Fantastic Community Work in Uppermill
Despite the spells of rather wet and windy weather this month, our Uppermill Community Action (UCAN) activity still went ahead as planned centred on clearing the carpet of many fallen leaves from the towpath alongside the canal in Uppermill.
While the colours of the huge display of the Autumn leaves looks just beautiful and amazing, as the weather conditions change bringing heavy rain, the leaves can become very slippery underfoot making it potentially dangerous for the many walkers using the towpath. Our leaf clearing work is, therefore, always a priority for us and cleaned as quickly as possible by working collectively and systematically along the area.
Clearing leaves can be quite a hard physical task and one which we revisit regularly throughout the autumn and winter months in an attempt to keep fresh batches of leaf drop under control. We use a variety of tools for this task including snow shovels which really aids the scooping up of the leaves from the pathway. As the leaves are all soaking wet they tend to stick to the path making it rather difficult to sweep them by just using brushes or rakes.
Once we have swept up the leaves, we use a variety of ways to pick them up but we mainly bring the leaves together into one or more piles which then makes picking up the leaves much easier and quicker. We then use the collected fallen leaves as habitat piles for the rich and varied local wildlife or saved as leafmould at the local allotments.
Future dates for your diaries if you would like to join us are Saturday 26th November and Thursday 8th December.
We usually meet at Spring Gardens, Moorgate Street [by the canal bridge], Uppermill at 10:00 AM but sometimes this varies so we will confirm this nearer to each of the above dates. As usual, all equipment will be provided by the Canal and River Trust (CRT). You are recommended to wear suitable clothing and stout footwear for the weather conditions on the day.
UCAN, supported by Canal and River Trust, was formed in late 2005 to improve and maintain the canal corridor through Uppermill and our excellent group of volunteers has achieved this receiving many compliments from members of the public in the process. We are also converting the former dredging tip near the viaduct into a woodland habitat and have added a pond to make it a haven for wildlife.
Our group leader, Peter Killan, has decided to stand down at the end of December and we now require some new blood with the enthusiasm to carry forward and complete these projects. One of our volunteers has already offered his services but will be unable to lead every one of the twice monthly sessions owing to work commitments. The role could quite easily be shared and we now need a further volunteer to come forward to ensure that the group carries on. It would be a great shame if it is not possible to continue the good work which we have done over the last seven years.
Anyone who would like to offer their services or discuss the role is invited to contact Peter on 01457 878361 or email peterkillan@hotmail.com
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
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