Latest News
25th June 2023
WASH have a stand at Stockton Heath Festival field on the 1st and 2nd July. Pop over and say hello, find out what we are planning, hear about our 2023 seed swap and how you can help us map the biodiversity of the village. We’ll also have activities for the children, weather permitting. For mor information on our Biodiversity mapping project, please se our dedicated page here.
22nd June 2023
Warrington Housing Association and their customers have asked WASH to help and advise them on improving the areas around Limetree Ave. This is an ongoing project that kicked off on Thursday, thinning out a one border and digging over another bare border. We will be putting forward our ideas and look forward to helping them achieve their vision of an attractive place to live for their customers and a whole new population pollinators.
10th June 2023
The charity Caring for God’s Acre are mapping the biodiversity of England’s church yards and promote their work with their Churches Count on Nature week. This year, WASH took part with three session of volunteers recording all wildlife in the church yard at St Thomas’. the app, iNaturalist was used by many and the manual records subsequently uploaded to iNaturalist. We had 272 observations covering around 128 species. Note that the summary below includes 13 observations in the village prior to the event. Many plants as well as birds and insects were included.
3rd June 2023
The bee house at St Tomas’ church was checked last week at it is coming to the end of Red Mason bee activity, and nothing to be seen. It is not in an ideal sunny spot so we planned on moving it for next year. Checking today, and delight! a leaf cutter bee has used one of the tubes. Just one, but so pleased.
29th April 2023
We’ve been busy co-ordinating with residents and Warrington Borough Council about expanding our Greening the Alleys project to the alleys (backs) around Gaskall Steet.
1st April 2023
We have installed a bee house in St. Thomas’ church yard.
If you’re planning to buy a bee house, please take care, there are a lot out there which will not attract anything. The main problem is the size of the tubes, these need to be 5-10mm in diameter and around 150mm (6″) long. Place in a sunny position and soon you’ll have mason bees and maybe leafcutter bees visiting, laying their eggs, (females at the back, males at the front) with a pollen-nectar loaf in-between each egg.
20th March 2023
AGM and Gardening for butterflies
We’ve held our first AGM, with an excellent turn out on a Monday evening. After the brief formalities of our AGM we welcomed back Dr Pat Thurston (see 4th December 2022) for a talk, Gardening for butterflies. For more details, our Chair’s report for the AGM and the plant species list supportive of our butterflies, see our specific page.
26th February 2023
We’ve been working on our greened alleys, fixing support for the climbers.
19th December 2022
Congratulations to St Thomas‘ Church on achieving their Silver Eco Church Award for minimising their impact on the environment, spreading the word on environmental issues, and managing their land to help nature.
WASH are delighted to continue our partnership with St Thomas’, recently installing a bowl pond and being consulted and assisting in the planting of six crab apple trees adjacent to Ellesmere Road.
28th April 2023 update: The trees are doing very well indeed.
4th December 2022
The Holly and the Ivy
Following up from our Wild About Trees’ day and linking to the Christmas theme, Dr Pat Thurston presented the talk, The Holly and The Ivy. Dr Thurston broadened our understanding of these important plants, the species that depend upon them and how we can all do out bit to giving nature a helping hand. Again we had a full house and a very engaged audience. Our raffle was a success and along with the sale of greeting cards and our seed-swap donations £206 was raised.
For full details of what we got up to, with photographs, please visit our specific event page
7th December 2022
Wow – We’ve hit 500 followers of our Facebook page. Thank you to all our followers for their support and contributions in making this page so interesting and active.
15th November 2022
Milton Wimpenny, chair of WASH presented a talk to Warrington U3A’s Natural History Group, entitled ‘Do it for Nature, Do it for the Community, Do it Together’. Voluntary contributions to WASH totalled a wonderful £77.
23rd October 2022
Wild About Trees Day
We had another great Nature Hub Day on Sunday – Wild About Trees. Our ‘Treemendous’ Trees talk with Anthony Brandreth was another sell out event. This was followed by a number of family activities in Alexander Park.
For full details of what we got up to, with photographs, please visit our specific event page
21st July 2022
Many thanks to the Ombudsman Services for their employ sponsored grant of £730 towards our Greening the Alleys project and of course the employee who nominated Wild About Stockton Heath
29th June 2022
Wild About Stockton Heath have a stand at this weekends Festival where we will be launching our Autumn Seed-Swap event. Pop along and say hello, catch up with what we’re up to and take away envelopes to collect seeds to bring to our Autumn Seed-Swap event. Details of the event to follow.
