Before and after photos  of our work  on Urmston 31 footpath on section off Loretto Rd.
It was challenging!!!   But we left the path both easier to use after we removed the bramble overgrowth and looking much smarter after we removed 9 bin bags of litter!

Urmston Councillor Joanne Harding and RTG member Bob are seen here welcoming the 65 walkers who marked the re-opening of footpath Urmston 30 on Saturday 10th August 2013. The path had been
obstructed for many years by mature overgrown vegetation and electric fencing.   Bob, who is an RTG Footpath Inspector, negotiated with the landowner to have the vegetation cleared and new walkers friendly gates installed in place of the electric fencing.  The path is the only direct pedestrian link on  official rights of way between Urmston and the Trans Pennine Way and the River Mersey. Quite an achievement!

The RTG Footpath Team continues to do good work in keeping an eye on the standard of Public Rights of Way in Trafford.  The annual survey that team members  carry out helps to set the Council’s priorities for path maintenance.  Paths in main shopping areas, routes to schools and bus stops are always high on the priority list  and Ramblers tries to get recreational routes added so that  local residents have easy access to the countryside that borders Trafford’s urban streets.  The team’s footpath inspectors try to protect the network of paths that allows path users to walk for miles within Trafford on public paths. Threats of paths being displaced by building developments are quickly identified and  robust objections made.

The RTG Path Maintenance Team is, in 2013, now in its second year and is establishing itself as a very useful group of regular Ramblers members who carry out simple maintenance work on Public Rights of Way .  Cutting back grass, nettles and brambles is all in a day’s work for the maintenance team, as well as larger overhanging branches where the landowner agrees to the work.  Seasonal growth  is always a problem on natural surfaced paths, and the team’s hand tools are supplemented by a strimmer to keep paths open  for all to use.  As well as clearing vegetation, the team rebuilds path surfaces where low lying paths have succumbed to Trafford’s high water table. 

Offers to join the teams, for inspecting or maintaining paths are always welcomed and if there are any walk routes designers, who can develop walks that use the Trafford paths network, please will you contact us.   Promoting walking and protecting paths – that is what the Ramblers Trafford Group is about.

Contact the RTG Footpath Secretary at june@hilltopltd.org.uk or on 0161 928 3437 for more information about footpaths work or problems in Trafford.  

1 How the Group came into being

In late 2011, our team was recruited from Ramblers members who lived in Trafford then these were supplemented by Ramblers members from outside the borough who wanted to volunteer but did not have an active path maintenance team in their immediate area. At the end of year one, the number of Ramblers members who have registered to be part of our Ramblers Trafford Group team, has risen steadily to 19.

For the first eleven months we used only hand tools, purchased for us by Ramblers and on occasions, our contact in Trafford Council, Penny Maitra, Highways Safety Inspector, worked with us and she used a power strimmer. Then in October 2012, we became the proud guardians of a team power strimmer which was a “gift” from Trafford Council.

2 What have we achieved in year one

We have held 16 “work days” large and small between the first one on 2nd December 2011 to
22nd November 2012. We have worked on 12 public rights of way in this time, clearing obstructing nettles, brambles and self seeded saplings, clearing stiles as well as improving a path surface by distributing bark chippings. The paths we have worked on are in Altrincham, Bowdon, Dunham Massey, Sale, Stretford and Urmston i.e six of the 10 Council highways areas within Trafford. The remaining four areas, Carrington, Hale, Partington and Warburton, await us in year two.

Each of us brings our own skills, strengths and experience to our volunteering work and we have found that the needs of the work we do are many and varied. A strong cutting arm for using the bowsaw and loppers, and eye for symmetry when pruning branches from young trees, determination when faced with a “wall” of rampant brambles, ingenuity when seeking nooks and crannies for disposing of cut down material to make a natural habitat for wildlife, and a tidy disposition to make sure we do not leave any obstructions on the paths when we finish work. The latest “job” is that of being an attentive look out “buddy” when someone is using the power strimmer.

Amongst team members, four (soon to be five), are qualified first aiders and these, with the exception of one who was already qualified, had training paid for by Ramblers. Six of us volunteered to become trained strimmer operators and this training was provided free of charge by the Council as was the personal protective equipment we wear.

We have all encountered the dark arts of Risk Assessments, Health and Safety Guidance Notes, Letters of Authorisation and formal sign off of our work. These procedures are as much part of Ramblers’ duty of care towards its members as Trafford Council’s duty of care towards the users of the public rights of way. As Ramblers members, on an organised work day, we have the benefit of Ramblers personal and third party liability insurance and it was this that made it possible for the Council to accept us as volunteers to carry out work on public rights of way.

3 And next year?

More of the same as we develop as a team, complementing each other’s contributions. Establishing a pattern so we tackle paths that are vulnerable to vegetation growth problems early on in growing season.

It would nice to be able to “publicise” our path work by erecting signs to say in effect “This path is maintained by Ramblers”. Such signs exist, are approved by the Ramblers organisation, and Trafford Council has agreed that we can put the signs up once we demonstrate that we are undertaking ongoing maintenance of a path or paths. If we progress at the same rate as we have done so far, we might see some of those signs going up in 2013.

June Mabon, RTG Footpath Secretary, 3rd December 2012

Pat, Valerie and June  made a big impression on a two and a bit sections of a footpath in Bowdon. The path is long, and in there are another  two section which need similar attention, one is nettles mainly the other long grass mainly. We do not cut back vegetation that overhangs from residents’ gardens on these urban paths, but by chatting to the footpath’s adjacent neighbours we hope we might persuade them to cut  back the overhanging vegetation. 

These “before”  and “after” photos are of a stile, obstructed by  overgrown vegetation that were
cleared on 19th July ’12. The stile is at the junction of footpath Dunham Massey 18 and Sinderland road,  near the crematorium and the footpath,  which is a public right of way and leads onto Carrington Moss and its network of informal paths. At the same time a nearby wooden sign post
which was becoming obscured by the hedgerow was also cleared .

As part of working with Trafford Council a Ground Force Officer gave a short demo on using a petrol engine strimmer demo today.
The photo shows a footpath team member in goggles and using the harness to support the weight of the machine.

This is part of footpath Urmston 17 in Flixton which is amongst woodland in the Meadows area near Uplands Rd.   Today's group tackled  what initially looked like the impossible.  However, the path
is walked in winter when vegetation dies back so once we started to uncover the track, clearing
became a bit easier.  Our morning was made all the more enjoyable by two local residents who came to find out what we were doing.  We had a very informative mini  “tutorial” from a man who is a local expert in moths and he let us see his previous night’s collection before releasing them into the woodland. Then a little later, we were treated to glasses of ice cold juice by another resident who realised what hot work it was as the temperature rose to 24 degrees C and we are wearing our personal protective long sleeves and trousers and hi-vis tabards.