Category Archives: Uncategorized

Our new boat’s first launch!

Today – Sunday 17 June – saw the first launching of CRG’s new boat!

Thanks to generous donations from Viridor, EMR Metal Recycling, and Welsh Water/Dwr Cymru CRG has recently bought a boat (a work punt), electric outboard motor and trailer. And a grant from the Cardiff YMCA (1910) Trust will be used to train volunteers in the safe use of the boat.

Litter-picking the edge of the Taff from the boat

This will enable us to remove rubbish from areas that we haven’t previously been able to reach.

Event 151: A Clean-Up and BBQ at Penylan

On Sunday 20 August, the award-winning Cardiff Rivers Group  completed its 151st event.

The 35-strong group of volunteers, including 4 locals from Keep Roath Tidy, tackled the area around Penylan Library. The volunteers were supported by Derek Carson from Cardiff Council Parks department, who arranged disposal of all waste.

The volunteers rushed to finish the clean-up in record time so they could then relax and enjoy a free barbeque. They shared the bottom end of the ‘Rec’ with a dog show, but luckily, none of the burgers or sausages went missing, thanks to the keen eye of sauce-wielding Chef, the group’s social secretary Chris, who sacrificed his litter-picking duties to feed the starving volunteers.

Chris Hackett, BBQ chef

Many waste items were collected during the event, including a child’s bike, Heras fencing block and road bollard. Other interesting articles included a carving knife, hacksaw, an empty brandy bottle, and a George Thomas hospice collection box.  The group collected 38 bags of waste in total.

We were delighted to see a Kingfisher 3 times in Waterloo gardens, which is a really encouraging sign of good water quality. Unfortunately, the little rascal was too quick and managed to avoid having its picture taken by the sausage-fingered paparazzi that were in hot pursuit.

Group Secretary, Nigel Barry said,

“It was a great turnout and the volunteers made an instant improvement to the stream and the surrounding area of Penylan library. The highlight of the day wasn’t the tasty, free burgers, it was seeing a Kingfisher in stream near the centre of Cardiff.

We live in a wonderful capital city and it wouldn’t it be great, if everyone could appreciate what we have and help us to look after it? In the past 10 years, we’ve come a long way and seen many volunteering groups spring up and make a difference to Cardiff. They can all take a bow for helping to make the City what it is today, improving it for everyone including the wildlife.”

All in all, it was a good event, with a few new faces and a vast improvement made to the cleanliness with the removal of 38 bags of rubbish and a host of larger items. The group hope that the dog owners at the show picked up their waste and left the park in the same pristine condition that they left it in.

More photographs of the day can be seen on our Flickr pages.

Upcoming Events & Activities

A few things we thought you might be interested in.

Firstly — CRG has been invited by the Lord Mayor to the official opening of the commemorative Cardiff Great War memorial to be held at Hendre Lake, St Mellons, at 10.30am on Thursday 7 July.

We are very grateful to receive such an invitation, and it is in recognition of the efforts we have made trying to clean up the lake and park.

We have two places available, so if you’re interested in attending please contact Dave King either at dave@cardiffriversgroup.org.uk or on 07795 640324. First come, first served on this so please be quick!

Secondly — the producers of “15 to 1”, the quiz programme, have been in touch to ask if any of our group would like to have a go. If you fancy the idea, get in touch with Dave (he is already swotting up!).

Thirdly — we have an open invitation to the Cardiff Friends Forum BBQ on the evening of Wednesday 13 July, starting at around 5.30pm (exact timing to be confirmed) at the Forest Farm Wardens centre.

To help with catering, if you would like to attend (and we hope many of you will) please let Dave know by Monday 11 July — contact details as above — along with any special dietary requirements. (N.B. apparently “lots” doesn’t count as one!) There will be tea, coffee and soft drinks — but you can bring your own alcohol if you wish.

Fouthly — our AGM is being held at 7pm on Friday 29 July at World of Boats, down in the Bay, behind the Dr Who exhibition. A buffet will be provided, and if it’s anything like last year it will be superb!

Fifthly (and finally) the next CRG clean-up event will be on the morning of Saturday 16 July, when we will be tackling the ‘Dr Who beach’. Watch out for details on the website or on our Facebook page about a week beforehand.