25 June 2022
We’ve been busy putting up some Wild About Stockton Heath branding for the Forge Ivy Bed and the St Thomas’ Wildflower Strip. Although promoting WASH’s work, the signs at the Wildflower Strip are also informative and define the area well to stop the council strimming the area…..again.
18 June 2022
We’ve been doing more work work in the alleys, especially the alley alongside the BT exchange to Aldi. Due to the size of pots, the planting within the BT exchange wasn’t doing well, especially the climbers. We’ve acquired more half barrels and replanted in the alley rather than the Exchange. Our thanks to Jo for the excellent top soil which kept our costs down. We also added to the other alleys we’ve been working on involving residents who couldn’t make our April event and those that have come on board as the word spread. Many thanks to the residents who helped out on the Saturday
6 June 2022
We have received a donation from Solvay Warrington, which we are greatly thankful for. Most of our fundraising leads to funds tied to specific projects, this boost to our general funds will allow us to be much more reactive and flexible. Thank you Solvay
5 June 2022
As part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations and inspired by the The Queen’s Green Canopy initiative, St. Thomas’ Church have planted an Oak Tree in the grave yard. WASH were pleased to be asked for advice on tree species and location advice by Rev. Michael.
The special ceremony took place on on Sunday 5th June, assisted by Bishop Willie (William Pwaisiho)
1 June 2022
Our wonderful friends at Warrington Voluntary Action came along to our Wild About Nature day on 8 May and have put this video, Wild About Nature – YouTube together for us. Thank you Jake and all the team.
12 May 2022
Wild About Nature Day
Sunday 8th May saw our first event in what we are hoping will be a series of talks, activities and workshops under the banner of ‘Wild About Stockton Heath Nature Hub’
We were sold out for our morning of talks by invited speakers and the afternoon drop in for family activities was very well attended with 53 forms returned from the youngsters that followed the amazing hedgehog trail, 30 ‘Pledges to Nature’ hung on the pledge tree, 89 children and 72 adults visiting the library to view our visitor stalls with Penelope, the blind hedgehog, stealing the show, and around a dozen youngsters staying on for the Wild Storytelling event.
The WASH team would like to thank everyone for such amazing support, all our speakers, guests, and volunteers, including SWISH, the children from the two primary schools for decorating hedgehogs, all the young people of the village for their Wild Photographs, Stockton Heath Library, Alexandra Park, Pets Pantry for the donation of two hedgehog houses, Morrison’s Warrington for the donation of compost and seeds and the the National Lottery Community Fund for their grant that allowed us to put it all together.
For full details of what we got up to, with photographs, please visit our specific event page
26 April 2022
Tree Planting update
Back in July we gave the news that we were working with the Parish Council to increase the number of trees in the village, inputting our survey results to the Parish Council Village Committee.
WBC has now received funding for 10 trees. They have chosen the sites which they feel are appropriate. It is very positive some planting has been managed this season with the funding of £3,000given by the Parish council.
One on Ackers Rd corner nr the Pit, one on Willow Drive, three on grassy path by the ship canal from Greenbank to Fairfield Rd, four on Grappenhall Road, one on Caldefield Close grass circle ( an oak). The Parish Council has committed £5,000 to tree planting for the next season. Wild About Stockton Heath will consider discussing possibilities with the Assets committee of the Parish Council about tree planting on land owned by the Parish Council
The first five trees have now been planted, see our specific project page to track progress
3 April 2022
Greening The Alleys
After a lot of planning and fundraising our Greening The Alleys project came to fruition, transforming a number of the alleys in the village. We had an amazing day giving nature a helping hand and bringing the community together. Check out our specific project page to learn more and see the results.
December 2021 – March 2022
Successful Grant Applications
WASH are very grateful to a number of organisations for grants that are vital to the running of WASH and the fulfilment of our ambitions.
Moto, the service station operators, awarded a welcomed grant towards our ‘Greening the Alleys’ project, watch this space! The Moto in the Community Trust, is a grant-making charity launched in 2005, and aims to make a ‘real difference’ to the communities within 15 miles of one of the Moto sites.
Warrington Charities Trust was established in 1989 with the aim of raising funds from industry, commerce and trade, together with individual donors, in common effort to improve the quality of life in Warrington Borough. They have given to WASH the funds needed to promote the work we are doing around the village through signage explaining our specific projects.
