Middlewich High School Achievement Awards

Two Middlewich High School pupils who regularly litter pick with the Clean Team have been presented with a gift voucher and an achievement award.

The awards are in recognition of their dedication in helping to make Middlewich a clean and tidy place. Maxine Wrench & Janet Chisholm attended Middlewich High on Friday 27th November to take the assembly as part of the MCT education plan and this was an ideal opportunity to present the awards to Kelly Walker & Sam Nelson.

 

7th Middlewich Community Bulb Planting

Middlewich Clean Team were pleased to be involved in this event on 25th October 2009

The 7th Middlewich Community bulb planting took place on 25th October 2009. It was a huge success, thirty people came along to help plant thousands of crocus in St. Michael's Church grounds and then had well earned refreshments at the Boars Head. It was a lovely occasion and the results of our hard work will be a splendid display for all our community to enjoy in the spring." 

Clean Team Members Attend St John Ambulance First Aid Training

6 Members of Middlewich Clean Tean recently gathered for a photo shoot for the Middlewich Guardian following there succesful First Aid training on 16th October 2009.

The photo shows 4 clean team members with the First Aid packs that will now be taken to all future litter picks following training by St John Ambulance at Chester. Clean Team Chairperson Janet Chisholm feels the that those that attended gained confidence in minimising the effects of injuries until professional help arrives. (Photo Nick Jones, Middlewich Guardian)

Hot Wok Evening 25th September 2009

This ticket only event was soon sold out and took place at the Big Lock public house. Diners enjoyed selecting ingredients from a display and the selection was then cooked and brought to the table.

Good food and a cheerful atmosphere meant this was a very successful Middlewich Clean Team fund raising evening as Chairperson Janet Chisholm later commented, "Can I say a big thank you to all who attended the Hot Wok Evening and supported the Middlewich Clean Team on Friday evening. We raised a FANTASTIC £162.00 for our funds and really enjoyed the food and company it was such a happy fun evening. This money will go along way to paying for our insurance cover."

First Middlewich Brownies Tidy Up For The Folk and Boat Festival

We always try to play our part in keeping the town tidy and a good place to be but the forthcoming Folk & Boat Festival meant that we really wanted present the town at it's best. So we a pre-festival tidy up with the help of First Middlewich Brownies was carried out. MCT Chairperson Janet Chisholm commented the next day "Middlewich Clean team joined the First Middlewich Brownies and their leaders making a total of over 30 people litter picking to make sure that Middlewich is clean and tidy for the Folk and Boat Festival. 

It is always a very special annual event in the MCT calendar, a group of us walked through the town and the onto the canal....one gentleman who lives on a narrow boat and makes fudge for a living kindly gave the Brownies fudge to share out. The sun was shinning and everyone was in such good spirits the, children our our future and to see then taking such positive interest in our town is wonderful." 

Summer Planting at St. Michaels and All Angels Church

Community planting is what this event is often referred to and that was certainly the case here. People of all ages from many walks of life came together to help plant the flowers. MCT Chairperson, Janet Chisholm, commented the next day, "Can I just say a huge thank you for all the hard work that you undertook to make the Community Planting such a lovely occasion. I looked around yesterday evening and was overwhelmed. To be part of a group of maybe eighty people of all ages coming together, working, laughing, organising refreshments etc is just wonderful...the results in the summer I am sure will be magnificent.

All Photos: Ian Jones

Charity Walk

The activities of Middlewich Clean Team are often combined with helping out other worthy causes and this was a prime example. We organised a charity walk in aid of St. Lukes Hospice and added in litter picking along the 3 mile route.

Although we picked up two large bin bags of rubbish it was pleasing to find that the Trent & Mersey canal footpath had less litter than anticipated. Perhaps our message is getting through?

To finish off there was a barbecue kindly put on by the Big Lock pub and we were thanked by St.Lukes for our support. Raising money for charity and contributing towards keeping Middlewich tidy has a real feel good factor about it and we are very pleased to have been able to combine these two acactions into one succesful event.

