Mersey Basin Campaign Blog

Lindsay's Schedule

The Boat from Bollington to Middlewich.

The British Waterways heritage boat Lindsay, a cargo narrowboat, with crew will arrive at Clarence Mill, Bollington in the week before 7^th June, where it will be florally decorated by Chris Harrop, a Bollington-based floral designer who has kindly offered to lend her talents to this exciting project. The boat decorations will include lots of hanging baskets and tubs, donated by local groups, clubs, societies and organisations. In this way, the event involves the wider communities of Macclesfield and Congleton Boroughs. The boat will depart Bollington on 8^th June towards Macclesfield and Congleton .

Bollington will hold a Floral Weekend on 7th and 8th June to send Lindsay on its way. During the weekend, visitors will be able to see the boat being decorated and there will be a number of other events throughout the town such as Open Gardens, plant sales, a family fun day, children's pet show and much more. Pott Shrigley’s Rose Queen will launch the boat on Sunday afternoon, with Bollington Brass Band providing a fanfare of musical entertainment.

Lindsay will moor at Macclesfield Marina on Sunday evening and Macclesfield Canal Society have agreed to man Bosley Locks on Monday 9^th June and to put up a display about the society along the canalside.

The boat will then stop off at the Queens Head in Congleton for an evening's entertainment on 9th June. Anyone is welcome and encouraged to come and view the floating garden, to walk alongside it for stretches of the canal or to join in the canalside events.

On leaving Congleton the boat will stop off at Rode Heath for Odd Rode Festival on the evening of Wednesday 11th June. Activities to be confirmed are a bouncy castle, a brass band, refreshments, a tea party, dance troupes, stalls, music with much more in the pipeline. More details, coming soon!!!

The next stop will be Hassall Green before it arrive in Middlewich on Thursday 12th afternoon. Once Lindsay reaches the Middlewich Folk & Boat Festival the donated floral displays will be sold and all proceeds will be donated to the East Cheshire Hospice.

More details will appear here nearer the time, so do come back and find out more!!

Modified runner re-attaches boom

I am pleased to be able to report that the litter trap boom was re-attached on 18th April 2008.  The modified boom runner attaches the boom to the wall on the bank opposite the litter trap itself.

Utilising a roller mechanism, it is intended that the boom will move up and down more effectively than was possible with the sliding runner mechanism. 

The boom should also release more effectively in flows that are too high to avoid damage to the litter trap equipment.

Watch this space and for once look forward to rain (?!) to see how the modified runner mechanism fares.

Saturn's Schedule

   

Plans for Cheshire's Floating Garden Festival (8th-15th June) are well under way, and historic boat 'Saturn' has a full schedule of events for her trip from Audlem to the Folk and Boat Festival at Middlewich.

Several local schools will have the opportunity to visit Saturn during the week and learn about her history, as well as participating in garden-themed activities.

There is a full programme of events at the launch weekend in Audlem on 7th & 8th June, including boat-horse harnessing, canal painting, rag-rug making and many other displays.  There will also be performances from The Crofters and Day Star Theatre - see the Floating Gardens website for more details.

En route to Middlewich, Saturn will be stopping at Nantwich, and then moving on to Barbridge where there are two evening events that are open to all.  On Tuesday 10th June, there will be a waterways talk and live band at The Jolly Tar Inn - be there from 6.30 pm onwards.  Then get your brain limbered up for a waterways-themed pub quiz at The Olde Barbridge Inn on Wednesday 11th June.  Watch this space for more details.

More details will appear here nearer the time, so do come back and find out more about how to get involved

Tap into water....

Readers in Greater Manchester might have noticed that the Manchester Evening News are backing United Utilities' 'Tap into Water' campaign, encouraging people to abandon bottled water.....cutting back on the mountain of plastic bottles which take a thousand years to biodegrade in our landfill sites......and return to drinking Northwest tap water. The story on the MEN website has garnered plenty of comments - what do you think? CLICK HERE TO READ THE STORY.

New Mersey Observatory website goes live.....

The all-new Mersey Observatory website is now live at http://www.merseyobservatory.com - please visit and let us know what you think. The site contains an archive of all the entries to the design competition, as well as a nifty panorama which will give you an idea of the kind of views we can look forward to from the new observatory........

Enjoy!

Tony Juniper on climate change

Following on from his appearance at last week's Voluntary Sector Forum in central Manchester, have a listen to this exclusive audio, as the Campaign's Matthew Sutcliffe talks to Tony Juniper, outgoing UK director of Friends of the Earth, about the impact of climate change and the benefits of a low-carbon lifestyle.....

St Luke's lion and eagle

Unilever Dragonfly Award winners St Luke's Church, Crosby have sent us some pictures of the carved lion and eagle scupltures that have been created for their community garden.........they also tell us that they're holding a wildlife activity morning this Saturday (19th April) from 10am - 12:30pm at the church hall, Liverpool Road, Crosby. For more information call Steve or Jan on 0151 928 7025.

Hear from our winners...

This year's Unilever Dragonfly Award winners were honoured last Thursday at the Mersey Basin Campaign's Voluntary Sector Forum in Manchester. The group, individual, young peoples' and overall winners were presented with recycled glass trophies recognising their outstanding volunteering achievements. The judges also decided to award the Margaret Fletcher award this year. Click here to visit the Dragonfly homepage and read more about the winners. You can also listen to interviews with individual winner Virginia Hunt, Margaret Fletcher award winners St Luke's Church, Crosby, and young peoples' winners Hollingworth Lake Junior Helpers.

If you go down to the woods...

Action Upper Weaver has submitted a funding application to landfill tax distributor WREN, in the hope that Quakers Coppice can be made more accessible, and that information can be provided about the vast range of wildlife that uses this green haven on the edge of Crewe.

We won't know whether we've been successful until June, but in the meantime if you'd like to be involved in the project or be kept informed on its progress, please feel free to leave a comment below or email [email protected]

Mersey Observatory designs on display at Manchester's CUBE Gallery

The entries to the Mersey Observatory design competition are currently on display at the CUBE Gallery, 113-115 Portland Street, Manchester - giving Mancunians a chance to see their neighbours' latest landmark-to-be.

Click here to find out more about the exhibition at CUBE