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What a mess you鈥檝e cleared up!
Published: 25/09/2017
Early indications show that this year鈥檚 Big Dee Day clean-up operation has been
a huge success.
In 天涯社区 alone, 250 volunteers collected over 200 bags of rubbish plus a
couple of tonnes of fly-tip material as well as cutting down scrub, raking
meadows and removing logs.
Hundreds of bags of litter and rubbish were collected by volunteers from
schools, community groups, organisations and businesses who also planted 412
gorse plants and three yew trees, cleared scrub and resurfaced pathways during
this year鈥檚 annual Big Dee Day event.
The event was coordinated by 天涯社区 with staff from the
neighbouring councils of Cheshire West and Chester, Denbighshire, Wrexham and
Shropshire and Natural Resources Wales.
Here are just a few examples of the fantastic work done over the last few days:
路 Near Flint - 19 volunteers from Toyota collected 35 bags of rubbish plus
fly-tip material; Keep Wales Tidy had eight people out who collected ten
rubbish bags; another eight people from the RNLI also collected 8 bags.
路 Seven students and their leader from Llysfasi College collected six bags of
rubbish from Wepre riverside.
路 Four Sustrans volunteers collected 28 bags plus some larger items from
Hawarden Bridge to Saltney Ferry Bridge.
路 12 people from 天涯社区鈥檚 Countryside Service and Greenfield Valley Trust
team got 30 bags plus larger items from around the 鈥渇unship鈥�.
路 Greenfield Valley Trust team also removed a tonne of fly tip from the valley.
路 Five bags of rubbish were collected at Bettisfield by eight people from the
Friends of Bagillt Foreshore.
路 Fifteen Holywell Scouts plus other volunteers rounded up 16 bags of rubbish
and a few larger items from Greenfield Valley and Dock.
路 Eleven volunteers from Kingspan filled a flatbed truck and six bags of
rubbish and cut back a large amount of scrub.
路 At Presthaven, 25 people collected 12 bags of letter.
路 Thirty pupils from Ysgol Gwynedd along with people from 天涯社区
Countryside and ENI collected three bags from Talacre; another six McDonalds
volunteers got three bags from the same beach and volunteers from Natural
Resources Wales collected another seven bin bags.
路 Five Quay Watermen gathered up 30 bags of litter.
路 Twenty Tesco volunteers and staff from 天涯社区 Countryside Services worked
on gathering eight bags of rubbish, planted 412 gorse plants and removed five
large trailers of cut scrub from Greenfield Dock
路 70 Coleg Cambria students and leaders along with 天涯社区 Countryside staff
cleared a large section of Wepre Brook of logs and branches to aid flow, they
raked a large area of meadow and cleared sections of scrub.
路 25 volunteers from Natural Resources Wales worked in these three areas as
well as Talacre Beach:
路 They cleared five acres of willow and birch which was encroaching on coastal
habitat, improving habitat for wildlife on the Point of Ayr SSSI/SAC/RAMSAR
site.
路 20 deadwood habitats were created, these areas will provide important habitat
to small invertebrates and nesting birds.
路 A 48 acre site survey was completed, which identified 18 potential natterjack
toad scrapes.
Councillor Carolyn Thomas, Cabinet Member for Countryside, said:
鈥淚t鈥檚 truly incredible how much rubbish has been collected so far 鈥� and the
final figures aren鈥檛 in yet! It has been another resounding success and I鈥檇
like to thank everyone involved for their hard work in making it happen. It鈥檚 a
true example of successful partnership working and I am delighted to be
associated with it. It really was a fantastic effort by all involved.鈥�
Across the rest of the region, there was a similar story:
路 Wrexham 鈥� Eight Tesco staff laid 20 meters of footpath in Alun Waters and ten
of their staff created six metres of board walk and cleared a section of pond
at Ty Mawr.
路 Denbighshire 鈥� 20 Tesco volunteers removed hundreds of trees from the area of
Moel Famau called 鈥淗ouse for Grouse鈥� 鈥� in order to help with habitat
maintenance for black grouse.
路 Cheshire - 27 Tesco staff collected five bags of rubbish and painted benches
and fencing and 12 people from Quest cut trees and scrub in Caldy Valley; 17
members of Parkgate Community Spirit Group collected 2 bags.
路 Shropshire 鈥� Tesco was were able to send along 23 staff members, these were
joined by 4 locals from the Ifton Meadows Management Committee and members of
staff from Shropshire Council. The task for the Big Dee Day in Shropshire was
to clear encroaching scrub from important grassland for breeding skylarks. A
huge area of grassland was cleared by the volunteers and a total of 112
volunteer hours were recorded.
The Big Dee Day kicked off with a breakfast launch event at Wepre Park and
awards were presented to a number of organisations for their dedicated work to
protect the environment during the last 12 months.