Updates
Hello - Another update and thank you again for your patience. Our lovely band of volunteers have been back on site recently and have managed to plant more hedging whips, remove overgrowth from around the seating area and clear the many acorns and some of leaves off the pathway. The group varies in size and members for each visit, depending upon what other sites they are visiting around the County. We are so grateful for all of their continued support and I hope that you agree that they have done a magnificent job in helping us to refurbish the Millennium Green. The team always welcome a quick chat if you're walking through and so why not stop and say hello next time they are with us. However, with wintery weather on the horizon their next visit will not be until March 2026, when we will have the arrival of the spring bulbs which were planted out this year. Sadly, as more people use the MG whether to sit and have their lunch, or walk through to get away from the busy road, the amount of litter has increased. The attached photo is just one bag full that was collected on their last visit and the volunteers now allocate one of their team simply to do that for us, which is such a shame. We all miss Keith so much and the work he did for the village, so we should all honour him by taking away our own rubbish to dispose of at home. The Parish council has looked into funding a rubbish bin, but unfortunately they come at quite a cost, however, that will be kept under review. Meanwhile a contractor has been arranged to refurbish the boundary fencing between the Green and the paddock. The horses really are lovely to see, but again please do not attempt to feed them. Thank you.
Hello everyone, once again it has been a while since our last update, but work does continue behind the scenes in order to get the Millennium Green project completed. We are almost there, but recognise that it has taken longer than expected to fully complete the tasks and unfortunately as many of you are aware, there have been some challenges along the way. However, let's look at what we have achieved with your kind donations. As promised, the main gate has been widened and the gate hooks changed to allow ease of access, the new pathway has been laid from gate to gate, the bridge repaired and renewed , the dangerous boundary fencing to the roadway has been removed and repurposed, newly sourced boundary hedging whips planted, bird boxes painted by the school have been installed and the collapsing bank on the stream is being addressed. A big issue which has meant many delays is the collapsing wall of the culvert at Needless Bridge and the concerns for the roadway. We have been tirelessly working with Cheshire West and Chester Council's engineering department on behalf of Crowton but promises to get the repair done by their contractors haven't as yet materialised, however, the parish council will continue in their efforts to encourage the Council to get this remedied. Then we can complete the boundary hedging. In addition some flood damage to the pathway does need repairing and ironically the internal boundary fencing will be renewed once the ground is less hard from the recent dry weather. Happily, our volunteers continue to visit on a regular basis in order to maintain the site, so please come along and say hello next time you're out walking. Many thanks and once again if you have any queries, please contact Tracey the parish clerk on [email protected]
Hello everyone - it has been a while hasn't it? However, we really are working behind the scenes in order to complete the MG project towards which you have all so generously donated. Following the winter weather, which delayed any practical work, our wonderful volunteers returned on 11th March. Jobs done on the day included routine maintenance, the planting of whips, monitoring the collapsed banking by the edge of the stream, the building of a guard rail using the old fence posts (our volunteers are great at recycling!) and installing the bird boxes pictured here. The boxes were painted for us by the children from our very own Crowton Christ Church Primary School. Have you seen the boxes in situ yet? There are more to come once the paint is dry, but aren't they wonderful? We think they are and they certainly lift your spirits when walking on the Green. We have had many complimentary messages which will be passed on to the school. We are very grateful for the children's artistic endeavours and hope that the birds appreciate them too. In other news, we are still waiting for Cheshire West and Chester Council Highways department to fix the culvert brickwork, but hope to bring some news about that soon. Our next visit by the volunteers is the 8th April with the renewal of the bridge and repair of the fallen bank on the agenda. Restoration of the parts of the new pathway that were washed away in the winter floods will be taking place over the summer. Thank you for your patience and as always if you have any questions or concerns please get in touch via the Parish clerk.
It has been 2 weeks now since Craig Bairstow's team laid the new MG pathway and there has been some lovely comments, not only by word of mouth, but also by letters, emails and a lovely card; from our residents and users. If anyone would like to forward any further comments, please do so via our Parish Clerk Tracey Whitlow on [email protected] as we would welcome any feedback at all. There's still more work to do and we will keep you posted as work progresses. Thank you.
Good afternoon. Our contractor has worked hard over the past three days and we are pleased to say that the pathway has now been laid. 😍 Oddly enough, we could now do with a bit of rain in order to dampen it down, but I think that would be pushing our luck a bit far after all the rain we've suffered recently! The MG is now back open again for walkers, but please continue to take care. We are now half way through the project; next we hope to be repairing the bridge. Plans for hedge planting and wild flower seeds are in the pipeline and we will continue to update you as we progress. Many thanks
We mentioned in our last post that we would update you as soon as we knew of any further progress happening at the Millennium Green. So of course, it all happens at once! Today we have had nine of our volunteers on site managing various tasks such as clearing the Himalayan Balsam from the stream, removing a dead tree and also removing the old damaged fencing from the side of the site, adjacent to the roadway. The team always do a great job and we are all so grateful for their hard work. Then, in addition to the volunteers, we've had a call today from our contractor and he is now ahead of schedule, meaning he will actually be on site TOMORROW 7th August to start work on the pathway. Hooray! Please be aware that we will have to close the site whilst they are working, due to the use of heavy, dangerous machinery. Hopefully, this will only be for a couple of days while the path gets laid. Many thanks
Hello all. Our apologies for being quiet over the past month or so, but unfortunately there has been no news to share with you whilst we waited for the weather to improve and the contractor to be able to reschedule his works diary to account for the abysmal summer we've been having. Thankfully, over the past few days it looks like we may have struck gold with the weather and this dry spell bodes well to get the contractor on site. Currently, the plan is for our band of volunteers to be tackling the broken metal fencing and other tasks on Tuesday 6th August and then our contractor will possibly be starting work at the end of the same week on 8th and 9th August. Please keep your fingers crossed for more dry weather - it's summer surely! Any further news and we will let you know. Many thanks
A brief spell of dry weather arrived and on Tuesday our band of volunteers were able to begin to tackle some of the jobs from the project list. To quote Mervyn, our volunteer lead:- "The Millennium Green is looking good at the moment with lush green growth everywhere. The weather was good and we ticked off a few more jobs on the list :- the trombone latches were fitted to the two access gates, the temporary wooden dam was installed in the stream to divert the water away from eroding the bank adjacent to the footpath, Himalayan Balsam was pulled up along the edge of the stream. Weeds and nettles were pulled up from around the young hedging whips to give them more light to grow strong and a small patch of vegetation was strimmed to enhance the area for local walkers." So albeit slowly, we are making some headway. Any further news and we will keep you updated. Many thanks.