Underpass Clean Up

The following article appeared in the spring/summer issue of JSJD Community Crime Fighters Magazine and demonstrates some of the work that MCT do that sometimes passes unheard about or unnoticed:

"Middlewich Clean Team
Janet Chisholm and Stephen Dent from the Middlewich Clean Team in Cheshire who attended the Community Crime Fighters training in Birmingham had a real success with this in recent weeks. They nominated an underpass to be cleaned but were told it was going to take a long time for the probation service to take action due to broken equipment and other problems. However, Stephen wrote to us saying the probation service listened to the group's concerns and he was pleased to report, "we are getting the work done and even some extra work". Our congratulations go to the Middlewich Clean Team for not giving up and challenging the service."

Naturally we are pleased to have received the recognition but this is all about Community Payback - for those that have done wrong and you now have the opportunity to see this action for yourself. Since 1st December 2008, offenders carrying out community Payback are required to wear orange jackets with "Community Payback" written on the back - this ensures that you can easily see those who have done wrong paying back. Payback often consists of projects like the one above, other examples could be renovating community centres, clearing undergrowth or cleaning off graffiti.

[Dead link to community payback removed during update - Ed]

Spring is Blooming

Spring has arrived and the flowers planted in the past few years are blooming, our spring newsletter is out too and includes some new dates for your diary. If you want to see our Spring 2009 Newsletter then you will find it in the News section. Diary dates are available there too.

Photo: Ian Jones

The photograph shows glowing daffodils in Kinderton Street. These were planted last autumn and have come up really well.

Nursery School Visits 2009

Hilary Jones & Carol Eccles have been visiting Children's play groups & Nurseries to raise awareness amongst young children of the consequences leaving litter around.

The photograph shows Middlewich Clean Team member Carol Eccles with staff at the Peter Pan Play Group.

Town Litter Pick

We held a litter pick on the afternoon of Saturday 24th January. A brilliant total of 15 members attended & we picked 7 bags of litter around the Town Centre area. Including Webbs Lane, St Michaels Way, St Annes Road, White Horse Alley & part of Lewin Street.

The photograph shows Middlewich Clean Team members and children from all over the town ready to go out and help make Middlewich a nicer place to be.

MCT Secretary Maxine Wrench commented "We are really pleased to make Middlewich people aware that we do pick litter & always with a positive attitude!".

 

Community Crime Fighters

Today some of the committee members of the Middlewich Clean Team attended a Community Crime Fighters training day in Birmingham. This doesn't mean the MCT is taking over crime fighting in Middlewich! It's about how we can work alongside, or challenge criminal justice services when they fall short, by knowing what services to expect from the criminal justice system, how best to help others or get things changed for the better.

The photograph shows Middlewich Clean Team participants in the course with Louise Casey (centre front), Director General, Neighbourhood Crime and Justice Group.

The course was part of the Ministry of Justice Community Crime Fighters scheme and the content of the course was very much influenced by a Cabinet Office review "Engaging Communities in Fighting Crime" which was completed in June 2008.

Grassroots Grant

Pictured are Janet Chisholm and Stephen Dent with Councillor Rab Parry (centre), 

Chairman of the Grassroots Grant Committee at a ceremony to celebrate Cheshire organisations which have been successful in obtaining grant funding. The event was held on 19 January 2009 at the Offices of Cheshire Community Action in the presence of the Lord and Lady Mayoress of Chester.

New Year's Day Treasure Hunt

On New Years Day there was the usual Treasure Hunt around Middlewich. Sue Bailey who is organised the event this year and has kindly decided that the charity the money will be donated to Middlewich Clean Team. Friends and families gathered at the Boars head at 1.00pm and set off to enjoy the fun.

MCT members turned out too and of course had their litter pickers with them to carry out some picking on route.

It was quite a cold day so a soup & bread roll reward on completion was most welcome.

Organiser Sue Bailey was joined by Trish Ednie to carry out the administration and marking. 

With 22 teams involved that kept them very busy indeed. Eventually they were able to announce the winning team as "Spend Your Way Out Of The Credit Crunch" and the runners up were "The Dirty Team".

£177.00 was raised in favour of the MCT for which we are most grateful.