Category Archives: Ely

Plymouth Great Wood, Ely (21 August 2021)

23 brave volunteers from Cardiff Rivers Group and Caerau & Ely Pickers spent the morning in an absolute downpour, wading through dripping wet woodland for a litter-pick.

Together they collected 55 bags of rubbish (mainly the usual cans & plastic bottles), an OVO Nextbike, a very old shopping trolley and a lot of dumped carpet, plus miscellaneous other fly-tipped garbage.

There was also quite a lot of metal items collected, which will be weighed in as scrap for recycling.

Our thanks to Cardiff Council for collecting and disposing of all the rubbish collected.

Litter heroes, every one!

Event 171: River Ely at Ely Bridge (4 August 2018)

45 enthusiastic volunteers from CRG, the local community and South Wales Police collected a huge amount of litter and rubbish from the river Ely and surrounding areas at Ely bridge on the morning of Saturday 4 August.

The haul included:

60 bags of miscellaneous litter
An astonishing 15 bikes/scooters
2 gas fires + some sort of gas heater
A cigarette vending machine…

Cigarette machine removed from the river Ely.

… 1 shopping trolley
A computer monitor
Exercise stepper
TV tube
Desktop computer case
A huge piece of curved sheet metal…

Huge piece of curved sheet metal
… Lots of cable sheathing
A very long piece of metal wire
2 traffic cones
2 traffic barriers
Various bits of steel mesh
Lots of assorted pieces of metal (pipes, angle iron, architectural iron-work)

Assorted rubbish removed from the river

Metal will be recycled via our sponsor EMR Metal Cycling and other rubbish was collected by Cardiff Council.

More photos in our Flickr album.

Event 150! River Ely & Plymouth Great Wood (30 July 2017)

37 volunteers, including Darth Wader, (doing some good, for a change) ventured to Ely on Sunday 30 July to remove tonnes of fly-tipping and other waste from Plymouth Great Wood and the River Ely.

The team removed 3 van loads of waste from the area in just under 2 hours.

Bags of rubbish and several tyres

They collected over 120 bags of rubbish, plus traffic cones, furniture, numerous tyres, bikes,  dozens of large sheets of polystyrene, childrens’ toys, several used nappies (ugh!), TVs, a fridge and freezer, a motorbike, and even a giant cuddly bear (that’s the one on the left, below).

Various items of household rubbish including a giant teddy bear

Group member Louise Tambini said:

“What a fantastic turnout for a Sunday morning! It is great to see that volunteers care enough about the environment of Cardiff to come and pick up waste that other people have so carelessly discarded.

“This woodland location could be a fantastic habitat for wildlife but it is being blighted by some irresponsible local people who are using it as a rubbish dump.

“We have made a big improvement today, which I hope locals appreciate. I also hope they change their habits and start to dispose of their waste correctly, so that the wildlife will not be at risk from future dumping”.

It was great to see many new faces join the happy bunch today. The event was being filmed for a BBC documentary, so a number of volunteers dressed up for the occasion, and the Masked Avenger also joined in the fun!

A BBC crew filming CRG

Many thanks to Cardiff Council, who took all the waste away incredibly quickly, and to Park Ranger Richie Roberts, who got stuck in with the gang and provided health & safety support to Darth Wader and the river crew.

Thankfully the weather was (mostly) kind, and volunteers were able to enjoy some well-earned refreshment afterwards!

CRG volunteers at the pub after the event

More photos from the event are on our Flickr page.

Why not come along to one of our future events and help to make a DIFFerence!

 

Event 131: River Ely at Ely Bridge

CRG  made a welcome return to the River Ely at Ely Bridge, having last visited this site in July 2013.

The usual suspects, equipped with more-or-less waterproof waders, worked in the river either side of Ely Bridge, removing traffic signs, barriers and cones, and various other things from the water.

event131.1

The more sensible people did battle with Himalayan balsam, and litter picked in and around the area.event131.2

As you can see, there was an enormous amount of balsam!

event131matt

After  hard morning’s work,  some well-earned refreshment was taken at The Coach House, Station Terrace, where there was an impromptu fashion show of CRG merchandise old and new.

event131.3

More photos from this event are on the CRG Flickr photostream.

Litterpick at Plymouth Woods, Ely – Wednesday 25 May

Next Wednesday, 25 May, there will be a litterpick at Plymouth Woods, Ely. Volunteers will be tackling the entrance area off Frank Road. Afterwards Richie (a Park Ranger) will be giving a bird & flora tour of the woodlands.

When: 10 am until 12 noon followed by the walk around the woods

This is a partnership project between the Cardiff Parks Department, Men in Sheds (Ely) and Keep Wales Tidy.

The event is open to everybody and it would be great to see you there.

plymouth wood
Click on map for larger version

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