Helmshore Memorial Garden -Tidy Up

It was a beautiful Sunny Day and we managed to get the Memorial Garden, cleaned, tidied and looking absolutly brilliant, ready for Remebrance day in 2 weeks time. We had 17 adult volunteers and about 6 children all working really hard to prune back shrubs and trees to open up the paths and let light into the garden. This garden has seen little or no maintenance for may years and is sadly in need of restoration. However, with support from Rossendale Borough Council who supplied much of the equipment, we were able to achieve a great deal in one short morning.

The rubbish was pile high in one corner of the garden, waiting to be removed by the Council Hit Team on Monday morning. Overhanging branches of trees will be removed by Council staff before the Remembrance day service.

The River Ogden, runs alongside the Memorial garden and is regulary monitored by local resident Keith Smith, who removed a number of large pieces of debris prior to helping out in the Memorial garden.

The whole operation was co-ordinated by the CASH group (Community Action for Snig-Hole) and great credit is due to them as the managed to beg, and borrow all equipment needed to carry out the tidy up. Students from Haslingden High School came along to give a much needed helping hand as did volunteers from Sunnyside Residents Association.

This tidy -up was identified as a priority during a public consultation held in July with regard the development of the whole site which includes a children's play area and football area. Designs for the play ground will soon be available for comments at a second consultation. Watch this space for further information.

Photos from the Last clean-up in Rawtenstall

Civic Pride were out again yesterday, cleaning the Limy Water Junction with the River Irwell. Luckily, It was a sunny day and they managed to get lots of rubish out of the river including old supermarket trolleys. There were lots of keen volunteers, getting down the ladders onto the river bank and as Jan Shutt said "many hands make light work" A big thank you to all volunteers from the deaf club, Bacup & Rawtenstall Grammar School, local residents and Rossendale Borough Council NEAT team for helping to make Rawtenstall a much cleaner place to be. We'll keep you all posted when we start the River clean-up operations again in the new year.

If you go down to the woods today - watch out for students...

Students from Salford University headed down to Clifton Country Park during Mersey Basin Week. With the help of the Salford Rangers’ Service we spent the afternoon partaking in a session of woodland management. It was absolutely pouring with rain but that didn’t stop us chopping down some pretty hefty oaks that are overtaking. Having never done anything like this before we were somewhat cautious about using massive saws and scary sacateurs but we soon got the hang of things and felt like tree-chopping pros by the end of the session! We were having so much fun we didn’t even notice our damp, moldy clothes and dirty boots until the taxi driver on the way home gave us some rather strange looks. At least we had a great time and hopefully managed to slow down the invasion of the oaks too!

Alexis Roberts, Volunteering @ Salford

Last Minute Clean-up in Rawtenstall!!!!

There will be a clean-up of the Limy Water/ Irwell junction on Sunday 29th October. Civic Pride, the local community action group are working with Rossendale Borough Council on the last clean-up of the summer and will meet at 10.00am in the Focus car park. Bring along your wellies and waterproofs and be prepared to get wet! We need as much help as we can get!

Duck Island on the River Irwell next to the old Asda will also be tackled on the same day. Joan from the group says "It will be tricky to access this site as Tesco's have blocked off the entrance to the car park but we will do our best!"

This site was cleaned last summer and it's taken a year for all the rubbish to come back. There is Japanes Knotweed on the site but the group have been advised to burn it on site rather than treat it with herbicide, so we will be monitoring the site closely in future to control it.

As it's the last major clean-up of the summer, Civic Pride are having some food after the event, to celebrate the work They have achieved over the past few months. Watch this space for photographs next week!!

Up early on a Sunday....

Twenty students from all three universities in Manchester and Salford were up bright and early on Sunday morning to help MBC and Salford ranger service to construct a boardwalk in a (very) muddy bit of Kersal Dale local nature reserve in Salford. Everyone enjoyed the day, not to mention the extremely large dinner that Bev provided for the hungry volunteers. All our hammering arms got a good workout, and some of us also had the chance to get a mud facial, which will no doubt be very good for the complexion. In the afternoon we were joined by a passing jogger, and by the local councillor, who both joined in the frantic nailing and sawing.

Check out all the pictures HERE.....

Mersey Basin Week on the Upper Weaver

It was a busy week around Crewe and Nantwich, beginning with a Fungal Foray at Brereton Heath Local Nature Reserve. Chris Turner helped us tune our eyes in to finding a wide array of Fungi, and since the rain held off it was a lovely walk as well.

Later in the week, classes from Sound & District Primary School and Weaver Primary School had guided walks of Nantwich Riverside. James Thompson (Riverside Projects Officer) and Annmarie Belcher (Cheshire County Council Rangers) pointed out wildlife and other features of the riverside, and in the afternoon we had the grand opening of the new footbridge and footpaths which make the riverside more accessible. All the children seemed to have a good time, despite the torrential rain!