WASH have ambitious plans to deliver talks, workshops and activities involving the whole community. Our first event was to help celebrate National Tree Week. What we can deliver and how often is certainly not restricted by our enthusiasm and with the generous grant from the National Lottery Community fund, specifically for these events, we are now able to move forward with our vision. The National Lottery Community Fund is the largest funder of community activity in the UK – “supporting people and communities to prosper and thrive”.
Identifying and applying for grants is hard work and time consuming and it not easy though to find grants for basic running costs such as our web site, domain name and public liability insurance. Therefore we are very grateful to Stockton Heath Parish Council who granted the funds needed to cover these costs in 2022.
For completion, as reported in October, WASH have been awarded a generous grant from the IKEA and The National Lottery Community Fund. IKEA and the National Lottery have come together to support thriving, resilient and sustainable communities across the UK through the pilot partnership ‘Places called home’. The grant is specifically to be used for our planned ‘Greening the Alleys’ project, more news on that later.
15 November 2021
Celebrating National Tree Week
On 5th December, the WASH team are organising a number of events to celebrate National Tree Week in Alexandra Park and the pavilion please pop along any time between 10:00 and 12:00 to join the fun. Check out our specific Project and Events page to see how the day went.
21 November 2021
The Forge Carpark gets a WASH make-over
Following an agreement reached with Warrington Borough Council, and cooperation of the car park redevelopers, WASH has been planting-up below the new Ivy fence bordering the graveyard. All the plants in this area were provided free of charge by the committee and supporters of WASH. Follow progress on our dedicated project page
15 October 2021
Successful Grant Application
WASH have been awarded a generous grant from the IKEA and The National Lottery Community Fund. IKEA and the National Lottery have come together to support thriving, resilient and sustainable communities across the UK through the pilot partnership ‘Places called home’. The grant is specifically to be used for our planned ‘Greening the Alleys’ project, more news on that later.
9 October 2021
Brownies plant Daffodils at St Thomas’
September 2021
St. Thomas’ Wildflower Strip
Work has now started on creating a wonderful wildflower strip in the church yard of St. Thomas’. This is located adjacent to the Forge Carpark fencing close to the rear entrance of the surgery. Once the top soil and rubble has been removed we will plant native spring bulbs, sow a variety of wildflower seeds and plant climbers on the fence line. This project is kindly being funded by St Thomas’ Church, check out our dedicated project page to follow progress.
12 August 2021
Wild About My Garden Campaign Launch
We have now launched a campaign to improve the biodiversity of our gardens making changes, big or small, to improve this valuable space for nature. To start we want you to inspire the rest of us with what you have achieved. Have a look at our specific Wild About My Garden page for more information.
28 July 2021
One more step taken to tackle litter
The Parish Council have added Stockton Heath to the Litter Network. Here you can report problem areas, arrange to come together to litter pick and post comments and pictures of your efforts. Together we can keep the villiage litter-free, and prevent it from smothering plants and endangering wildlife.
16th July 2021
WASH’s Tree Planting Proposal moves forward
WASH has kick-started a long-term project to increase the number of trees in the Parish. This has been discussed with the Parish Council Village Committee who recommended the proposal to the full council meeting on Tuesday 13th July. The Parish Council supports the project outlined in the WASH paper and supports the proposed resident consultation; will consider providing financial support in 2021 to 2024; as a stakeholder, the parish council will contribute to and review the priority list and invite regular progress reports from the group. The next step is to consult with the Borough Council to advise on potential sites and appropriate trees before consulting with residents on their thoughts, concerns, and support.
15 July 2021
WASH establishes a partnership with St Thomas’ Church
Following discussions with Rev. Michael and the Church Warden, WASH was invited to join the St. Thomas’ Action Group (STAG) meeting tonight. The meeting was extremely positive and, subject to Wash committee approval it was agreed to develop a close relationship between the groups and respective members to protect and improve this large green space at the heart of the village.
9th July 2021
WASH is working with the Borough Council to improve the biodiversity of the Forge Car Park
The redevelopment of the Forge Car Park is well underway and from the start, WASH has been discussing with the Borough Council and contractors in what way can the car park’s biodiversity be improved. Opportunities exist to influence the planting of the main exit and entrance, replanting a central unit just beyond and planting up the bank below Sun Centre World.
Also, the potential opportunity to plant below the new live ivy fence along the edge of the graveyard. Our sub-committee will be submitting their suggestions to the council by the end of July.