Litter Picking Summary 1st->4th March 2017

On Wednesday 1st March, 14 Clean Team volunteers met up at Summerfields for the first of our 2 scheduled March litter picks. We also invited “Riverside/Your Place” who kindly sent along a team of 3 to join us.

The riverside team came in two trucks and concentrated on the Colshaw Farm estate. The Clean Team ventured far and wide – eastwards along Dean Row Road as far as the roundabout with Handforth Road, all around the Summerfields housing estate, down the slip road to the A34 bypass, down the footpath towards Wilmslow town centre, along Manchester Road, between Blue Bell crossroads and Styal Road junction, and along Stanneylands Road as far as the hotel.

A massive haul of 59 bags which we could not have acheived without the help of Riverside.

11 volunteers met at the Leisure Centre, on a bright and sunny morning, on Saturday 4th March, as part of our support for the Keep Britain Tidy’s “The Great British Spring Clean”.

We covered the town centre including the Leisure Centre area, the path from the station to the High School, Water Lane, part of Altrincham Road, Alderley Road (and some of the side streets), Macclesfield Road, Sainsbury’s car park, the gardens behind Hoopers, and Broadway,

We collected 20 bags altogether.

As always, it was lovely to welcome some new faces to our litter picks.

An impressive total of 79 bags collected over the 2 scheduled March picks.

We will carry on the good work in the annual Wilmslow Spring Clean which runs from 27th March -> 2nd April

Litter Picking Summary 1st->4th February 2017

Our volunteers met at The Parish Hall on Wednesday 1st February. We focussed on the Carrs and the surrounding roads including Cliff Road, parts of Styal Road, parts of Lacey Green, River Street, Church Street and Hawthorne Lane.

In addition, one of our volunteers, Chris, headed over to the Prestbury Link Road.

We collected 17 bags altogether.

Many thanks to Helen for standing in and leading the pick.

7 volunteers met at the Honey Bee on Saturday 4th February. We covered Altrincham Road between the Jim Evison playing fields and the Airport tunnels, the road from The Honey Bee to Morley Green, Eccups Lane, the first part of Burleyhurst Lane, the old road in front of Airport Inn and the connecting road (old Styal Road) back to the A538 roundabout.

The Honey Bee have very kindly offered to provide us with a free coffee when we base future litter picks there – much appreciated.

13 more bags were collected making a total of 30 altogether over the 2 scheduled February picks.

Thanks to everyone who helped out.

Litter Picking Summary 4th->7th January 2017

For the first scheduled litter pick of 2017, 4 volunteers met in Lacey Green on Wednesday 4th January and collected 9 bags of litter, 1 bag of sand, and assorted bits and pieces. The Park was covered along with parts of Barlow Road, Twinnies Road, Egerton Road and Cliff Road by the Parish Hall.

In addition, one of our volunteers, Ann, collected 2 bags on Knutsford Road.

11 volunteers met at the Leisure Centre on a damp and murky morning on Saturday 7th January.

We focussed on the town centre including the Leisure Centre car park and pond areas, Alderley Road, Manchester Road, Mill Street, Church Lane, Parkway and Sainsbury’s car park.

Parkway was very dirty and so was Sainsbury’s car park. We will need to find out who is responsible for maintaining the car park and surrounding bushes. We may need a further blitz there in the Spring Clearn which we are planning for March. There was one car park spot where a dozen half filled bottles of water had been thrown into the bushes – presumably someone likes to go there every day and throw their bottle away.

We were really pleased to welcome 2 new volunteers – newcomers are always welcome – there never seems to be a shortage of litter!

We collected a total of 24 bags, some recyclables, a broken traffic cone and a shopping basket.

So – a great start to 2017 with 35 bags collected.

Litter Picking Summary 7th->10th December 2016

7 volunteers met at the Farmer’s Arms on Wednesday 7th December. We focussed on Chapel Lane, Moor Lane and the surrounding area, collecting about 7 bags altogether.

6 volunteers met at Summerfields on Saturday 10th December. We covered the surrounding area, parts of Colshaw Drive, the slip road to the by-pass, Dean Row Road and Manchester Road (from Dean Row Road to the Handforth border). The green space between Colshaw Drive and Howty Close was in a bad state – we will try to find out who is responsible for maintaining this area. We collected about 19 bags of rubbish and took some recyclables home to put in the grey bin.