The grand finale of the week was a seed hunt on Sunday 8th October, which was part of the BBC's Autumnwatch. It had been advertised on BBC2 and Radio Stoke, so we were really excited about it, especially when 70 people came from far and wide to take part. We found Rowan, Oak, Silver Birch, Scots Pine and Alder seeds as well as an interesting array of sticks, stones and snails! Any seeds from native tree species were then planted in special biodegradable cartons, which can be planted on the riverside next year. Radio Stoke joined us for the whole event, and several lucky people got to go on air to talk about the day. James and Annmarie were there once again to identify the seeds and leaves, and to provide information about the Riverside.

Big thanks to everyone involved, if any of you are reading this, why not make a comment about the event you attended!

We found the River Darwen !

A huge thank you to 38 volunteers and everyone involved in organising the Lancashire Partners Day event that marked the start of MWH Mersey Basin Week on Friday 29th September. We uncovered a delightful view of the River Darwen was uncovered in Witton Country Park, Blackburn .

Action Darwen Valley and partners including Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, the Environment Agency and the Probation Service in Blackburn (which supervises offenders serving Community Payback unpaid work for public benefit) cleared the rhododendrons to improve the view of the River Darwen for wheelchair and other users on one of the newly created Tramper Trails.

Slavery Remembrance Day

SLAVERY REMEMBRANCE DAY 23 AUGUST 2006 LIVERPOOL

On the 23rd August 2006 I was invited to attend Slavery Remembrance Day Celebrations in Liverpool. The commemorative event was held at Otterspool Promenade and from lunchtime there was traditional African and Caribbean food and lots of activities for children which included arts & crafts such as the making of colourful masks and the playing of musical instruments all this took place in the Otterspool Marquee and splendid it was. There was also the opportunity to explore artefacts and literature from the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The opening of the International Slavery Museum at Albert Dock in 2007 was widely publicised.

After refreshments the Libation and Invocation Ceremony took place; the ceremony was lead by Chief Angus Chukuemeka Chair of the Libation Committee. This traditional African ceremony calls on the ancestors to bless the event. The offering of libation involves the pouring of liquid, which can be water or wine, in a special pattern while homage is paid to the ancestors.

He made his address at the Mersey Waterfront in the presence of the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Liverpool and other dignitaries everyone in the audience was invited to take part. The Libation ceremony did not and should not exclude anyone. The African traditional ceremony called Libation symbolises African Values of remembering and honouring our ancestors, elders and leaders including community and civic leaders. There was an acknowledgement of all dignitaries present followed by the observation of a minute’s silence in memory of “ The Souls of our departed Brother and Sisters” there was sombre in the air as we bowed our heads and observed the silence waves ebbing in the back ground.

Mention was made of the importance of the day in commemorating the lives and deaths of millions of enslaved Africans and their descendants who were central to the rise of Britain as an Industrial Power.

There was also a reminder that Slavery created unequal relationships between Africans and Europeans and much racism. One cannot forget that most recently in Liverpool there was the brutal killing of the talented teenager Anthony Walker another life pointlessly wasted.

A symbolic drink was given to the dignitaries and the Chief began an invocation and drink was poured at every stage of the invocation. At the end the Chief and dignitaries consumed the remainder of the drinks. The Chief poured drink and kola-nuts into the river as a symbolic gesture. The remaining kola nuts were shared with the audience marking the end of the Libation Ceremony.
It was pointed out to me that the sharing brings us closer to our ancestors. It is also a symbol of unity and harmony with us, our ancestors and with God
The ceremony was followed by speeches and performances which included singing, poetry and dancing an enjoyable time was had by all.

So Why Liverpool?

Slave ships were often built or repaired in Liverpool nearly one and a half million Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic in Liverpool ships. The Merseyside Maritime Museum has an award winning Transatlantic Slavery gallery telling the story of the slave trade and slavery. The gallery will be developed into a new International Slavery Museum in 2007 and I encourage you to take a visit.

2007 is the bicentenary of the abolition of the British slave Trade and the anniversary of the outbreak of the slave rebellion to find out more on how to visit the International Slavery Museum go to: www.internationalslaverymuseums.org.uk

The importance of the Liverpool Waterfront
The precise reasons for Liverpool's dominance of the trade are still debated by historians. Some suggest that Liverpool merchants were being pushed out of the other Atlantic trades, such as sugar and tobacco. Others claim that the town's merchants were more enterprising. A significant factor was the port's position with ready access via a network of rivers and canals to the goods traded in Africa - textiles from Lancashire and Yorkshire, copper and brass from Staffordshire and Cheshire and guns from Birmingham.

Bev Mitchell

Floating away...

Sadly, MWH Mersey Basin Week is over for another year, but at least I managed to take my family to the grand finale on Sunday, when co-ordinators from the Mersey Basin Campaign lent a watery theme to the Hindu Mela at Platt Fields in Manchester.

Throughout the day our co-ordinators, Lucy and Hazel, and local artist Gowri Savoor, helped people make illumined artworks to be used after dark. These were very much in the tradition of Hindu festivals, which often feature floating candles, and looked quite wonderful gliding off on the ornamental lake.

It all brought back memories of backpacking in India and seeing rows of tiny candle-lit offerings floating off down a river or across a lake. Most memorably, in Rishikesh, which is where the Beatles spent their time in India in the 60s.

