Reserve. The Volunteers, some attending for the 5th year in succession, were involved in a number of important tasks, which included, clearing invasive scrub from the reed-beds, removing trees from an area of floodplain and marking out areas for the next phase on habitat creation, which begins next week.

Peter Miller the  site ranger stated that "All of the excellent work done today, by the Unilever Staff is vital in the on-going restoration and management of this Site and events such as MWH Mersey Basin Week, have provided us with the opportunity to develop this and other partnerships with local business".

I would like to thank the Unilever Staff for attending and working well above and beyond what was asked of them. A good day that was enjoyed by all.

Paul Corner, Action Wirral Rivers, Project Co-ordinator.

Volunteers make a difference in Crewe

Crewe & Nantwich Conservation Volunteers got stuck in (literally) to MWH Mersey Basin Week, with a day's work in Old Covert, an SBI in Wistaston.  The group cleared debris and silt from a 100m stretch of drainage channel, and built a new fence to close off an unofficial footpath.

This was an impressive achievement for a small but hard-working team of 7, and we hope to continue the partnership with Wistaston Parish Council who supported the event, by carrying out further projects in Old Covert to look after this important habitat for the White Letter Hairstreak butterfly.

Get Dirty in Elmers Clough

The third 'Get Dirty' clean up took place in Elmers Clough, Skelmersdale and proved to be the biggest in terms of how much rubbish we removed from the stream....over 20 tonnes in 2 days!

 

We had lots of help from West Lancashire District Council's Street Scene Team who removed to very hard to reach rubbish by using a winch.

Pupils from St Johns and Hillside Primary schools donned high vis vests and got stuck in litter picking the banks.

We also had help from Groundwork Lancs West & Wigan, Birch Green Residents Association, Asda, Skelmersdale Sea Cadets, local residents and Lancashire Constabulary.

As well as making a big impact with rubbish removal, Groundwork's Green Team spent a day repairing bridges and boardwalks making it a safer place to walk through.