Category Archives: Cardiff

Tackling the Taff: CRG’s new recruits muck in!

Yesterday 27 volunteers (including 6 new recruits) turned out in force to tackle the River Taff at Llandaff.

rowing
Lovely boating weather!

You can view all the event photos on our Flickr page, here.

The huge workforce had to look hard for rubbish as the area was actually surprisingly clean considering the group had not been there for over a year. Undeterred, the resourceful group split up to start their hunt, and together they managed to collect 29 bags of rubbish, a motorbike frame, huge metal gate, scaffolding poles and a pushchair….and all in just over an hour! They also found a mobile phone which they returned to the grateful fisherman owner who had lost it the night before!

With all the rubbish removed, they then turned their attention to clearing a stand of invasive Himalayan Balsam from the banks to give native vegetation a chance to thrive.

Group treasurer Dave King said, “It is very pleasing to see the cleanliness of this area. With so many volunteers turning up we completely cleansed the site in an hour! It just goes to show how much you can achieve together….many hands do indeed make light work”

All rubbish was disposed of by Cardiff Parks Services.  Well done all and a very warm welcome to all our recent new recruits!

The group shall be going on a day trip to clean the River Sirhowy on 20th July (followed by a social event), then on Friday 25th July the inaugural TAFFTA’s will be held…..you have heard of the BAFTAs… well this is our very own special awards ceremony to celebrate our fantastic achievements in the past year….don’t miss it!

Cardiff Rivers Group during the Keep Wales Tidy Week 2010

This weekend marks the beginning of Keep Wales Tidy Week 2010, and as is tradition by now, Cardiff Rivers Group will aim to have the first event in Wales by meeting Saturday morning.

We will be returning to the feeder canal at Bute Park, continuing with our work of clearing it from it’s source at Blackweir, to where it goes underground in town. Our last event here finished around the North Road Ambulance Depot, so this will be the meeting point.

Tasks will include;

  • A litter pick on both banks of the feeder and general Taff Trail area,
  • Move & stack wood away from the edge of the feeder,
  • Saw and move fallen branches from the water,
  • Wading through the Feeder, removing as much debris as possible, improving the appearance of the Feeder as well as the flow of the water.

Volunteers are to meet at 09:45 for safety briefing & kit. This will be done from Dave’s truck, which will be parked within the park, around the Ambulance Depot. Close car parking options are; Sophia Gardens Car Park [ nr the Mochyn Du Pub CF11 9HW ] or along North Road / A470. Cathays railway station is a quarter of a mile away. Closest park access points would be the footbridge by Sophia Gardens / Summerhouse Cafe, footbridge near the ‘Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama’ or the new bridge at the end of Corbett Road. See map of the area below;



Please wear suitable footwear and pack sensibly, waterproofs if the forecast is poor, water if it’s warm ! We will provide the rest of the equipment. Let us know if you are coming so we can ensure we have enough equipment for all of you. Don’t forget to join our facebook group / facebook events. Oh, and it would be great if you could add your own photographs to our album, so bring a camera too!

Cardiff Rivers Group Bute Park Canal Feeder

Another successful event at the canal feeder last weekend! Between both weekends, we managed to clear from its source at the river Taff up to the North Road Ambulance Depot – great work. We aim to return to this area next month, during Keep Wales Tidy Week (see their website for further details on that).
Read all about last weekend on the Guardian Blog, and check out the photographs on our galleries.
The CRG Calendar has been updated with our future dates – view it at the bottom of this page. You’ll notice that our next event is the Great Taff Tidy – click on the poster for more information.

Thanks,
Dafydd

Bute Park Event : August 21st

Cardiff Rivers Group made a good start on the Feeder Canal in Bute Park last weekend, with around 20 volunteers working for a couple of hours, we managed to collect 30 sacks of rubbish, 2 trolleys, a roll of carpet, several traffic cones as well as move a lot of fallen branches from the waterway, helping it’s flow and appearance. Photos from this event are available on our flickr galleries.

We aim to continue this work next weekend [Saturday the 21st], slowly moving towards the castle.

Tasks will include;

  • A litter pick on both banks of the feeder and general Taff Trail area,
  • Move & stack wood away from the edge of the feeder,
  • Saw and move fallen branches from the water,
  • Wading through the Feeder, removing as much debris as possible, improving the appearance of the Feeder as well as the flow of the water.

