Tag Archives: Summerfields

News Update : 30-DEC-23

Since the last news update, we have:

a) Continued with our twice monthly litter picks :

Unfortunately, the weather was against us on Wednesday 6th December as it was very cold and frosty.  Only our chairman Chris braved the conditions and turned up at Bank Square.  He picked the Bollin Link and collected 1 bag and a hub cap.

Despite heavy rain, 3 volunteers met at Summerfields on Saturday 9th December. We collected 6 very full bags in the surrounding area.

b) Continued with our solo picks.

c) Booked the venue for our 10th anniversary celebration

d) Started to plan a committee meeting to discuss some anti-littering signage.

e) Held further discussions with one of our sponsors : A-Plan Insurance (now a $9 billion US company called Howden). The upshot is that they have agreed to donate £200 to buy a new trolley.

News Update : 30-SEP-23

Since the last news update, we have:

a) Continued with our twice monthly litter picks :

5 volunteers met at Summerfields on Wednesday 6th September.
At least 5 bags were collected. We also reported some fly tipping to ANSA

5 volunteers met at The Farmers Arms on Saturday 9th September and dispersed to litter pick the surrounding area.
At least 5 bags were collected along with a shredded tyre.

Thanks to everyone who participated.

b) Continued with our solo picks

c) Held an AGM at the Quaker’s Meeting House.  We were pleasantly surprised that 14 people attended – which led to some interesting discussion.  We had a report from the chairman (Chris), a summary of our finances from the treasurer (Stuart), a demonstration of one of our new trolleys and various other discussions (e.g. whether we can become more active in schools, whether we can pick during 10k road closures etc.)

d) Responded to a request from the Round Table to litter pick during the annual fireworks event.  We are against picking amongst the crowds in the dark but have offered to assist the next morning – although the scouts and guides are already lined up.

e) Made an initial response to a request to assist some “Junior Park Run” volunteers to procure some equipment.

f) Responded to a request to support another high school student who wants to litter pick as part of their Duke of Edinburgh scheme.

News Update : 01-JUL-23

Since the last news update, we have:

a) Continued with our twice monthly litter picks :

We met at Summerfields on Wednesday 7th June.
We collected at least 10 bags from the surrounding area.

8 volunteers met at Bank Square on Saturday 10th June.
We were very happy to welcome 2 new volunteers.
We collected at least 9 bags from the surrounding area.

Thanks to everyone who participated.

b) Continued with our solo picks.

c) Held a committee meeting :
1 – Finances are healthy – boosted by a £200 donation from “The Round Table” and a £500 donation from “Wilmslow Way Better Business Improvement District Bid”
2 – Agreed to move our bank account due to the closure of the Barclays branch.
3 – Pencilled in a date for an AGM
4 – Agreed to purchase more equipment, including more trolleys – some of which has already been ordered.

d) Started an exercise to remove non-active members from our distribution list.

e) Demonstrated a litter picking trolley to one of our members

f) Responded to an enquiry about litter/fly tipping on the A34.

g) Reported some fly tipping of builder’s rubble in Bank Square

News Update : 01-APR-23

Since the last news update, we have:

a) Continued with our twice monthly litter picks :

6 volunteers met at The Farmers Arms on Wednesday 1st March.  We covered the surrounding area including South Oak Lane,

Oak Lane, Gravel Lane, Moor Lane, The Temp, Lindow Common, Chapel Lane and the streets around Kenmore Medical Centre.

We also covered the front area of the parade of shops from Sainsbury’s to Hoopers.

We collected at least 7 bags and some recyclables.

10 volunteers met in Summerfields car park on Saturday 4th March.  2 other volunteers solo litter picked Sainsbury’s car park.

We collected at least 20 bags and some recyclables. We focussed on the surrounding area including Colshaw Drive.

Thanks to Elliot who once again came along with his father – he has been doing a great job as part of his Duke Of Edinburgh award.

Thanks to everyone who participated.

b) Continued with our solo picks.

c) Reported various bits of fly tipping to ANSA including a  lot which we spotted from the pedestrian bridge over the A34 during the Summerfields pick.

d) Responded to a request from “Wilmslow Prep School” whose children are keen to get involved with some litter picking after being shocked by the amount of litter they saw on a trip to The Carrs.

e) Responded to a request from “5th Wilmslow Brownies” who want to clean the play area at The Carrs in May

f) Asked ANSA when they were next planning to litter pick the verges on the A34 – and received this response:
All being well we have TM planned for the 25th and 26th April to do the lane ones of the A34 dual carriageway  and then the 23rd and 24th May to do the central reservations.

g) Updated the bag count on the website.  The year to date total is now 129.

