All these volunteering events are free.

If you haven’t joined us before, we would appreciate it if you could phone or email if you wish to take part.

email: cecillymill@btinternet.com        Phone: Anne Beardmore 07748528354

Litter Pick Dates:

These are on the 3^rd Sunday of the month for 1 hour duration.

Meeting on S Moorlands Leisure Centre main car park off Ashbourne Rd.(10am)

October 20^th: November 17^th: December 15^th: 2025 January 19^th: February 16^th:

March 16th

Water Quality Testing:

Takes place at the beginning of each month. Dates tbc

Other Events:

Meet on S. Moorlands Leisure Centre car park off Ashbourne Rd at 10am unless otherwise stated

October

Hay raking on Thorley Drive Meadows

Thursday 3^rd October (from 10am all day)

Reserve dates Thursday 10^th October & Thursday 17^th October.

Riverfly survey Friday 4^th October (10am)

Fencing at Hales Hall Pool-Thursday 24^th October (10am meet at Hales Hall Pool car park)

November

Path Edging

Wednesday 13^th November (2pm),

Thursday 21^st November

Wednesday 27^th November (2pm)

December

Leaf Blowing & path Edging Thursday 5^th December

Bramble Control Thursday 19^th December

January 2025

Hedge Laying Thursday 9^th January & Friday 10^th January

Next Meeting at Thorley Drive Pavilion

Thursday evening 16^th January @7.30pm

Social at Hales Hall Grosvenor restaurant

Friday 17^th January 11am (numbers attending will be required nearer to the day)

Another successful Bat & Moth Evening for 2024 despite the stormy conditions of the night before. 30 adults & 5 children attended from a wide area which included Uttoxeter, Marchington & Stafford as well as more locally from Cheadle.

Moth trapping the previous night meant we had some live specimens to look at. There followed a short talk about moths & our light trap was set up which attracted more moths on the night.

Mark from SWT then gave a short talk on bats before issuing bat detectors & leading an evening walk along the Brook path towards Mill Rd footbridge listening in to Pipestrelle bats foraging among the trees & along the Brook.

Lots of positive comments were received. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the evening. Thanks to all the volunteers who turned out to help & support.

We continue to monitor water quality once a month at Cecilly Brook. The results generally show that the brook has a good or very good ecological status. Phosphate levels are always low, but nitrate levels vary recording higher levels in certain months especially after heavy rain.

Over the last year 43 bags of litter have been removed from and around Cecilly Brook, mainly plastic in the form of drinks bottles and snack packaging, glass bottles and cans. We have also removed larger items from the brook itself including shopping trolleys, bicycle wheels, metal poles and a children’s scooter.

Cubs from 2nd Cheadle Scout Group presented one of the bat boxes they had made to Friends of Cecilly Brook for putting up on the reserve, when they attended the very successful Bat and Moth Evening Adventure in August. 50 people attended the evening, both adults and children. We were able to show them different species of moths that had been caught in the light trap and we listened to Pipistrelle bats’ echo locations on our walk along the brook.

The pictures below show the Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) next to the road bridge at Oakamoor Road. CSOs carry away both sewage from homes and storm water from drains and roads. They are a safety valve to release pressure when large volumes of water enter the sewers, for example during a heavy storm. The excess water enters into watercourses to prevent flooding of homes and buildings.

This first picture shows all the wet wipes on the grid of the CSO. These have made their way into the sewerage system having been flushed down toilets. Many also get into Cecilly Brook or get attached to overhanging branches. Not all wipes labelled flushable and biodegradable disintegrate once flushed. They can take 500 years to decompose as some contain plastic resins and so pose a risk to local wildlife and the environment.

A big thank you to the Severn Trent River Rangers who removed all the wipes and cleaned up around the overflow after the Friends of Cecilly Brook and Hales Hall Pool met up with Senior River Ranger Stuart Hill. As this picture shows they did a really great job.

Please only flush the 3Ps – Poo, Pee, Paper – so we don’t have this problem again in the future.