Wales National Coastal Path Pre-opening Spring Clean Up 27-29 April

To celebrate the opening of the Welsh National Coastal Path, Keep Wales Tidy will be helping to organise a series of events across its length with as many groups as possible. Events will occur from Friday 27th April to Sunday 29th of April. So far we have Cardiff Rivers Group, Cardiff Trail Scrubs, Atlantic Wharf Residents' Association (Sun 10am), Cardiff Friday Mornings Environmental Project (27th at 10am) planning events and anyone is welcome to join in. To help you here is a map of the route through Cardiff courtesy of CCW. Links to events and division of event sites will be shown later.

See bigger picture here. To find out more, contact Chris Partridge on chris.partridge@keepwalestidy.org or 07717 412 270. 

17.02.12 CFMEP blitz with Greenbay Pickers followed by nest box making

CFMEP headed over to Green Bay Road in Splott to help the Greenbay Pickers clear another section of the greenspace behind their houses. We have tackled this a couple of times with local residents (Green Bay Pickers) with help from Splott C1st and myself (flic.kr/s/aHsjy7pVda).

View Fri 19.02.12 CFMEP blitz with the Greenbay Pickers. in a larger map

The guys worked unbelievably hard when faced with a breathtaking volume of litter and blatant fly tipping. I was extremely proud of what these guys do week in and out, giving up their time, often in terrible conditions in areas miles away from where they live.

Sue Before and Julie After

On the tipper

Towards the end, 11 local children, litterpicked a corner of the street collecting over 190 pieces of litter and filling 2 bags on their own.

The same guys with Nia from Splott C1st sat down and we made 3 bird nest boxes which will be painted with the children’s designs on Monday. This was part of National Nest Box Week.

Later the load was removed by a team from enforcement, organised through C1st.

We've worked hard to make a sustainable difference behind Greenbay Road and I reckon this extra litterpick with the nest box sessions can significantly add to the great work undertaken here.

For any more info or if you'd like to do something similar yourself call Chris Partridge on 07717 412 270 or chris.partridge@keepwalestidy.org

Give As You Live

There's a great new way to help us, Keep Wales Tidy, to continue our work across Wales without even raising a litterpicker, billhook or axe. In fact, you can do it while online shopping from your armchair!!!

With Give as you Live, thousands of brands including Amazon, Tesco, John Lewis and Expedia have signed up to donate a percentage of your online purchases to KWT. It costs you nothing, the prices are exactly the same and it helps raise much needed funds for KWT every time you shop online.....and, we have just been offered a great new deal!
If we can sign up just 25 new shoppers before 31st March 2012, then we could raise an additional £3,000!

For every £10 you spend online, Give as you Live will donate an additional £5 to KWT, so please help us continue our invaluable work with volunteers around Wales by downloading this application and just shop as normal.
www.giveasyoulive.com/join/keepwalestidy

It is as easy as downloading the software, register with Give As You Live and shop as usual. The payments are still through the online firm e.g. Amazon.

As many of you know I'm a scientist (professionally qualified cynic) so I did it this morning, downloaded the software, registered my email address then went to Amazon, clicked the GAYL icon activating it then ordering a £130 pond liner and raised £3.90 for KWT costing me nothing, Amazing really. That is a 1/3rd of a litter hoop or a quarter of a litterpicker for doing absolutely nothing. Give it a go!!!

Cardiff Rivers Group tidy up Brynfedw Woods Sunday 22nd May

Cardiff Rivers Group branched out this blustery Sunday into a blocked and stagnant woodland stream and littered Brynfedw Woods in Llanedeyrn. The eight volunteers, including 2 new recruits, continued on from recent Friday Morning Project efforts and cleared large sections of this woodland of litter and flytipping.

The group met at 10 am in blustery conditions and were cautioned about falling branches and nesting birds before heading off into the woods. As per instructions most turned up in wellies and headed into the blocked stream.