All of the above are open to all our volunteers, regardless of how many events you have attended or how long you have been involved — if you’re interested in anything, please get in touch with Dave King either at dave@cardiffriversgroup.org.uk or on 07795 64032.

Community Matters! Cardiff Rivers Group in Waitrose Pontprennau

The very kind people at Waitrose in Pontprennau have selected Cardiff Rivers Group for their Community Matters scheme for September.

Shoppers at Waitrose, Pontprennau, will be given a green plastic disc. The shopper then selects one of three worthy causes and donates their green disc to it.

Waitrose donates £1,000 overall and the more discs that a cause collects, the larger its share of the £1,000.

So, if you are a Waitrose customer, please select us as recipient of your green disc.

And please ask any friends, family or colleagues that shop at Pontprennau to think of the Cardiff Rivers Group when they make their selection.

Thanks!

Event 107: Rover Way 13th June

By Royal appointment :), oh we do like to be beside the seaside…

On Saturday the 13th June, the CRG will return to Rover way, another old favourite of ours. The last time we were at this site was over a year ago on the 10/05/2014, as part of Keep Wales Tidy Coastal tidy week.

Now we are returning to tackle the sea location accessible from Rover Way near to the Ocean Way roundabout.

Last time, we continued to find all sorts of goodies and I’m sure that this time will be no different, let’s just hope that there will be less than a year old ago.

Car parking will be on the grass area nearby the event.

Look out for the truck with the CRG logo.

Details:

Meet time:         09:45

Start Time:          10:00-12:00

Day:                       Saturday

Date:                     10/05/2014

Meet:                   Rover Way

Parking:               Rover Way on the grass near event start

As usual, all tools and equipment will be provided.

Please check the weather forecast and if appropriate, bring waterproof clothing in case of wet weather.

I can’t make this event so please let Louise know if you can make it so she can gauge the numbers.

Come with us and ‘Make a difference!’.

Cardiff Rivers Group Recognised With Queen’s Award For Voluntary Service 2015

Cardiff Rivers Group (CRG) has been honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK.

CRG was formed five years ago by Keep Wales Tidy as part of Welsh Government’s flagship community initiative, Tidy Towns. Since 2009 the dedicated volunteers have carried out 106 clean-ups, collecting more than 2,600 bags of waste as well as 23 tonnes of larger waste and 6 tonnes of scrap metal. They also work to remove invasive plant species that threaten biodiversity, clear overgrown vegetation from footpaths and support local groups with volunteer manpower, tools and equipment.

Tidy Towns, a partnership between Keep Wales Tidy and all 22 local authorities, funded by Welsh Government, has clocked up over one million volunteer hours since it started back in 2008. The initiative supports communities, groups and volunteers in a variety of practical activities that help people take charge of their local environment, whilst also helping to tackle poverty, increase levels of skills and training, and improve health and wellbeing.

Chris Hackett and Nigel Barry from Cardiff Rivers Group attended a garden party in Buckingham Palace on Thursday 28 May where they met the Queen and other winners of this year’s award.

Cardiff Rivers Group is one of 187 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year. The number of awards handed out to groups have increased by over 60% from 2014, due to an increase in high quality applications, showing that the voluntary sector is thriving and full of innovative ideas to tackle community challenges.

Cardiff Rivers Group, who recently picked up a Tidy Wales Award, will receive the Queen’s Award from the Lord Lieutenant of South Glamorgan later this summer.

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service Committee Chair, former broadcast journalist Martyn Lewis CBE said: “I warmly congratulate all of the inspirational voluntary groups who have been rewarded for their community work with a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. The judging panel for this year’s awards were struck by the quality and breadth of all the successful groups. The thousands of volunteers who give up spare time to help others in their community and to help solve problems demonstrate the best of democracy in action.”

Chief Executive of Keep Wales Tidy, Lesley Jones, said: “We are pleased to support Cardiff Rivers Group and I would like to congratulate them on winning this prestigious award. They are a perfect example of what local communities can achieve when they work together and I hope their continued success can inspire others to get involved in helping to look after their local areas.”

Chair of Cardiff Rivers Group, Duval Ferdinand, said: “I am so proud of what we have achieved in the past five years. Who would have thought that the handful of volunteers with an idea to look after the rivers of Cardiff, would have developed into the sustainable group we are today, with over 300 members.  