News Update : 27-JUN-22

Since the last news update we have:

a) Continued with our twice monthly litter picks :

10 volunteers met on Summerfields on Wednesday 1st June. We collected 14 bags. The usual areas were covered from our base at Summerfields, with Colshaw Drive, and the roads off it, providing the greatest amount to be picked.

6 participants met at Banks Square on Saturday 4th June. We focussed on the town centre including the station, the Leisure Centre, Church St, Cliff Road, Grove Ave., Water Lane, Sainsburys/library and the Bollin Link.  We collected 7 bags.

Thanks to everyone who participated.

b) Continued with our solo picks.

c) Reported a fly tipping incident to ANSA : a large fridge-freezer abandoned near the A34 footbridge.

d) Continued attempts to contact the relevant body in order to get a sunken shopping trolley removed from the river Bollin.

e) Reported a burnt out bin (at the corner of Leaside Way and the Prestbury Link Rd) to ANSAWilmslow Clean Team Burnt Out Litter Bin

 

 

 

 

f) Discussion with the “Wilmslow In Bloom” team about the annual judging on Monday 4th July.

g) Updated the bag count on the website : 265 bags so far this year.

h) Between January and May 2022, we have been supporting two female WHS students complete their community volunteering section of the DofE Bronze Award Scheme.  The girls each carried out 13 one hour litter picking sessions around the Sainsbury’s Car Park and the public for path that runs along the railway tracks behind the high school.  In total they collected 26 bags of litter. These locations were chosen to demonstrate to the girls how litter is repeatedly being dropped in the same locations, and that most of it is being dropped by their peers. They said that his has ‘opened their eyes’ and shocked them. It has given them an increased awareness that they intend to use to try and change the attitudes of their peers wherever they can. A Fantastic effort – and hopefully there will be other similar initiatives in the future.

Hope to see you at the July picks.

News Update : 03-APR-22

Since the last news update we have:

a) Continued with our twice monthly litter picks :

6 volunteers met at The Farmer’s Arms on Wednesday 2nd March.  We covered Chapel Lane and the surrounding area including the side roads near Kenmore Medical Centre. We also covered the areas around Bollin Link, Buckingham Road and Lindow Common. We were pleased to welcome a new volunteer (Dorothy). We collected 8 bags altogether.

Wilmslow Clean Team - Summerfieds 05-MAR-226 volunteers met at Summerfields  on Saturday 5th March. We covered the surrounding area including Colshaw Drive and Kingsbury Drive.  This area is a litter hot spot and we collected a big haul of 13 bags.

 

 

b) Continued with our solo picks.

c) Held a committee meeting. Highlights include :

i) Reviewed our accounts.
ii) Discussed the annual “Spring Clean” this year – and voted against organising one this year. Hopefully we will be back on track in 2023.
iii)  Agreed to apply for a grant to help fund some trolleys – to help make litter picking accessible to more people.

Wilmslow Clean Team Window Stickeriv) Reviewed our “co-sponsor” initiative which is going very well – you may have seen our window stickers appearing in the town.

 

 

v) Agreed to set up a working party to review the best options for our annual insurance.
vi) Reviewed membership activity.  38 out of our 78 members have been actively involved in litter picking over the past 6 months.  We have had 9 new members.  Well done to everyone – but especially our chairman, Chris Evans, who leads the field with 12 picks.
vii) Discussed our annual involvement in helping clean up after the Wilmslow Show.  We will probably man a stand at this year’s event too – on 3rd July

d)  Corresponded with a group of Wilmslow High School pupils who are competing in a national competition called “Young Enterprise”.  Their aim is connect the community through cooking and baking – and they are doing a 10 minute litter pick for every recipe they receive.

Hope to see you at the April picks.