Map of site:

View Cardiff Rivers Group 22.05.11 10am-12.30 in a larger map

There were a very large number of unusual items including a sofa, bits of beds, advertising boards, a trike with only 2-wheels (a wobbly bike?), bits of cars, motorbikes, scooters, a shopping trolley frame, loads of blue post office delivery bags, loads of carpets, reg plates and a pram...



Altogether, the group in a couple of hours collected 27 rubbish bags, 3 recycling bags and about 1/2 tonne of other rubbish.

Tidy Up around Fairwater Leisure Centre Saturday 26th March 10-1pm

This Saturday, in partnership with Cardiff Parks Department, Cardiff Rivers Group, Fairwater Communities First and Goodies in Hoodies, we are planning to clean out the stream alongside the Leisure Centre as well as the tramway on the other side. The latter will involve some habitat work on some of the trees which were damaged during the winter.

On a site visit there it was very encouraging to see the following sight:

...so if this was an individual or a collective, nice one.

All tools will be provided for the event and we will hopefully have some soup afterwards. The meeting point is the Leisure Centre Car Park:


View Sat 26th March 2011 Fairwater stream and Lane in a larger map

19-20.03.11 Continuing the Hedge in Old St. Mellons

We continued the Hedgelaying in Old St. Mellons over Saturday and Sunday making great progress. This time we had eight volunteers with an age range from 6 - Nanny.

We'd almost left the hardest part of the hedge until last with two massive hazel stools about three foot apart which were almost pollard hedgelayed the last time the hedge was managed. Much handsawing was done to tackle this and sore forearms were widely reported the day afterwards. We were very pleased with the amount of work completed and we think we will finish the hedge in two short sessions time.

There was lots of local interest in what we were doing with lots of kind compliments offers of help on litterpicks and worries about the levels of dog fouling on the site.

18.03.11 Continuing along the St. Mellons Tesco path

The rain on Friday failed to extinguish the determination of the eight volunteers in St. Mellons continuing along the path to Tesco's in St. Mellons.

We had volunteers from the Cardiff Rivers Group, LS Healthcare and three from Black Horse's Time2Care scheme.

Altogether we collected 20 bags of rubbish, a rugby ball, a bong and one hypodermic needle and syringe.

The section we had cleared last week accumulated an unusually large collection of scrunched up lottery tickets, all recyclable!!



We need to return at least one more time to clear the very last section, but this is hidden amongst the brambles and thorns.

11.03.11 Volunteers Tackle a litterstrewn Cath Cobb Woods in St. Mellons

Four Volunteers braved a shocking volume of litter in one of Cardiff's most beautiful woodlands. In a few hours we collected 34 bags of litter including 18 bags of recycling, a scaffolding pole, a pram, two scooters, and hundreds of Tescos carrier bags. Its probably a good thing that they will cost 7p soon and hopefully people will swap to bags for life. However, there was also masses of food wrappers, VHS tapes(?) and at least 40 dog poo bags (full) which were just thrown into these woods from the adjacent path.

We picked a decent area, but there is still plenty more to do and we plan to tackle the same area again this Friday, hoping to finish this area in support of the Cath Cobb Environmental Group who have done so many good things over the years in these woods.

Moreover, we hope to kickstart a wider plan to perform litterpicks on a more regular basis with the various groups and volunteers around St. Mellons.

09.03.11 Fast food giants get tidying

Ten representatives from McDonald’s restaurants across the city put down their tongs and burgers and helped lay a new footpath in Grangemoor Park, just outside of Grangetown. They were supervised by Chris Partridge from Keep Wales Tidy and Community Park Rangers Alec and Raj who manage this beautiful open space.

The volunteers were greeted by a large pile of spent slag stone, several wheelbarrows, shovels, spades and mattocks. Following a short safety briefing the volunteers went to work on flattening out the line of the footpath. While this was occurring, a conveyor belt of activity shoveled the path material into barrows which was transported to the end of the new path which was dropped off, then raked by the next group of workers.

