Litter Pick Centurian Way and Ravenscroft Wood

The Clean Team were out in force on Saturday 12th November with 12 members (including 2 new members) to litter pick along Centurian Way and Ravenscroft Wood. It was a beautiful afternoon & well worth the result of 12 bags of rubbish were collected.

Bulb Planting, Holmes Chapel Road

Photographs: Bill Walmsley

Middlewich clean team have been out and about again, this time bulb planting on the area outside the Salt Cellar alongside the roundabout on the Holmes Chapel Road. Twenty three people took part - Brownies and their leaders, Clean Team and Community Pride members, a Girl Guide, Street Pastors and residents old and young - making this a true community event. We all worked hard for about an hour digging trenches for an assortment of daffodils, tulips and crocuses, had our photo taken with the Salt Cellar's manager, then went inside for some very welcome refreshments.

The annual planting is organised by Middlewich Clean Team with bulbs funded by the Middlewich Community Pride Group. Previous areas to be tackled in this way include the lay-by on Croxton Lane and the land opposite the Boars Head on Kinderton Street.

Town set to bloom this winter

Bernice Walmsley and Hilary Jones show off their latest floral displays at St Michael’s Church.
(Photo and article Middlewich Guardian)

MIDDLEWICH is set to bloom this winter thanks to the green-fingered efforts of the town’s Clean Team. The organisation recently joined forces with the community payback scheme to plant pansies along the borders of the path in St Michael’s Church grounds.

And on Sunday, October 23, busy Lizzies in the group will be armed with hundreds of bulbs to bed along Holmes Chapel Road. The planting session is open to everyone and will start at 2pm at the Salt Cellar pub. 

The next litter pick will take place at Tesco car park on Monday, October 10, from 1pm.

Original article by Katie Durose, Middlewich Guardian, reproduced by kind permission.

Clean Team Bags Some Hoops

Photograph by MCT member Chris Robinson

Ten people came along to the litter pick on the 10th October in mizzly weather, but Janet was delighted to hand the new hoops to Middlewich Clean Team members which had been donated to the team by Cheshire East Council. The hoops will be a great help in windy weather.

 

Beavers Litter Pick

There are more photographs from the litter pick in our 2011 photo archive.

Katy's Wall Tidy Up

On Saturday 17th September, under the keen eye of Kevin - "the Plant Man" a Clean Team member with Horticultural knowledge - we bravely dodged the downpours to complete the tidy up of Katy's Wall for winter. Under Kevin's advice we will be revisting in the spring with some new planting, no doubt we will be asking his advice a lot more in the future. There are more photographs from the tidy up in our 2011 photo archive.

 

Litter Pick Holmes Chapel Road Estate

On Sat 30th July a group of us with the help of several local enthusiastic children, litter picked an area on the Holmes Chapel Road Estate. One of the local residents, who is now a member of the Clean Team was concerned about the litter on the estate and prior to Saturday had already collected 4 large bags of litter. She is especially concerned about the littering of a stream which runs through the estate and we put on our wellington boots, used long handled pickers & set to the task. The area certainly looks a lot better and it is fantastic how enthusiastic everybody was.

Folk and Boat Festival

Once again our members were out in force during the weekend of the Folk and Boat Festival and in liaison with Cheshire East Council’s Streetscape team kept out town beautifully clean for all of our visitors. Many thanks to all who helped. The picture shows our Chairperson, Janet with Clean Team member Fiona Bruce MP.

 

Annual Brownie Litter Pick

We had a very enjoyable evening on Tuesday 14th June 2011 - our annual litter pick with the Brownies - as usual there was an excellent turn out - we split into two groups & walked along the canal in opposite directions starting from the Salinae.

There are more images from this event in the Photo Archive for 2011.

Annual Busy Lizzie Planting

Tuesday 24th May was the evening of our annual busy lizzie planting at the churchyard of St Michael and All Angel’s. This is a community event organised jointly with the Middlewich Community Pride Group. The photograph shows Maxine, our Secretary/Treasurer helping the cubs who were eagerly getting stuck into the job. Our thanks go to all those organisations and individuals who helped and the Mothers Union who provided the much appreciated refreshments afterwards.

There are more images from this event in the Photo Archive for 2011.

Playgroup Youngsters Pick Up Tidying Tips

Playgroup children in Middlewich were picking up tips after a visit from the Middlewich Clean Team in May. Hilary Jones and Carol Eccles of the Clean Team are pictured with youngsters from Tommy Thumbs Pre-School after taking time out of their busy schedule to visit all the town’s play groups and pre-schools. Youngsters were given an insight of the work of the Clean Team and taught the benefits of keeping their town tidy before trying out the litter pickers for themselves. 

Article reproduced by kind permission of the Middlewich Guardian.

A Lovely Card FromTommy Thumbs

Following our visit to Tommy Thumbs on 25th May 2011, the children made a "thank you" card for us. What a lovely surprise that was and we would like to say thanks to you too!

Tullochs Private Hire Sponsors MCT

"We are proud sponsors of the Middlewich Clean Team" - Tullochs Private Hire

Dave Tulloch has decided to sponsor MCT by providing equipmenet such a MCT high visibility vests and placing a prominent logo on his web site. We are grateful for this valuable assistance.