News Update : 29-DEC-21

Since the last news update we have:

a) Continued with our twice monthly litter picks :

7 volunteers met at Bank Square on Wednesday 1st December.  We covered the surrounding area including Bank Square, Green Lane, Church Street including the children’s playground on the Carrs, Bollin Link, Hawthorn Lane, Hawthorn Avenue and Parkway.  We collected at least 8 bags

5 volunteers met in Summerfields car park on a miserable morning on Saturday 4th December.  We covered the surrounding area including Colshsaw Drive and collected 11 bags and some recyclables (which were taken home and put in the grey bins)

Thanks to everyone who participated.

b) Continued with our solo picks.

c) Reported several incidents of fly tipping to ANSA.  One of them, on Colshaw Drive, was not on council owned land and so ANSA informed the housing association.

d) Held a meeting to review the roles on the committee

e) After some further committee discussion about levels of insurance cover, we cancelled the recently purchased policy with Zurich and renewed with our original provider.

f) Started discussions about how we can support some year 9 pupils at the high school who want to do litter picking for the volunteering section of their Duke of Edinburgh award.

Wishing you all the best for 2022 and hope to see you at the January picks.

News Update : 26-SEP-21

Since the last news update we have:

a) Continued with our twice monthly litter picks :

9 volunteers met in Summerfields Car Park on Wednesday 1st September and picked in the  vicinity of Dean Row Rd. We collected 9 bags altogether plus a wooden board.

Wilmslow Clean Team Chapel Lane September 2021At  least 14 volunteers met at The Farmer’s Arms on Saturday 4th September.  We covered the surrounding area as well as venturing further afield and picking at the back of the row of shops from Sainsburys to Hoopers, Sainsbury’s car park, the area around Gorsey Bank school, Mobberley Road, Adlington Road, Hawthorn Street, Little Lindow etc. We estimate that 16 bags were collected altogether.  We would like to thank Chelsea Flowers for providing hot drinks to our volunteers after the pick.

We were delighted to see some new faces.  Well done everyone.

b) Continued with our solo picks.
c) Informed ANSA of fly tipping incidents – e.g. a mattress on the A34
d) Continued to liaise a local business about a potential big sponsorship deal
e) Responded to a contact made by the manager of Hickory’s who is interested in offering support to the Clean Team.
f) Started a project to encourage local businesses to sponsor us by donating £50 to our funds.  In return they will receive a window sticker and a mention on our website.  Thanks to our business co-ordinator Peter for his efforts on this.
g) Designed 2 separate prototypes for a trolley which could support 2 bags.  This would not only assist those members who struggle with the weight of the litter but would also allow us to more easily recycle cans, plastic bottles and glass bottles.  Recycling is something we ought to be encouraging more of.  Some of us take a smaller carrier sized bag with us – and collect cans and plastic bottles (which are very light) which we can take home and put in our grey bins.  The huge energy required to extract aluminium is really bad for the environment – so it will be great if we can help make sure that this kind of waste is not “single use”.
h) Started to consider how we might re-work a banner which could be used to advertise our activities
i) Battled with bureaucracy to try and change the committee members who can sign off cheques – due to recent changes to the committee.

Hope to see you at our October picks – new volunteers welcome.

March 2020 Litter Pick Summary And Other News

Firstly – Coronavirus is everone’s main focus at the moment.  The committee are considering the impact on our activities and more information will be issues soon.

14 volunteers met at Summerfields on Wednesday March.  We collected a big haul of 29 bags. We covered Colshaw Drive and the roads off it, Dean Row Rd, the area around the footbridge leading over the bypass to Lincoln Rd, the Lidl/Wilmslow Tavern/Village Centre areas and Manchester Rd (from Stanneylands Rd traffic lights to Wilmslow Garden Centre). Other volunteers covered Holly Road South & North and Water Lane/Altrincham Rd in vicinity of Fire Station/Chili Banana.  During the Summerfields pick, we met the local PCSO (Kerry) who told us that the residents association were planning some clean ups too – fantastic news. Since then, Ellie from “Friends of Colshaw Farm Parks” has been in touch – so we will be liaising with them for future events.  For future picks at Summerfields, we need to be aware that the Lidl car park has different regulations to the main Summerfields one.  One of our volunteers picked up a parking fine as a result.

9 volunteers met at Bank Square on Saturday 7th March. We collected  14 bags altogether. We focussed on Bank Square, the Railway station, the Leisure Centre, Bollin Link Road, Alderley Road, Knutsford Road, Chapel Lane, Grove St and the area surrounding Bank Square.