The Platt Fields lake had been specially cleaned just the previous weekend by the superb Friends of Platt Fields Park. This is the kind of Friends group other parks can only dream of – enthusiastic, energetic and imaginative. In fact, by coincidence in the same week we awarded them one of our Unilever Dragonfly awards for their work. There will be an interview with one of the members, Elsa Holmes, in the upcoming edition of our magazine, Source. Elsa runs the park’s eco-garden.

So as a lovely event featuring a watery spectacle, made possible in part by the hard work of local volunteers, the Mela was a fitting end to this year’s MWH Mersey Basin Week. Not to mention the fact that my daughters loved the kiddies fair rides, were spell-bound by the dancers in sparkly costumes and ate a whole curry each.

Photograph by Karen Wright.

Summerville Primary School's Trip

Summerville Primary School was very lucy to have been invited to go on a canal trip on the Bridgewater canal on Monday 2nd October 2006. We are very proud to be the City of Salfords 1st Green Flag Eco-School.

Our Year 4 class want to thank everyone in the Mersey Basin Campagn for a really wonderful day. The children had a great time they are still talking about it. The class teacher has used the trip in many areas of the curiculum.

Here are some of the poems the class has writen. I have typed them as the children have written them. We hope you enjoy them:-



Number 1

Flats, factorys passing by,
Buildings, boats coming round,
The coloured water drifting slowly,
The ducks swimming steadily,
Light house clashing bright,
The heron flying away,
There goes our day.

By Lucy Hughes


Number 2

There goes the sparkling sun shining like stars,
Then the boat drifts along you can call it a barge,
When a boat goes by you can say “hi!”
Don’t be shy,
Don’t be bored, have fun,
Just like Mum having a bottle of rum,
When you go sown the hill,
You can all lean on the window sill,
When you look out the window you will see cans,
And you will see a big fat tram like super fans
Who ho we stop at a halt,
And I swallow sea salt.

By Grace Hall

Number 3

We went on a canal barge,
And it went along like a sarge,
The barge of a sarge,
Was drifting merrily along the canal.

The skipper was called Dave,
And he was a fine on too,
He got nicer and nicer
And his barge was very grand too!

By Katie O’Sullivan

Number 4

The canal is rippling and lapping against the barge,
The tall old factory’s still standing tall and strong,
Going to last long,
The barge steadily and slowly, drifting gracefully,
Strolling through the water slowly.
Round the corner we saw a stripy, tall lighthouse,
Then we went round the end of the bend.

By Samee Malik

Number 5

The canal boat is wonderful,
it is bright and sparkly too.
It is the engine that is strong and firseful specktacukar too,
It is drifting, swirling,
calm also slow.
Swans swaying,
birds singing cathing flys.
Huge hotels old flats
Canal boat still swirling

The canal boat is wonferful,
It is bright and sparkely too.
It is the enging is strong, firseful, specktacular too.
It is drifting, swirling,
Calm also slow.
Swans swayling birds singing
Flys getting caught
Huge flats old flats,
Canal boat still swirling

By Ben Lockett

MWH MBW Regatta 2006

Having recently (2004) celebrated 100 years of sailing on the Mersey, Fidlers Ferry Sailing Club hosted this year's regatta. Surely home of sailing in England's Northwest?!

Iain and Tom making against the tide












Respectable mid table... can you spot which one?












And the winner is... not from Fidlers... but from Weaver Sailing Club.

Tramper Trekking in the Yarrow Valley

Even the wind and pouring rain didn’t put off five brave souls who were keen to test the off road trampers at Yarrow Valley Country Park. The trampers were stationed at the park courtesy of Lancashire County Council as part of Mersey Basin Week to give people with low mobility a chance to explore parts of the park they can’t normally reach.

The blustery and rainy conditions definitely gave people the chance to test the trampers to the limits as they drove through puddles and up grassy hills, which were rather muddy.

One lady was overwhelmed with the trampers. She visits the park almost everyday with her husband to walk the dog, except she normally stays in the car, as she can’t walk far.

We received positive feedback from the event, which was brilliant as it is hoped that in the future a tramper trail will be developed at the park as part of a wider access project.

From Gemma: because Blogger won't let me put photos on :-(

There's lots of ways to look at Mere Sands Wood

Members of Galloway's Society for the Blind visited The Wildlife Trust's Mere Sands Wood today. They had a guided tour of the site, listened to and watched the birds on the water and were introduced to a variety of trees with distinctive textured barks. This was a special event arranged by Action Ribble Estuary for Mersey Basin Week but the group were impressed and intend to visit again and again.
Site manager Kim Neal can talk for England so she was the ideal guide to describe the area and the nature within it. She also told everyone about the history of the site and the work that has been carried out there to make it accessible to all users. After lunch the group discussed how Mere Sands Wood could be made even more accessible for the blind and partly sighted - ideas that Kim will endeavour to implement.
Everyone had an enjoyable day. One lady said that it was wonderful to feel the shape of the Evening Primrose leaves and feel the ground where the Orchids grow.