“We are truly grateful to Keep Wales Tidy for their support, advice and funding. It helped us become established and enabled us to make a difference to both the environment and the volunteers who take part. It is thanks to this support that we are now able to help other groups care for their local environment.”

If anyone is interested in joining the group to help them carry out invaluable work for the community please visit the Cardiff Rivers Group website www.cardiffriversgroup.org.uk

Century reached by Cardiff Rivers Group

On Saturday 31st January, Cardiff Rivers Group completed their 100th event since their formation in 2009.  Event photographs can be seen on our Flickr page.

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There was a huge turnout for this milestone event with 37 volunteers turning up in freezing, blustery conditions to clean up the Dr Who beach in Cardiff Bay. They were assisted by 2 staff members from Cardiff Council’s Parks services.

The event was a great success, and together the team patrolled the bayside completely filling 2 floating skips (supplied by Cardiff Harbour Authority) with rubbish.

Group member, Sarah, baked a wonderful, themed 100th event cake which volunteers enjoyed after the clean-up as they retired to Cardiff World of boats for a warm-up and well deserved drink.

Dave King, Founder member of CRG said that “I am so proud to see the turnout today and how far we have come as a group since we formed back in 2009. I could never have imagined we could have achieved so much as a group and would like to express my thanks to all our funders, volunteers and supporters who have helped us get where we are today. I look forward to seeing what the next 5 years brings.”

Cardiff Rivers Group always welcome new volunteers, so if you would like to get involved just get in touch. The next event will be held on Friday 20th Feb as the group will be holding a ‘Tidy Tea Break’ to raise funds for Keep Wales Tidy who were instrumental in helping set CRG up in 2009. The next practical event will take place on Sat 21st Feb in Forest Farm.

Next CRG event: Sunday 26th October at Grangemoor Park

After the success of the Forest Farm event, the next event for the Cardiff Rivers Group will be at Grangemoor Park doing similar activities.

With all the budget cuts, we can expect more requests from the Cardiff Parks Services to help out.

So, again we will be helping the Cardiff Park Rangers clear a pond of invasive reeds, some habitat management and litter pick the park, on the Ely Trail and Ferry Road nature reserve depending on the number of volunteers.

We are keen to tackle as wide an area as possible so we need as many volunteers as we can muster, the more the merrier..!

Local residents are also being invited and encouraged to participate to try and get more local ownership in Grangetown and if anyone fancies a pint afterwards, I’m sure we’ll find a local hostelry nearby to welcome us.

Details:

Meet time:         10:45

Event Time:        11:00-13:00

Day:                       Sunday

Date:                     26/10/2014

Meet:                   B&M car park in the retail park, off Ferry Road, Grangetown

Parking:               Same as Meeting place.
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Look out for the truck with the CRG logo.

Please check the weather forecast and if appropriate, bring waterproof clothing in case of wet weather.

Please let me know if you can make it so we can gauge the numbers.

Come with us and ‘Make a difference!’.

CRG down on the farm

They say that a change is as good as a rest, and so on Saturday the 11th October the Cardiff Rivers Group undertook pond clearance and maintenance in support of the Cardiff Parks Ranger Services at Forest Farm, the 146 acre countryside and wildlife site along the Taff in Whitchurch. This large area situated in the Taff Gorge is full of interest. It was designated a country park in 1992 due to its role for tourism and recreation. Additionally, the area is very important for nature – it contains a site of special scientific interest and a local nature reserve. The country park extends across the River Taff valley in the Whitchurch area of Cardiff. The Taff Trail passes through as does part of the old Glamorgan Canal

19 volunteers and two wardens tackled one of the two ponds popular with birdwatchers, and long grass and scrub was cleared to provide clear flight ways for the birds of the area, and a large quantity of weeds and reeds were removed from the pond. These had encroached into the open water area of the pond making it difficult for the water birds to make full benefit of the pond, especially the kingfisher which had a greatly reduced area to fish in. The removed vegetation was stockpiled to allow it to rot down over the winter – the heat generated by the decomposition allowing the resident grass snakes somewhere warm to shelter and lay their eggs over the cold winter months.

The works were completed by early afternoon and by evening green woodpeckers were soon picking over the cut grass, thrushes were feeding in the reeds and a moorhen had re-occupied the now open water of the pond. A change was good for the CRG, maybe not so much of a rest, but only two hard hours worth of the 19 volunteers time should make a difference for the next few years, until the reeds need clearing again.