So – 26 bags were collected in total at our 2 scheduled December litter picks.

We would like to thank all our volunteers and supporters for their help during 2016 and with them all a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Litter Picking Summary 2nd->5th November 2016

Perfect weather attracted a total of 15 people to the Leisure Centre on Wednesday 2nd for the first of our 2 scheduled November litter picks.

We were really pleased to be supported by 2 local businesses : 3 new volunteers (Elinor, Leam & Ella Pearson) from Q Hotels (Mottram Hall) and 2 of our regular helpers (Michelle & Rebecca) from the Yorkshire Building Society. Massive thanks for your help and on-going support.

New volunteers are always most welcome and it was nice to welcome Joseph for the first time too.

We focussed on the area immediately around the Leisure Centre, Sainsbury’s car park, Manchester Rd to the viaduct and Water Lane up to and around the Police Station.

21 bags of litter were collected altogether which is a fantastic effort.

The most unusual finds of the day were a set of reasonable quality metal Boules (which we dropped off at a charity shop), a used pair of female knickers (which we didn’t !) and a stick like ball thrower.

6 volunteer’s met at The Honey Bee on Saturday 5th November and worked along Altrincham Road down to the airport tunnels.

A total of 11 bags were collected along with 1 bag of recyclables. Another good effort.

One very unusual and alarming find was a carrier bag hung on a tree that was full of diesel!

So – altogether we collected 33 bags at our 2 November picks

Well done everyone – hope to see you all in December.

Litter Picking Summary 5th->8th October 2016

7 volunteers met at the King’s Arms on Wednesday 5th October. We covered the full length of Alderley Road (from the A34 roundabout to the Leisure Centre), the ‘town’ end of Knutsford Road, Chapel Lane, Victoria Road, Albert Road, Holly Road South, Bedells Lane, Hawthorn Road and part of Altrincham Road by Little Lindow. We collected 13 bags of litter and an old tyre. A further bag of cans were recycled. We were very pleased to have a new volunteer with us.

7 volunteers met at Lindow Common on Saturday 8th October. We covered Lindow Common, Racecourse Road, Altrincham Road (down as far as Waters) parts of Mobberley Road etc. We collected 10 bags of litter and a wheel hub. We took home 3 smaller bags of cans and bottles for re-cycling. We also reported 2 tyres that have been fly tipped near Lindow Common to the council.

Some of our volunteers have also been out and about on their own. Viv collected 3 bags around Gorsey Road, Broadwalk etc. Ann collected 2 bags in Stoney Lane, South Oak playground, South Oak Lane and Nursery Lane.

So, we have collected at least 28 bags of litter and some recyclables.

We are now planning the November litter picks. New volunteers are very welcome. We are delighted that “Q Hotels” are planning to send 4 of their team to help out in November.

Litter Picking Summary 7th->10th September 2016

5 Clean Team members met in Summerfields carpark on Wednesday 7th September. We were joined by 6 staff from the Riverside Housing Your Place project. We focussed on the area around Summerfields, Colshaw Drive etc.

In total we collected a massive haul of 24 bags of litter plus various items such as part of a kitchen worksurface, a curtain rail, a bicycle wheel, a hubcap.

8 volunteers met at the Leisure Centre on Saturday 10th September. We focussed on the Leisure Centre – including the pond area which is currently being rejuvenated to attract wildlife. We also tackled parts of the town centre including Sainsbury’s car park, Broadway, Parkway, Alderley Road, Knutsford Road etc.

We collected 15 bags of rubbish altogether and some recyclables. We also discovered some kitchen units that had been fly-tipped in the trees separating the two parts of Sainsbury’s car park – we have informed the council.

So – an impressive 39 bags of rubbish altogether this month (plus the recyclables)

Thanks everyone.

Litter Picking Summary 3rd->6th August 2016

10 volunteers met at The Honey Bee on Wednesday 3rd August. We focussed on Altrincham Road from the Jim Evison playing fields to the airport tunnels, the whole length of Morley Green Road, the green at Morley Green and the old road near the Britannia Airport Inn. We collected 13 bags of litter along with some polystyrene, a lorry mud flap and 2 lengths of industrial plastic.

Our environmental efforts continue to impove as a whole bag of plastic bottles and cans was taken home for recycling.

