Litter Picking Summary 7th + 10th March 2018

13 volunteers met at Summerfields on Wednesday 7th March. We focused on the surrounding area including Colshaw Drive.

The litter on the banks down to the railway tracks from the bridge on Dean Row Road is really bad. We have reported this to Network Rail and received a very positive – they are aiming to clean all this up in the 2nd week of April.

We also reported an area of land near the railway bridge to Cheshire East (ANSA) because 2 whole bags were filled up with empty beer and wine bottles. ANSA confirmed that this is the back entrance to Wilmslow Cemetery and have flagged it up as an area where anti-social behaviour taking place. We also found lots of empty nitrous oxide canisters.

We found some really disgusting areas where dozens of bagged up dog poo bags had been left in hedgerows and hanging on trees. This is unfortunately a common experience. Dog owners need to take more responsibility for disposing of their dog poo bags.

Many thanks to the Q Hotels team from Mottram Hall. They have helped us in the past and it was great to welcome 3 of their staff who came to help us on this litter pick.

We collected a total of 19 bags of litter and other debris. These 2 events were used to support the nationwide “Great British Spring Clean” event which is organised annually by “Keep Britain Tidy”.

9 volunteers met in the Anthology car park on Saturday 10th March. We spread out and covered various parts of the town centre. The areas around the Railway Station and around Sainsbury’s/the Library were particularly badly littered. We popped into Anthology afterwards for refreshment.

We would like to thank Anthology for allowing us to use their car park for our town centre litter picks. We really appreciate this.

We collected around 20 bags.

So – we collected 39 bags in our scheduled picks, but there has been a lot of activity recently including a blitz on Burleyhurst Lane in Mobberley and some solo picking by our volunteers. We have collected 72 bags, since the last month’s report, which is amazing.

Well done and thanks to everyone involved.

Litter Picking Summary 7th + 10th February 2018

8 volunteers met at The Parish Hall on Wednesday 7th February. We spread out covering The Carrs and the surrounding area. Some volunteers also went as far as the A34 bypass on the Bollin Link road and drove across to tackle Prestbury Road. 17 bags of litter were collected. The attached photograph shows some of the group enjoying a well deserved break, with coffee, taken from the conveniently placed cafe in the Parish Hall car park.

On Saturday morning, despite dreadful weather, 7 volunteers met in the Honey Bee car park and removed 18 bags of litter from Altrincham Rd and part of Morley Green Road.

Altrincham Road from the airport tunnels into Wilmslow is notoriously bad for litter. It seems to be getting worse though. It is one of the locations that we visit twice as often as the others – and so our volunteers do a thorough tidy up of this road every 3 months. The amount of litter which had accumulated in the last 3 months was shocking. Either people are littering more or Cheshire East council are cleaning up less. This is something which we can investigate further. The photo is taken right next to the bus stop near the Holiday Inn hotel. The whole of this area was really badly littered – it is difficult to capture the extent in a photo. It could be down to one individual or perhaps lots of people waiting for their buses. A bin is definitely required at this bus stop. Again, this is something which we can propose to Cheshire East.

So – a total haul of 35 bags in February plus some recyclables. This is in addition to all the solo litter picks that our volunteers do on a regular basis. Well done to everyone who helped this month. We would also like to thank the management of the Honey Bee for allowing us to use their car park which was also litter picked.

The locations of all the bags of litter were reported to ANSA with requests for collection and disposal.

Litter Picking Summary 3rd + 6th January 2018

7 volunteers met at Lacey Green Park on Wednesday 3rd January for the first scheduled pick of 2018. We focused on Lacey Green and the surrounding area. 11 bags were collected altogether along with some recyclables, a discarded supermarket trolley and a placard for Styal Golf Club.

9 volunteers met at Bank Square on Saturday 6th January on a chilly morning. We fanned out in all directions. The areas covered included Alderley Road to the King’s Arms roundabout, Sainsbury’s Car Park, the station forecourt, Macclesfield Road as far as Wilmslow Park, Swan St, Manchester Road, the link road as far as the railway arches, Water Lane, Kennerleys Lane, Hawthorn Lane, Green Lane, Grove Street, Grove Avenue, the Leisure Centre, Warham Street, the footbridge over Bypass behind High School, the first part of Prestbury Road and Chapel Lane. We collected 20 bags altogether along with some recyclables and a traffic cone. We finished earlier than usual and met for a coffee to warm us up.

We also reported some fly tipping near the clothing banks behind the library.

A good start to the year with 31 bags and some recyclables collected.

Litter Picking Summary 6th December 2017

Eight volunteers met at the Farmers Arms on Wednesday 6th December. The areas covered included Chapel Lane, the area around Bedells Lane from Albert Rd to the Kings Arms roundabout, Lindfield Estate North and South, Oak Lane, South Oak Lane (including the children’s play area), Buckingham Road, Gravel Lane, and the Farmers Arms car park.

A total of 11 bags of litter were collected.

It was good to meet up with Julie Dawn Potts from the Chapel Lane Business Group – thanks for taking an interest in our activities.

We were also sporting some of the 50 new pairs of gloves that were kindly donated by Globus. They are a company based in Trafford Park, but their director Mike lives locally and wanted to support us. We really appreciate this support.

The snow and icy conditions meant that we had to cancel the planned Summerfields litter pick on Saturday 9th December.

