WATER WEEKEND
The Mersey Basin Trust would like you to "jump in at the deep end" for the
Mersey Basin Weekend. It runs from Friday, October 6th to Monday, October 9th.
The Mersey Basin weekend is about promoting and improving the water environment in the
Mersey Basin. What you need to do is organise an activity or event to get people involved
and interested in this worthwhile cause. Previous events have included - Schools River
Studies, Cleanups, River Walks, Wildlife Gardens and School; Water Fundays. The weekend's
events are as much a celebration of water as an efficient way to help our water
environment so don't be "shallow" get busy!
Grants of up to £100 can be requested by schools and groups who organise an event. These
can be used to cover the costs of skip hire, materials, transport, publicity etc. In other
words you have no excuse for not having a go!
There will be a calendar of events in the Campaigner magazine in mid - September. You can
also request a publicity pack to help you promote your event. For more information contact
Nick Fraser on 0161 228 6924 or mersey.weekend@ntlworld.com
PICTURE BROOK
How would you like to have your photographs included in a book about our region's rivers
and canals? The Mersey Basin Campaign to clean up the River Mersey is building up a
photographic archive to support a series of these books and they would be very grateful
for any relevant photographs that you could give them. There is scope for a wide variety
of pictures as the books would need a balance between history or natural history and also
colour and archive images. Photos from as far as the Wirral to Derbyshire, East Lancashire
and West Lancashire are welcome. All images will be copied and returned with all help
given fully acknowledgement. For more information contact Ron Freethy, Communications
Director, Mersey Basin Campain, 28th floor, Sunley Tower, Piccadilly Plaza, Manchester M1
4BT tel: 0161 242 8200
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LIFE'S A BEACH (AND THEN YOU SAVE ONE)
Picture the scene - Dolphins and rare basking sharks are caught up in discarded drift
nets, sewage and oil is destroying beautiful reefs, turtles and seals are choking on
plastics and litter. This isn't the Great Barrier Reef or the cost of Florida but here in
Great Britain. Our beaches are among the most polluted and dirtiest in Europe. The fact
that Britain is a small island means that you are never far from a beach yet we as a
nation seem to take our coastal areas for granted. Well wake up and smell the sea breeze.
The wildlife around our cost is as good as anywhere in the world and it is being destroyed
thanks to peoples litter, fishing nets etc.
The Marine Conservation Society wants to do something about this problem which is why they
want you to participate in this years Beachwatch survey on September 16th and 17th. The
aim of Beachwatch is to record the amounts and types of rubbish on our beaches and decide
what action will reduce it. This is a tried and tested method and it has had significant
effects in the past. The basking shark has been protected and the manufactures of cotton
bud sticks were urged to display a "Bag It and Bin It" message on all packaging.
Both were due to previous Beachwatch surveys so register your support now and give our
beaches the respect they deserve. You can also adopt a beach and make your commitment a
year round one if you wish.
For more information contact MCS, Beachwatch 2000, 9 Glocester Road, Ross - on - Wye,
Herefordshire, HR9 5BU Tel 01989 762064, Fax 01989 567815 e - mail beachwatch@mcsuk.org.
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| YEAR OF THE CAT
Britain's (and one of the world's) largest and most important eco centres is celebrating
its 25th birthday! Few people would have taken the young idealists and their vision of a
living community to test the emerging alternative technologies seriously when they started
back in the early 70s but The Centre For Alternative Technology now attracts around 90,
000 visitors a year.
The Centre for Alternative Technology has to be given credit when you look at its
achievements; the biggest solar powered roof in Britain, their own organic garden, wind
powered machines etc means that the twenty or so on site residents put their money where
their mouth is and are a living breathing alternative technology community!!! All that and
we haven't even mentioned the main visitor attractions! Features such as a water powered
cliff railway, transport maze, a human size mole hole, wildlife garden, and electric
vehicles make The Centre For Alternative Technology one of the most unique and not to
mention enlightening days out you could possibly have.
Almost unbelievably the people at the Centre For Alternative Technology have achieved
their impossible dream and are also educating the public at the same time. They show that
a green society would be possible if everyone wanted it as much as them. Who knows what
will be achieved in the next 25 years?
The Centre For Alternative Technology is open daily between 10 am to 5 pm and is situated
at Llwyngwern Quarry, Machynlleth, Powys, Wales. For all general enquiries telephone Lena
Derby or Rick Dance on 01654 702782
As part of their 25th anniversary celebrations The Centre For Alternative Technology has a
Festival of the Future during 2000 and is also taking part in the ourplan - it.com
exhibition at the Liverpool Museum. This is an exciting local event that is full to the
rafters with ideas and features designed to help everybody and our plant.
Admission is only £3 to get in and free if you are under 16 or over 60 so can you
afford to miss it? For more information call 0151 478 4399 Liverpool Museum, William Brown
Street. www.nmgm.org.uk
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Fishy Business Thousands
of fish have been killed in two North west rivers recently. Public attention was first
alerted when a mystery chemical killed 10,000 fish of various species in the River Dee
including sea trout, freshwater trout, salmon, barbel, eels, roach, chub, pike and
hundreds of minnows. Then, news broke that two days prior to the river Dee incident the
river Irwell in Warrington became polluted and 36,000 fish were killed including brown
trout, stoneloach, bullheads, minnows and sticklebacks.
The alarm was first raised by a farmer in the Bangor-on-Dee area on 29th Jul and by the
next day dead fish were found in the Eccleston Ferry area of Chester and also down towards
the Sandy Lane area in Huntington. North west Water have said that there is no danger to
drinking water but the water outlets at Huntington and Poulton were closed off. As the
pollution reached Chester signs and barricades were put up and Cheshire Police confirmed
that it was one of the worst pollution to hit the River Dee.
Ten days later as scientists were still unsure what the colourless and odourless pollutant
was the River Irwell was also reported to be polluted. Naturally the theory that the two
incidents were connected was put forward and the latest idea is that a factory that was
illegally dumping waste could be responsible.
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