8 volunteers met at The Parish Hall on Saturday 6th August. We focussed on the Carrs and surrounding roads (e.g. Styal Road, Cliff Road).

A member of the public had contacted us about the litter probelm at St Olaf’s Chapel. 3 of our volunteers (Ade, Sally and Chris) headed to the chapel which is a ruin in the woods above the Carrs. We cleaned the litter along the path and around the ruin itself. There was some litter – but not as much as we were expecting. It was interesting to discover the old ruin though.

We collected 13 bags of litter and also took home some cans and bottles for recycling.

A health total of 26 bags of litter and some recylcables – well done everybody!

Britain In Bloom Judging

The Britain In Bloom judges were in Wilmslow on Friday 29th July 2016. Wilmslow is aiming for a 3rd gold award in a row.

The Clean Team volunteers help to tidy up the town in the run up to the judging. This year we organised 2 litter picks on Thursday 28th July.

On Tuesday 26th and Wednesday 27th July, 3 of our volunteers collected litter in and around Lindow Common.

At 10:00 on Thursday, 9 volunteers met at the Farmer’s Arms. We spread out in all directions covering a large area. The roads covered include Buckingham Road, Oak Lane, South Oak Lane, the Children’s playground off South Oak Lane, Gravel Lane, Newlands Drive, New Street, Moor Lane and the surrounding side streets, Chapel Lane, Hawthorn Street, Little Lindow including the children’s play area, Altrincham Road, Bedells Lane, Racecourse Road, and Alderley Road.

At 18:30, 8 volunteers met at Sainsbury’s car park. We covered the town centre including Alderley Road, Water Lane, Grove Street, Manchester Road, the Memorial Gardens and the Leisure Centre.

Some of our volunteers were also out and about on ad-hoc litter picks of their own in the run up to the judging – e.g. around Fulshaw Park and Alderley Road.

We collected around 21 bags of litter altogether plus some recyclables.

Well done everyone – fingers crossed for the results in October.

See this wilmslow.co.uk article for more details.

Litter Picking Summary 6th -> 9th July 2016

On Wednesday 6th July, 10 volunteers (including two new volunteers from Yorkshire Building Society – Michelle and Rebecca) met at Bank Square and collected 14 bags of litter. Some bags of flattened cans were taken away for re-cycling.

The areas/roads covered included Bank Square, Grove Street, Swan Street, Station Road, Green Lane, St Ann’s Parade (and the service road behind here), part of Alderley Road, Leisure Centre grounds (and path behind that leads to railway station), Station forecourt, Broadway Meadows car park, the un-named link road to A34 by-pass and roundabout by Polar Ford, the passageway between Broadway and Parkway, Grove Avenue, Hawthorn Lane, Kennerley’s Lane, Albert Road, Victoria Road and Chapel Lane.

Other volunteers collected an additional 3 bags of litter in various parts of Wilmslow including Gravel Lane, Knutsford Road and Priory Road,

Many thanks to the Yorkshire Building Society for their help with the litter picking – and their involvement in the dramatic rescue of a hedgehog at Wilmslow Leisure Centre.

We asked Tesco Express if they would arrange to clear the rubbish which has accumulated over many years at the foot of the external fire escape metal staircase. The issue is that litter has been pushed through the railings which guard the staircase, so is totally inaccessible without the gate being open, but which is also highly visible. Fortunately, the gate was open today for some maintenace work. A member of Tesco’s staff, Sharon, took immediate responsibility and said she would clear the litter immediately. 2 of our volunteers, Colin and Chris offered to help, and, between us all, we filled 4 bags (see photo)! Sharon said she would now keep an eye on this area and clean when necessary, each time the maintenance engineer arrives.

Finally, in an eventful morning, another of our volunteers, Sally, picked up a donation of £295 from Waitrose as part of their “Community Matters” programme. We are very grateful for this money as our funds were running a bit low.

On Saturday 9th July, 4 intrepid volunteers braved torrential rain and litter picked in and around Lacey Green Park.

7 bags of litter were left for collection by the Barlow road entrance to the park and some flattened cans were taken for re-cycling.

So – 24 more bags of litter removed from the streets of WIlmlsow. Well done everyone!

Thanks once again to our volunteers and to the businesses who support our efforts.

Wilmslow CleanTeam

Volunteer group helping to clean up the litter in Wilmslow