Litter Picking Summary 1st + 4th November 2017

4 volunteers met at Bank Square on Wednesday 1st November. We covered most of the roads in and around the town centre including Church Street, Water Lane, Kennerleys Lane, Hawthorn Lane, Chapel Lane, the Leisure Centre and Sainsbury’s car park. We collected 9 bags and some recyclables. We spoke to an employee of The Emerson Group who keeps their properties litter-free. He told us that ‘Halloween vandals’ (presumably), had thrown eggs at the company’s retail office at the foot of Grove Street and had dug up and thrown around all of the plants in the planter outside the Emerson ‘shop’. We noticed a few plants had also been taken out of the large planter on Bank Square.

On Saturday 4th November 7 volunteers met at the Honey Bee. We collected 15 bags of litter plus various car parts. We also took several carrier bags home for recycling in the domestic grey bins. We covered Altrincham Road from Davehall to Waters and from Nansmoss Lane down to the airport tunnels. We picked up a lot of rubbish in the usual hotspot in the lanes around the Britannia Hotel.

So – 24 bags altogether in November. Well done everyone.

Litter Picking Summary 4th + 7th October 2017

7 volunteers met at The King’s Arms on Wednesday 4th October. We collected 12 bags on Alderley Road and the surrounding area. Thanks to Helen for standing in as a leader on this event.

Despite the rainy conditions we had a very good turn out of 11 volunteers on Saturday 7th. We met at Lindow Common and focussed on the Common and surrounding roads – e.g. Altrincham Road, Some of our volunteers headed into Wilmslow and tidied up Little Lindow and the surrounding roads including, Hawthorn Street The Lindfield Estate and Chapel Lane. We collected 16 bags and 2 hub caps.

So 28 bags altogether in October – well done everyone

Finally we would like to thank the Boddington Arms for providing some of our volunteers with a free coffee – an unexpected and welcome surprise.

Litter Picking Summary 6th + 9th September 2017

We hit some really horrible weather for this month’s litter picks – but still managed a reasonable haul of litter.

3 volunteers met at Wilmslow Leisure Centre on Wednesday 6th September and we collected 6 bags in the surrounding area.

7 volunteers met at Summerfields on Saturday 9th – a very good turnout considering the heavy rainfall. We focussed on the surrounding area including Colshaw Drive and the path down to the bypass. We collected 10 bags altogether.

So – 16 bags in total.

Let’s hope for some kinder weather in October.

Litter Picking Summary 1st->5th August 2017

Wilmslow Fire Brigade have started are running a new initiative to talk to shop keepers (and landlords) in Wilmlow to discuss a recent increase in arson and anti social fire incidents. They asked for the Clean Team to become involved too.

One area that is particularly bad is Grove Way. Much of the problem lies with private property at the back of premises. We have reported this to Ansa as well as it needs a proper clean up to stop it becoming an even greater fire risk. The Clean Team collected 2 bags around this area on Tuesday 1st August.

18 bags and 3 hubcaps were collected by 10 of our volunteers on Wedesday 2nd August. We covered whole of Altrincham Road between the Waters Roundabout and the mouths of the Airport tunnel, also part of Morley Green Road, and the roads behind the Airport Inn. Many thanks to Gary and Jane from The Yorkshire Building Society – we are grateful for their continuing support.

10 volunteers met at The Parish Hall on Saturday 5th August. 2 of the volunteers drove over to cover Prestbury Road (between Leaside Way and Hough Lane) and Hough Lane (between Prestbury Road and Macclesfied Road). The other 8 covered the area around The Parish Hall including Kings Rd, The Carrs, Broadway, the Railway Station, the Leisure Centre and Cliff Road. A total of 15 bags of litter and 2 hub caps were collected.

So – at least 35 bags of litter (and 5 hub caps !) have been collected so far this month. Well done everyone!

Litter Picking Summary 5th->17th June 2017

Only time for a brief summary this month …

7 volunteers met at The Leisure Centre On Wednesday 5th July. We collected 12 bags altogether in and around The Leisure Centre, the station forecourt, Hooper’s car park, the area around the library and Chapel Lane.

3 volunteers turned out on Saturday 8th July. We met in Lacey Green and collected 7 bags altogether.

On 10th July some of our volunteers collected 7 bags in the Carnival Field. This was an organised clean up after The Wilmslow Show.

On Monday 17th July we had an extra litter pick to help prepare the town for the annual “Britain In Bloom” judging. 6 volunteers turned up and 11 bags were collected. We covered Sainsbury`s car park and the surrounding bushes, the Leisure Centre pond area and the walk between the two, Grove street, Bank square, some of Alderley road, Chapel lane, Albert road. Over the previous weekend some of our volunteers did solo picks on Lindow Common and around Fulshaw.

So – at least 37 bags collected in July. Well done everyone.

Litter Picking Summary 7th->10th June 2017

On Wednesday 7th June we met at Summerfields. There were 8 Clean Team volunteers and 3 employees from Riverside.

The areas covered include the walkway and cycle path from the roundabout at Summerfields to the roundabout at the Polar Ford garage, the Summerfields slip road down to the A34 by-pass roundabout, Dean Row Road from Summerfields to Manchester Road, plus sections of Colshaw Drive and Pinewood Road. We also covered Fulshaw South Rd to the roundabout at the Alderley Edge end of the dual carriageway.

A total of 22 bags of litter were collected.

On Saturday 10th June, we met at The Farmer’s Arms and spread out covering the Chapel Lane, Altrincham Road and Knutsford Road areas. Despite the miserable weather we had a total of 7 volunteers who collected 7 bags of litter

So – a good haul of 29 bags altogether, Thanks to everyone who attended the picks.

Wilmslow CleanTeam

Volunteer group helping to clean up the litter in Wilmslow