Since the last news update, we have:
a) Continued with our twice monthly litter picks :
7 volunteers met at The Farmer’s Arms, in pleasant sunshine, on Wednesday 04-MAR-26. We collected 11 bags. The areas covered included Alderley Road, Broadway, the High School entrance, Parkway, the area around BP garage and parts of Sainsbury’s car park. Tom & Dan, the two recently appointed full-time Rangers, employed by Wilmslow Town Council, came to introduce themselves. They routinely collect lots of litter around the town during their work to improve the street scene, which also involves mud & vegetation scraping/sign cleaning and removal of obsolete signage. We enjoyed a “post pick” coffee in the new coffee outlet sited near the front door of the pub, run by the landlord’s daughter Holly.
5 volunteers met at Summerfields on Saturday 04-MAR-26. We covered the surrounding area including Colshaw Drive. We collected 10 bags.
b) Continued with our solo picks. Areas covered include the leisure centre, the town centre, Dean Row Road, Moor Lane, “The Temp” (communal garden), the area around Hazelmere Care Home, Grange Park Avenue, Styal Road, Lacey Green, Morley Green Road, Altrincham Road, Adlington Road, Hough Lane and Prestbury Road. Many thanks to everyone who did a solo pick – especially Gareth, Ann, Helen, Liz, Margaret, Wil, Chris E., Alex and Andrew. Apologies if I missed anyone !
c) Reported some fly tipping on the Lindfield Estate to Cheshire East.
d) Manned a stall at the inaugural “Wilmslow Community Fair”. This was an event organised by Wilmslow Town Council and held in The United Reformed Church on Sunday 08-MAR-26. It was a showcase for local community groups. 45 groups manned stalls and 1333 visitors attended. We welcomed quite a few visitors to our stall. Hopefully, some of them will be tempted to become litter pickers. See the following website for more information about the event, a video and some photos (including one of the Clean Team) :
https://www.wilmslowtowncouncil.gov.uk/connectedwilmslow-fair-review/
e) Continued to support existing, and welcomed new, students doing litter picking for the voluntary section of their Duke of Edinburgh scheme.
f) Continued efforts to include Wilmslow Fire Brigade in a future litter pick.
g) Further planning for our attendance at a conference of local litter picking groups which is being held in Sandbach on 11-APR-26
h) Contacted Cheshire East to see if there is a way that they could provide us with free parking at our litter picking events. Unfortunately, this is not possible.
i) Liaised with a potential volunteer who wants to litter pick as part of the 2 days that his company allow for community activities.
We were concerned by the amount of litter in and around Broadway Meadows car park – and the lack of bins. We have tried and failed in the past to get a new bin installed (due to a lack of funding) but we have asked ANSA (Cheshire East’s contractor) once again. ANSA confirmed that the request is still on their list for consideration. We have also asked ANSA to clean up the far end of the car park where the recycling bins used to be – and they have agreed to see to this. We have also asked them to remove a fly tipped tyre and paint from the bottom end of the car park.
Our second pick of the year was on Wednesday 8th January. 8 volunteers met outside the gates of the park in Lacey Green on Barlow Moor Road. We covered the whole of the park area, Barlow Moor Road, Lacey Green, halfway down Egerton Road, Cranford Road and Mount Pleasant – not a bad morning’s work.
8 volunteers met at The Honey Bee on Saturday 9th November. We picked along the A538 (Altrincham Rd) and collected a total of 16 bags plus various hub caps and other items. Viv, who regularly picks in this area, reported that “It was absolutely dreadful – I’ve never seen it so bad”.
We were disappointed to see that the glass in the bus shelter (near the Airport Inn Hotel) had been vandalised. We have asked our contact at Cheshire East to report this to the relevant department.
