Continuing our 'Old Town Bloom on Tour' project we planned a series of sessions with the marvellous Naomi from Animal Teach at Chi Community Cafe
Our final session up at Chi Community cafe was on Sunday 12th March and we started the day with a litter pick, starting from the cafe and heading around the lake. If you don't know, Chi Community Cafe is situated within Phoenix Park, Runcorn.
We have an extensive litter picking kit already, so we could pick safely and we had informed our local council ahead of the date, so they informed us where we could leave the rubbish for collection after we had finished (anyone can do this! Link for info HERE)
It was an absolutely beautiful day for a litter pick, in fact the best weather since we launched 'Old Town Bloom on Tour' and really gave us the opportunity not only to pick some litter, but explore one of our local green spaces. The level of litter was low, and we really had to rummage in the bushes to get some. The other problem area was around the waterways, but as we weren't equipped with waders, it wasn't safe to tackle that (but we made a note of it). As well as litter picking, we also took the opportunity to feed some of the birds.
Lessons Learnt: We had planned to take along our super sturdy new cart for litter picks, but so far this has proved impractical. It would fit into car (at a push, depending on car), but the whole point is to be less reliant on cars to get around, so this needs a rethink. On the day we used our much handier folding trolly, which we use for many things (usually carting things to workshops).
Bonus lesson: When emptying cans before adding to rubbish bags, be mindful that it isn't always water that has been left in them (insert vomit image to your mind here).
In the afternoon, we were again joined by Naomi from Animal Teach and she captivated people's attention with showstoppers like Monty and co!
Whilst we planted sunflower seeds and handed out even more of our grow packs! It was honestly delightful to see how excited people were to grow some sunflowers seeds and we are excited to have encouraged so many people to grow some.
We would like to thank Naomi for going above and beyond in her sessions, whilst we like to foster of love of nature and creativity, Naomi brings another level of love and interest centred around her animals. We think between us we have hopefully inspired more people to get involved with the natural world on a deeper level!
We would also like to thank Chi Community Cafe for being such marvellous hosts for 'Old Town Bloom on Tour' and we would definitely like to come back!
Bonus Thanks to our friend Quayle Social for taking such beautiful photographs and for pulling our trolly!
Old Town Bloom on Tour has been funded by the LCR Combined Authority - Community Environment Fund. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter - so follow along as we go on our adventures
Did you know that you can also follow along with other projects funded by the LCR Combined authority - Community Environment Fund - including our friends VPET!