Tag Archives: Duke Of Edinburgh Award

News Update : 04-AUG-24

Since the last news update, we have:

a) Continued with our twice monthly litter picks :

6 volunteers met at Lindow Common on Wednesday 03-JUL-24.  We covered the surrounding area including Altrincham Road as far as the Jim Everson playing fields.

5 volunteers met at The King’s Arms on Saturday 06-JUL-24.  We covered the surrounding area including Alderley Road down to the bypass and parts of Knutsford Road.

b) Continued with our solo picks.

c) Continued support for a local student, Joe, who is doing his Duke of Edinburgh award. He has now completed the required number of volunteer hours but intends to continue picking. He has done amazing work over the past few months – so huge thanks.

d) Held a committee meeting where, amongst other things, we judged some posters created recently by the high school pupils and agreed to give Amazon vouchers to the best entries.

e) Responded to a contact from Praetura Asset Finance who are planning litter picks, in September, in all the towns where they have an office – which includes Wilmslow.

f) Manned a stall at The Wilmslow Show

Wilmslow Show Stall - 2024

 

News Update : 29-JUN-24

Since the last news update, we have:

a) Continued with our twice monthly litter picks :

Only 2 volunteers were able to meet at Summerfields on Wednesday 05-JUN-24.  We covered the surrounding area and collected 3 bags.

6 volunteers met at Bank Square on Saturday 08-JUL-24.  We covered the town centre and collected at least 6 bags

b) Continued with our solo picks.

c) Reported some fly tipping to ANSA

d) Continued support for a local student, Joe, who is doing a fantastic job as part of the volunteering section of his Duke of Edinburgh award. This month he has covered Sainsbury’s / Hooper’s car park and Broadway car park.

e) Scheduled a committee meeting where, amongst other things, we will be looking at the litter posters created recently by the high school pupils.

f)  Survived a migration exercise enforced up on us by our web hosting company.  The website seemed to survive OK but they broke our emailing capability. This was finally repaired a week or so later – and so hopefully everything is now up and running normally again – albeit at a much higher cost

News Update : 28-APR-24

Since the last news update, we have:

a) Continued with our twice monthly litter picks :

We met at Lacey Green on Wednesday 3rd April and collected 6 bags.

10 volunteers met at Bank Square on Saturday 6th April. We covered the town centre, the station, the Leisure Centre, the car park behind BP, the Bollin Link and the Carrs playground. We collected at least 12 bags and some recyclables.

b) Continued with our solo picks.

c) Continued support for a local student, Joe, who is doing a fantastic job as part of the volunteering section of his Duke of Edinburgh award.

d) Reviewed the information from the company that hosts our website. The website will be migrated at some point. We initially thought this was going to be on Thursday 11th April but that was the date that they are starting the migration work – so it could be any time over the coming months.  There may be some disruption as part of this exercise.

e) Started to plan the next committee meeting.

f) Started to consider applying for the Tesco blue token scheme again.

 

News Update : 29-MAR-24

Since the last news update, we have:

a) Continued with our twice monthly litter picks :

A nice morning saw 12 volunteers meet up on Wednesday 6th March at The Farmer’s Arms.  We were pleased to welcome 2 new volunteers. We collected at least 10 bags.

4 volunteers met at Summerfields on Saturday 9th March. We collected 6 bags of rubbish and 2 bags of recyclables.  It was noted that Colshaw Drive seemed surprisingly clean compared to previous events. We reported some fly tipped rubbish and some CEC highways equipment.

b) Continued with our solo picks.

c) Received a further update from the chairman of Colshaw Estate Tenants and Residents Association (CETRA) to say that they are postponing their big clean up exercise of the valley area on Colshaw Farm estate.  This was originally going to be on Saturday 13th April and Sunday 14th April but will now be later in the year.

d) Provided guidance and equipment to a pupil who is litter picking for the volunteering section of their Duke of Edinburgh award.

e) Renewed our website hosting and domain registration.

f) Liaised with the fire station regarding the impact on our equipment bunker during works.