There have been a lot of solo picks recently too. The grand total for the month was at least 54 bags.  Well done everyone.

Gorsey Bank junior school borrowed our equipment so that they could do some litter picks which their “The Department for Environment” organised.   A really great effort and so good to see young people learning about litter – and it sounds like they all enjoyed it.

We are also in discussions with 1st Wilmslow guides about lending them our equipment. They have done litter picks before – and we are happy to support them.

The committee held a meeting in February – where we started the planning for the annual Spring Clean. We reviewed our financial situation and are able to progress the purchase of some new equipment.

The Spring Clean will run from Wednesday 1st -> Tuesday 7th April.  There will be 2 extra picks making 4 altogether.  We are also hoping to meet for drinks.

We have booked Wilmslow Library for our AGM on Mon 18th May from 19.30 -> 21:30. A formal notification will be sent to our members nearer the time.

We have contacted Cheshire East (ANSA) to request that they clean up all the litter pick on the verges of the A34 (the bypass). We are unable to litter pick for safety reasons.  Even ANSA can only do it when the road is shut.  For some reason they don’t schedule a regular clean up – and so we have to ask them to do it when it gets really bad.  They have responded promptly though – and we have had confirmation that the clean up is planned for the week commencing 20th April – great news.

We have contacted Wilmslow Town Council to see if the overgrown moss on the pavement near the Ford dealership can be tidied up as it is very overgrown and doesn’t give a good impression at one of the main gateways into the town.

“Alderley Edge In Bloom” have contacted us about their plans for Keep Britain Tidy’s Spring Clean event – and the possibility of joining forces for a litter pick on Heyes Lane.

Costa new bin locationOne of our commitee members, Helen, has been talking to Costa about the possibility of a bin outside their premises.  Cheshire East (ANSA) do not have any budget for new bins unfortunately. Helen had a positive conversation with Verity who has been the Manager at Wilmslow Costa for 3 years. Verity explained that a rubbish bin is on order for their outside area – which their staff will empty. She wants it installed quickly because she gets complaints from the adjoining property owners at the rear when Costa customers lean over to use the neighbouring CEC residential bins. Verity seems well aware of community facilities and was saddened to lose the nearby pear sculpture when it was twice vandalised. She has had plants stolen from tubs she has planted up. She plans to send two members of staff to join in a Wednesday Litter Pick in due course – as part of their firm’s commitment  to the local community. Helen will alert Verity about the next suitable litter pick. This all sounds very promising.

All in all a very busy and productive month,  It is unclear how things will pan out of the next few months but we will keep you informed and the health safety of our volunteers is our main concern.

December 2019 Litter Pick Summary And Other News

On a sunny and crisp Wednesday morning,  9 volunteers met at The Farmer’s Arms on Chapel Lane.  We covered most of the roads in the area, with one member going off to do parts of Altrincham Road, as unfinished business from the last event based at The Honey Bee. We collected at least 13 bags of litter.  We also picked up a surprising number of nitrous oxide canisters in the gutter along Buckingham Road.

Six volunteers met at Summerfieds on Saturday 7th December. We covered both verges down to the A34 bypass, Colshaw Drive, Malpas Drive and Wheelock Close as well as Dean Row Road as far as the junction with Manchester Road. We collected a total of 11 bags of litter. We also took an additional bag of recyclable items (crushed plastic bottles and aluminium cans) away for domestic recycling.

One of our volunteers (Liz) discovered, on a solo pick, that the clean up after the recent 10k running event had not been very effective – with a lot of discarded, plastic water bottles. We are unsure who organised this event. Wilmslow Running Club are normally very good after their half marathon – so maybe this new event is organised by a different organisation?  Anyway – we have made Cheshire East aware.

Our total bag count for the year is 446 – an amazing effort.

The total number pf bags we have collected, in the 6 years since we were formed, has gone over the 3,000 mark. This is a remarkable achievement for a volunteer run organisation – although we would much rather be seeing a reduction in the amount of litter out there.

Please note that our first scheduled litter pick of 2020 is on Saturday 4th January.  Our Wednesday pick would normally have fallen on New Years Day – so we have pushed that one back a week until 8th January.

Well done everyone and thanks for all your hard work and support during the year. We wish all our volunteers a Merry Christmas and we hope to see you all again in the New Year.