All involved were very tired when they finished the path 3-hours later. In the near future, the Rangers aim to incorporate this path into an interpretation trail for the benefit of visitors and school children who will learn about this young, but very striking and increasingly important site.

James, one of the store managers said, “It is an excellent feeling for large organizations to help to give back to the community.”

For more information call Chris Partridge on 07717 412 270 or chris.partridge@keepwalestidy.org.

07.03.11 St. Mellons Community Education Centre Regeneration

The last part of the regeneration of the area outside the Community Education Centre in St. Mellons was completed last night with members of the Arts and Crafts After-school Club, St. Mellons Over 50's group and the St. Mellons Community Choir who also meet at the Education Centre. Most of the trees had already been planted on site by the Parks Department, and we removed the pots, filled in the holes with soil and gave the trees a good watering to help them on their way. The cherry trees already had signs of blossom.



Many local residents have complimented how clean the new site looks and that it doesn't look like a litter dump anymore. All we have to do is make sure dog owners clear up after their dogs now!!

04.03.11 Cardiff Friday Morning Project Grangemoor Park Willow Pollarding

Today we went to Grangemoor Park on a most glorious sunny day under the watchful care of Community Park Rangers Alec and Raj. The fantastic, clear sunny weather made a much welcome contrast from the previous week's acer removal in Hailey Park where the camera was washed out in the rain (not worth blogging about as the pictures were rubbish).

The four volunteers, Raj and Alec and myself pollarded some of the willows on this fantastic site and were encouraged by the skylarks beautiful song while flying in the sky (I don't know how they got their name). These birds are one of the reasons why this site is so special and that we hope to get as many volunteers as possible at the end of summer to rake off another potential nest sites in time for next year; a perfect day for volunteering.

03.03.11 St Philip Evans Primary School Coppicing in Church Wood

10 pupils from St. Philip Evans RC Primary School finished off the coppicing for this year in Chapel Wood. This work started with the Cardiff Friday Morning Project, was then added to by BT apprentices and now completed by this eager group of learners.

we started off talking about the habitat, why it is potentially brilliant for dormice and that the work hasn't been performed here for over 20 years. The overall aim was to rejuvinate this fantastic hazel coppice for the benefit of wildlife and local people.



There are currently no Friends of Groups operating in the area, but hopefully, this work may kick start something exciting off.

23.02.11 Riverside Community Allotments Clear Out

Riverside Community Allotments performed a tremendous clean up today of the allotments removing over 3 tonnes of rubbish. This was performed in partnership with Keep Wales Tidy and was removed by Park's Waste Services.

Some of this had built up over the years and the Allotments group decided enough was enough and took action. Eight volunteers took part and the whole place was transformed. Many of the pictures below have been reproduced with permission from Jenny of the Allotments Project.

Hawthorn Junior School Tidy Up, Llandaff North

Nine volunteers, donned their gloves and tooled-up with litter pickers, spades, brushes, loppers and saws and set to the grounds of Hawthorn Junior School.

The event was organised by Llandaff North Residents Association in partnership with Keep Wales Tidy and Cardiff County Council.

Initially, the job looked quite easy, but after we scraped out weeds from cracks, cut down and loppered up buddleia which were set into the many walls, scraped up moss and bagged up plenty of litter including dumped bags of used nappies we were quite knackered. Three hours later, we had ammassed 40 bags of rubbish and green waste.

However, there is still more to do and we will return at some point in April (TBA) to properly finish off the last few parts.

For more information visit Llandaff North Residents' Association here.

18.02.11 Cardiff Friday Mornings Project: Pentwyn Woodland Access Work

Today, 6 volunteers turned out at last minute notice to continue the path widening exercise which we had started on 2-previous occassions. Today we focused just on the path widening which involved coppicing and bramble bashing to make sure we didn't affect the impending bird nesting season.

