THE message is ‘love where you live’ after a group of committed residents recently formed the Friends of the Tame Valley to protect a green oasis that runs through their communities.
It has been set up to look after the parts of the Tame Valley in Audenshaw, Denton and Hyde not in local nature reserves.
The Friends explained you can help by litter picking, footpath renewal, nature and conservation work.
And by becoming a proper constituted body, they will be able to bid for funding to carry out maintenance and improvements.
The areas which will be under their remit are Shepley Wood, Jet Amber Fields, Upper Haughton and Whittles Meadows which are in a river valley corridor between Hyde, Denton and Audenshaw.
Though most of the land is in private ownership, the paths are well trodden, even more so during the lockdown.
Sixty-five residents recently attended the inaugural meeting on Zoom when the Friends group was officially launched.
Councillor Denise Ward was elected chair, Connor Martin vice chair, MP Andrew Gwynne, Cllr Oliver Ryan treasurer and Michael Cobbledick membership secretary while local headmaster Steve Marsland, Matt Gee, Kelly Whittam, Rob Hardman, Wendy Hayward, Anna Whitfield, Chris Clarke, Bernard Keenan and Cllr Helen Bowden will serve on the committee.
Cllr Ward said: “There is a lot of enthusiasm and, before we formed our group, some people already do their own litter picks voluntarily.
“It is a lovely area and been used by more people than ever during lockdown – walkers, cyclists and dog walkers.
“My house overlooks Jet Amber Fields. It is a lovely area which we want to remain being green and clean.”
Cllr Ward pointed to part of the land which once was a landfill site but is now a beautiful nature park in the centre of Tameside.
It was back in 2014 when Cllr Ward failed to set up a similar group to help look after the beauty spots.
She said: “We had a meeting at the Penny Farthing which was well attended – there must have been about 150 people there.
“When it came to getting a committee together, it never took off. This time seems different, especially with our MP on board.”
And speaking about the work of new group, she said: “Though landowners like Landcare, Tameside Council, United Utilities, Duchy of Lancaster and the Canal and River Trust carry out some maintenance, there is still a lot that needs to be done.
“We had been in touch with Landcare about maintenance work which they were not doing and the Friends have offered to do what they cannot do.
“We have already been out to see what needs to be done like repairs to fencing and stiles and would like to put up things like bat boxes.”
The Friends believe they will be able to carry out litter picking, minor fence and path repairs.
However, they will require external help for tree work, large scale fence and stone wall repairs and major path works.
Tameside Council has renewed some of the footpaths across Upper Haughton and Whittles Meadows while the Mersey Rivers Trust has a £70,000 project to clean up the River Tame but also for some improvements accessing the valley.
The Friends have been asked why they have set the boundaries they have.
They say the rest of the Tame Valley down to Stockport is maintained and protected by three nature reserves – Haughton Dale, Hulme’s and Hardy Woods and Reddish Vale.
They come under the jurisdiction of Tameside and Stockport Councils and the Friends of the Vale which manage Reddish Vale Country Park.
Anybody wanting to get involved can email Denise Ward at denise.ward@tameside.gov.uk or Andrew Gwynne at ajgwynne@sky.com
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