Volunteers are to meet at 09:45 for safety briefing & kit. This will be done from Dave’s truck, which will be parked within the park, around the Ambulance Depot. Close car parking options are; Pontcanna Fields changing room [ CF11 9HX ], within the Tal y Bont student halls [ CF14 3AS ] or near the North Road Ambulance Depot off North Road. See map below for general area.

Please wear suitable footwear and pack sensibly, waterproofs if the forecast is poor, water if it’s warm ! We will provide the rest of the equipment. Let us know if you are coming so we can ensure we have enough equipment for all of you. Don’t forget to join our facebook group / facebook events. Oh, and it would be great if you could add your own photographs to our album.

 

Cardiff Rivers Group Bute Park Event : August 15th

Hello
Hope everyone is having a good summer ! We said that Cardiff Rivers Group would have a summer break and not have any events during August, we lied. We’re having a short, city centre event this weekend. Hope you can make it !
After receiving a few requests from our members to tackle the state of the feeder canal that runs through Bute Park, we’ve decided to dedicate next Sunday morning to work on improving this waterway.
This is a fairly large project and we will be looking to come back later in the month and in September when we will hopefully be joined by some other groups to tackle around the ambulance station and castle. More on future events soon.
Tasks on Sunday will include;
  • A litter pick on both banks of the feeder and general Taff Trail area,
  • Move & stack wood away from the edge of the feeder,
  • Saw and move fallen branches from the water,
  • Wading through the Feeder, removing as much debris as possible, improving the appearance of the Feeder as well as the flow of the water.
Volunteers are to meet at the source of the Feeder, at the bridge at Blackweir at 09:45 for safety briefing & kit. This location is on the Taff Trail – an easy walk / cycle from town centre along the River Taff. Closest car parking would be at Pontcanna Fields changing room [ CF11 9HX ], within the Tal y Bont student halls [ CF14 3AS ] or near the North Road Ambulance Depot. See map below for general area.

Please wear suitable footwear and bring waterproofs. We will provide the rest of the equipment. Let us know if you are coming so we can ensure we have enough equipment for all of you.
louise.tambini[at]keepwalestidy.org or Facebook
thanks,
Dafydd

Cardiff Rivers Group July Events : Himalyan Balsam Removal & AGM

Cardiff Rivers Group are taking a little breather during August to prepare for two large events in September [ the Great Taff Tidy and Keep Wales Tidy Week ]. We have plenty of planned events taking place before then though. This Sunday as well as the following Saturday have clear-ups planned, while we have an AGM next Thursday.

This weekend we’ll be doing some work on the Ely River for a change. Cardiff Council Parks Dept have asked for our help to remove Himalayan Balsam from woodland alongside the river.

Volunteers are to meet at the Birdies Lane entrance, located at the Bwlch Road / Cartwright Lane junction in Fairwater, see map below. Bwlch Road doesn’t have any parking restrictions. The closest railway station is Waen Gron, half a mile away from the assembly point. Kit to be issued and safety briefing to commence at 9:45 Sunday morning. The site is very overgrown and we will have to remove bramble, nettles etc before we can get to the Balsam, could you therefore ensure you wear long sleeves and trousers, we will not be going into the river, so boots are fine, no need for wellies.
We will provide slashes, gloves, etc but if you have any suitable tools e.g. loppers please bring them as we have limited supply.
Depending on how we progress this weekend, we’re aiming to carry on with the same work on the banks of the Ely the following weekend, Saturday the 24th.

[click image to enlarge]

Cardiff Rivers Group are holding our first AGM next week! All are welcome, the more ideas the better. We will be planning our projects up until Christmas along with the ‘Great Taff Tidy’ and it would be great to get your input. We also have two vacancies on the committee, so if you are interested in filling those, please try to come along.
We’ve booked a room at Llandaff Rowing Club [a big thank you to them] for Thursday evening, 18:30, we will be staying for a few drinks and chat afterwards and maybe even a BBQ?! If you would like a copy of the agenda, as well as our constitution, please get in touch with myself or Louise. louise.tambini[at]keepwalestidy.org
All three events have now been listed on Facebook, would be great if we could have an idea of attendance via these events, otherwise, get in touch with Louse.

thanks,
dafydd.
meurig[at]yahoo.com