This time we used loppers, shears, secateurs and saws to widen the path to allow Land Rover access for the tree team. We were a little saddened to see some fresh fly tipping in the woods (including a Christmas tree), but not on the scale we witnessed on our first trip here. It was nice to see the signs of spring with the floor much greener than on previous trips and some of the buds were showing signs of green. Now the widening and associated tree work has finished on this side, we will be able to continue on the litter removal side in the coming months.


View 18.02.11 Woods in Pentwyn in a larger map

Map of path widening.



Just 2 photos today!!

11.02.11 Cardiff Friday Mornings Project Coppice willow on Grangemoor Park

Five volunteers braved this early rain threatening day in Grangemoor Park and were rewarded with a fantastic days coppicing of willow in the sunshine. The early layers were quickly removed as we set to some of the willow along one of the ditches in this fantastic and tranquil green open space asset.

Altogether we worked for a bout 2 hours and partially cleared a stretch of about 50 metres in length. We left some of the trees intact to allow some dappled shade along these seasonal wet areas. All the brash was stacked along the adjacent fenceline in a light dead hedge. There were definate signs of spring in some of the early flowering willow hybrids as the sap could be seen glistening from some of the coppiced stumps.

Ranger Alec will hopefully recover from his incapacity soon and we'll be able to run another event here before the bird nesting season.

Anyone can come along to Cardiff Friday Morning Project activities, but we like to know in advance so we can bring along enough tools.

The next event will be hedgelaying on the 18th of February and the site will be shown on the blog soon.

St. Mellons Skate Park Sweep Up with the Arts and Crafts After School Club

St. Mellons Saints, who are assisted by St. Mellons & Trowbridge Communities First identified the skate park behind the Community and Education Center in St. Mellons as a site for an environmental project. Here, bottles are often smashed and litter collects which makes the area unsafe and unsightly.

Skillfully, the Saints delegated this action to the after school Arts and Craft Club who meet in the aforementioned centre. Enthusiastically, this youth club picked up the mantle and lapped up this responsibility to help look after their community’s communal area. Keep Wales Tidy were asked to come in and assist in this tidy up. Eight brand new brushes were assembled by the children (aged 8-12) and they set to the whole skate park. Moreover, the nearby area was also subjected to a mini-litterpick. The children swept up all the broken glass safely disposing it into glass bags, never using their fingers, but sweeping it onto a shovel. The children then suggested that we do another litter pick very soon concentrating on the adjacent stream which was described as “stinking”.

Several parents watched us at work and were very impressed. Following the clean up a couple of spokespersons from the group prepared written statements on the event (direct quotes):

Chloe B said, “It could make the world safer Because therr will be no more glass or rubbish and it will be safer for anmails in the wild”.

Chloe D added, “I will make the world better when people would stop throwing rubbish on the floor and drunk people would stop throwing glass on the floor. so it wont hurt people”.

Chris Partridge from Keep Wales Tidy reinforced this by adding “We hope that the sight of children taking a stand and active interest in the quality of the environment around them would help to convince others that dropping litter is wrong and isn’t wanted or needed in St. Mellons, or anywhere else for that matter”. Further litter picks will be organised and advertised in the Community and Education Centre and here on this blog on http://cardiffkeepwalestidy.blogspot.com

Glan Morfa Eco Club and South Splott Residents Association Moorland Park graffiti cleanup and litter pick

Moorland Park February 2011

Participants: Chris Partridge(Keep Wales Tidy), Rhiannon Simms, Anthony Simms, Rhys Palmer, Debbie Gray, Karen Dummett (observer) , Mrs. Thomas (Head Teacher) and most importantly Glan Morfa Eco Club.

The activity began with a Health and Safety discussion by Chris (Tidy Towns Officer) explaining to the children why they only pick litter up with litter pickups and the reasons behind clearing the graffiti. He then talked to the children about the graffiti clean up kits, how they work, why we should wear gloves, old clothes, tabards and why the solutions don’t work so well when we add water to it. It was then explained that we need to wash the equipment using water from our watering cans and that the chemicals were all biodegradable.

