Graffiti Has It's Place

Graffiti on graffiti, it had to go. Photo: Darren Ketley

Graffiti messages painted on canal walls around Middlewich must leave an impression on those that see them. The message itself may be pleasant enough but it's untidy and does not belong on canal bridges and adjoining walls.

In one particular case at Town Wharf Bridge the message itself had come under attack and had black wavy lines sprayed over the top making it even more of an eyesore, so it had to go. 

The difference speaks for itself. Photo: Darren Ketley

Clean Team members turned out with paint and rollers to return the walls to the state the should be in. The impression we hope to acheive is of a town that is clean, tidy and takes pride in it's appearance.

Chairperson Janet Chisholm said afterwards, "Seven members came along on the frosty dry Saturday morning to remove the ugly graffiti which has been blighting our canal area surrounding the Town Wharf.  The reward - a lovely tidy litter and graffiti free area  for all our community to enjoy." Janet added, "Thanks ever so much to everyone who helped."

Cigarette Butts - More Good News

Photo: Middlewich Guardian

Recent figures show huge falls in cigarette litter in the town. The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and Japan Tobacco International (JTI) joined forces with the Middlewich Clean Team last February and placed 34 cigarette butt bins around the town, including various pubs, clubs and the town hall.  The aim was to make Middlewich a nicer place to be by dramatically reducing Middlewich's contrubtion to the approximate 5 tonnes of smoking-related litter discarded every day in the UK.

Success came quickly and last July we reported a drop by half of smoking related litter and the latest news is that there is now a reduction of 71 per cent from when the bins were installed. These statistics come from Keep Britain Tidy, commissioned to monitor the progress of the project and show that the amount of smoking related litter has continued to fall. Stephen Dent, vice chairman of the Middlewich Clean Team, said: “This result is much better than anticipated and heralds the way for similar projects to take place up and down the UK. The Clean Team is used to working in partnership with other organisations but the team work with CPRE, JTI, and Middlewich Pubwatch has been exceptional and has produced outstanding results.” 

Samantha Harding, Stop the Drop campaign manager at the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: “This is precisely the result we hoped to see. People often respond well to new things but to see Middlewich’s residents reducing cigarette litter even further during 2014 is really inspiring. All I can say is please keep up the good work.”

2015 Nursery Visits

Photo: Middlewich Guardian

Members Hilary Jones and Polly Chalk together with Clean Team Chairperson Janet Chisholm visited five nurseries in Middlewich on 27th January to teach the toddlers to put their litter in the bin.

They visited Playbox Playgroup, Peter Pan Pre-School, Rainbow Day Nursery, Tommy Thumbs and Early Learners Nursery during the annual Middlewich Clean Team nursery visits which have now been running for 7 years.


The team chatted with the children about the importance of putting litter in the bin and how Middlewich Clean Team try to encourage everybody to be litter conscious. The children then tried using junior sized 'crocodile' litter pickers for themselves.


Hilary said: “We were welcomed and we talked to the children about the importance of putting litter in the bin. The idea is to sow the seed that litter belongs in a bin and not on the ground and to encourage young ones to do so hopefully forever.”

Heather Blakemore, from Early Learners Nursery, said: “The children really enjoyed the message from the Middlewich Clean Team. I think it will make a difference with them and we will definitely do our best to reinforce the message along with the children’s parents.”

New Look For MCT Website

Our previous website has served well

The Middlewich Clean Team will be using this website from March 2015 onwards. At first it will contain quite a number of links back to the previous site which even after 7 years still serves well but does not easily permit multiple authors; this modified blog will.

As time goes by the links to previous site will be severed and this new site will take over completely.



There will not be any change in our web address, so www.middlewichcleanteam.co.uk at the time of writing points to our previous website but when the changover takes place it will bring visitors to this site instead. There will be no need to change any addresses or links.