g) Heard from ANSA regarding the date for the clean-up of the A34 bypass.  This is now scheduled for the week commencing April 15th.

h) Started to discuss the possibility of taking up a free stall at the Wilmslow Show.

i) Responded to Alderley Edge In Bloom. They are doing a big clean of Melrose Way on Sunday 21st April at 11:00.   They would welcome some help from Wilmslow Clean Team.  If you can help, then they are meeting at Chelford Road bridge.

j) Thanks to Elaine who has contacted Deputy head teacher Mr Mark Vincent at Wilmslow High School regarding a poster campaign to help our group and promote less littering   He has passed the request onto the art department apparently and hopefully something will be forthcoming soon.

i) Heard from the company that hosts our website that they will be performing a migration exercise on Thursday 11th April.  Fingers crossed that the website continues to function normally but there will be a small outage on that day.

j) Planned our Spring Clean events

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-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-FEB-23

Since the last news update, we have:

a) Continued with our twice monthly litter picks :

8 volunteers met at Bank Square on Wednesday 1st February.  We covered the surrounding area including the station, the leisure centre, Sainsbury’s car park and the Bollin Link Road. We collected at least 14 bags and some recyclables. Many thanks to the 2 “Pets At Home” staff who came along.

An even higher turnout of 12 volunteers met at The Honey Bee on Saturday 5th March.  We collected at least 21 bags and some recyclables. We focussed on Altrincham Road and the area near the airport tunnels.  One volunteer went over to the Prestbury Road and did the verges on the roundabout at the back of the high school. Thanks to Elliot who 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) Continued trials with the new trolley – and received interest from a volunteer who is keen to use it in future.

c) Liaised with Wilmslow Town Council about the degree of involvement in the coronation related activities being planned in the town. We have decided to re-jig our May picks. We have swapped the locations and we have moved the Saturday pick to the following Monday. This is so that we aren’t clashing with the coronation.  It also means we can be in the town centre and therefore more visible for “The Big Help Out” on the Monday :

In tribute to His Majesty The King’s public service, The Big Help Out will encourage people to try volunteering for themselves and join the work being undertaken to support their local areas. The aim of The Big Help Out is to use volunteering to bring communities together and create a lasting volunteering legacy from the Coronation Weekend.”

News Update : 28-JAN-23

Since the last news update, we have:

a) Continued with our twice monthly litter picks :

3 volunteers met at The Kings Arms on Wednesday 4th January.  We covered the surrounding area and collected at least 6 bags.

We emailed our members to cancel the pick on Saturday 7th Jan due to heavy rain. However, 5 hardy volunteers turned up at Lindow Common just as the rain was easing off.  We collected at least 9 bags.

Thanks to everyone who participated.

b) Continued with our solo picks.

c) Performed a successful initial trial of our new trolley – which allows for easy separation of recyclable and non-recyclable items

d) Held initial talks with the local Round Table who made contact via Facebook.  It looks like they will be kindly donating £200 so that we can purchase another trolley. We also confirmed that we would consider assisting with the clean-up exercise after the annual fireworks display at Carnival Fields (for a further donation).

e) Continued supporting a student at WHS who is litter picking for their Duke of Edinburgh award

Hope to see you at the February picks.

News Update : 29-OCT-22

Since the last news update we have:

a) Continued with our twice monthly litter picks :

4 volunteers met at Bank Square on a very wet Wednesday 5th October. We covered the town centre, collecting 8 bags and some other debris including 2 stainless steel platters and 3 frying pans!

10 volunteers met outside at Lacey Green Park on Saturday 8th October. We covered the surrounding area. It was lovely to see some new volunteers and 2 children.

Thanks to everyone who participated.

b)Continued with our solo picks.

c) Altogether this month we have collected at least 23 bags.

d) Liaised with a Wilmslow High School student who is keen to do litter picking as the “volunteering” section of their Duke of Edinburgh award.

e) Contacted ANSA about the removal of a satellite dish on Altrincham Road

Hope to see you at the November picks.

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.