We then left the School and headed towards the Library Garden.
Graffiti makes people think that the community is unconcerned about its appearance and this can affect Ysgol Glan Morfa as the children use this Park on a daily basis during school time and in their spare time. It was therefore included by the children as part of their School ground audit, which will be a step towards becoming an Eco School, a campaign run by Keep Wales Tidy. Data shows if we can remove the graffiti within 24-48hrs it discourages it reoccurring and therefore gives the children a sense of ownership and pride.

All the children had been told to wear old clothes, were given a tabard and wore protective gloves throughout the event, the gloves were often replaced 3 or 4 times at the request of individual children!! The 14 Eco warriors were then split into groups of 3-4 with one adult to help and supervise during the activity.

Chris then gave out the anti graffiti wet wipes and we were all told to rub the paint off. We soon found we had to rub quite hard, which made us need a couple of pairs of gloves. He then gave four children protective eye goggles to wear in order to ensure that no chemical would have an adverse effect on the children's eyes before using a spray bottle of graffiti removal solution which helped to remove all traces of the graffiti. Water was then poured over the surface and the equipment was wiped dry.

The children had a great time and 3-letters of thanks have been sent already to the school by local residents as a result of this work.

09.02.11 Woodland tidy up and coppice in Chapel Wood

Fourteen apprentices from BT were supported by 2 supervisors and 1 manager in clearing rubbish followed by coppicing of hazel stools from Chapel Wood, Cardiff. They were supervised throughout by Chris Partridge from Keep Wales Tidy.
We visited and performed some coppicing here in January as a Cardiff Friday Mornings Project. One thing we noticed was how stinking this woodland was with rubbish. Hopefully the pictures here (before the litterpick) demonstrate this. The aim was walways to return here, perform more coppicing, but importantly remove as much of the rubbish as possible.
Altogether we removed 30 bags of recycling and 5 normal rubbish bags. This clearly demonstrates how wasteful we are in parts of our society. Moreover, we collected about 1/ tonne of other larger pieces of material including 2 chairs, 1 burned out cigarette machine, 1 tv, various pieces of plastic and scrap metal, 2 cones, 1 football, 1 rugby ball and 2 golf clubs. All of this waste was taken away by Cardiff Council Parks Services.

Following this, the group learned about coppicing, its history, its importance for wildlife (especially dormice) and how to perform the coppicing safely and carefully to give the plant a good start to its latest rejuvination. A local resident told us that the last time the hazel was cut was 30 years ago!!! We then processed the wood into stakes and binders for hedgelaying and the top brash was cut or pea sticks to be used in Bute Park.
The team were fantastic and even created a novel way of mass transporting the hazel to the pick up site.



Well done and a credit to BT. Hopefully with the really hard work done, it may be possible to raise interest in a local group to help manage this true gem in Cardiff.
For more information call Chris Partridge on 07717 412 270 or chris.partridge@keepwalestidy.org.

04.02.11 Cardiff Friday Mornings Project Volunteers Tackle Woodland in Pentwyn

Map

Today, 5 volunteers from LS Healthcare and Cardiff Rivers Group in partnership with Keep wales Tidy and Cardiff CC's Park's Department took over from work carried on in this wood with volunteers from Barclaycard before Christmas.

The aim is to improve access for the Woodland Rangers by widening the internal path.



This also makes it easier to extract the rubbish which was mostly domestic flytipping. Items removed included; vacuum cleaners, car parts, broken skateboards, a tv stand, plastic sheeting, scrap metal, a football and a broken toddlers bike. Alongside this we collected 19 bags of rubbish...Not bad for a Friday morning's work.



Next week (Fri 11th Feb) we are in Grangemoor Park, working with Community Park Ranger Alec to lay a footpath. For more information call Chris on 07717 412 270 or chris.partridge@keepwalestidy.org