Dave business is a family run company based in Middlewich, Cheshire and offers a bespoke private car hire service designed to meet the needs of all customers. All of the drivers are courteous and professional at all times and qualified to NVQ level 2 standard in road passenger vehicle driving. If you would like to know more about Tullochs Private hire the you can visit their web site at www.tullochsprivatehire.co.uk or give the company a call on 01606 530770

Litter Pick - Nelson Family

The Nelson girls with some of the litter they collected.

Becca Nelson and her three daughters were keen get involved in litter picking with the Middlewich Clean Team and so they provided some child-sized litter pickers. Becca said, "The girls and I are really looking forward to getting involved with the clean team. We have a couple of litter pick sticks (adult size) and have been doing some litter picking along the canal for a little while. This will mean that the three girls don't have to take it in turns".

So, suitably equipped the very next day was a very busy one. Becca resumes here story, "The girls and I went out down King Street, the little green on New king Street and Harbutts Field today and collected about a big binbag's worth of litter. The girls were keen to go back again and collect some more tomorrow, as we only covered a bit of Harbutts Field before we were getting arm ache from carrying the bags (lots of glass bottles)". 

Well Becca and her children certainly set to it there and with such a large collection of litter, especially all those carelessly discarded bottles, she found there were some problems leading Becca tro ask, "Do members of the clean team who do a regular litter pick in the area where they live get any help with disposal of the litter? I'm just thinking it will take up quite a bit of space in our wheelybin, on top of the waste we produce at home (there are 5 of us!!). I know we could separate it out and recycle it but some of it is very dirty and a lot of the glass was broken so I'm not that keen". Indeed we do get a lot of help from the Streetscape Team, its now an established relationship that works very well. Commitee member Maxine Wrench explains, "As for glass bottles etc - yes its hard work to recycle & we do not actively do it unless we are picking in a group usually after an organised function such as the Bonfire Night at the Cricket Club. Most of our members use the green bags which you can get from Chisholm’s newsagents ( these are free & supplied by Cheshire East) just ask if you go in the shop. These can then be left by any public bin & they will be collected by the Streetscape Team. There is a bin by the Big Lock pub , but I admit in King Street I can’t think of any !! - but if you are picking on Harbutts field let me know & leave your bags in a pile by the gate & I’ll email Streetscape to collect on their rounds."

It's great to have Becca's family enthusiasm she and her family will be a great asset to MCT.

Recruits Sought to join Home Office's top 'Clean Team'

The Team's latest recruit, Jackie Andrew, with other members (Photo: Middlewich Guardian)

An army of volunteers who won a Home Office award for making a stand in the community is appealing for new recruits. Middlewich Clean Team is celebrating it's eighth year in the town and now has more than 100 members including Fiona Bruce, MP, but founder, Janet Chisholm, wants to encourage people who have recently moved to the area or not experienced the group, give it a try.

Volunteers meet twice a month on Saturday and Monday to pick litter, while others prefer to work on their own or with neighbours to look after their street."Some people just like to take pride in their own area," said Janet of Brooks Lane. "We feel that contributes highly to our success." But the Clean Team also keeps an eye on the town. They work with Cheshire East Council's Streetscape to report incidents like fly-tipping and have a partnership with the police as 'community crime fighters'. Six regular members also have St. John Ambulance First Aid training so they are prepared if they are first on the scene in an emergency.

Janet added:"Streetscape describes us as the eyes and ears of Middlewich. "This is a really positive group with the aim and desire to have a clean and tidy town - we feel we are winning the battle. "Friendships have grown over the years. It's very sociable. "One member has just had an operation and every day, he's walking and litter picking. So he's gaining two things - pride and the health benefits. We're always looking for new members and it doesn't have to take a lot of time - five minutes twice a week to keep your neighbourhood clean and tidy."

The group has already inspired new clean teams in Sandbach and Warrington, and volunteers will be speaking to Winsford Town Council in April. Janet Even met a man who wanted to set up a clean team in France. "If anyone wants to set up a clean team, we're happy to help." she said.

Volunteers also visit nurseries in Middlewich and regularly talk to the schools. Janet added: "It's nice to speak to people we've seen grow through the years into responsible citizens.

For information on how to join, call Janet on 836263 or visit our home page.

 

Article reproduced by kind permission of the Middlewich Guardian.

Middlewich High School Makes a Difference

Due to complaints from local residents living close to Beech Street in Middlewich concerning anti social behaviour & littering around Tesco Car Park, Middlewich High School decided to ‘make a difference’.

 

Middlewich High School are linked as a Community Partner to the Middlewich Clean Team and we have close links with the school. So this group of Youngsters along with the Headmaster Mr Martin Forster, Miss Capps and Mrs Guildford gave up part of their lunch break to pick litter after complaints from local residents. Twenty minutes later the area looked respectable again. 

The Clean Team appreciate that this does not necessarily mean that the problem will go away, but we feel that this is a positive step from the High School who I feel have reacted to public opinion in a very positive way.