SITE No 8
COLLIERS CORNER
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Railway Hotel at the junction of Leigh Road and Lovers Lane, Howe Bridge
ALL the work on the renovation of Colliers Corner was done by UNPAID VOLUNTEERS with various local groups / organisations involved as well, these include, The Bridgers Community Group, Atherton Environment Projects, Gardeners Bowling Club, Local Elected Members, Wigan & Leigh Young Offenders Unpaid Work Team, St Michaels Primary School, Local Residents. People of ALL ages contributed and still contribute to the ongoing success of this project.
Colliers Corner is our showpiece and also our major maintenance project throughout the year, The stream that was badly polluted when we started has now been cleaned up considerably and several different species of water based wildlife has been spotted, including, Kingfisher and Mallard Ducks, neither of these had ever been seen in the stream before. We have a maintenance program just for Colliers Corner, this ensures that everything gets done as and when required or needed. All maintenance is done by UNPAID VOLUNTEERS who are members of the various groups named above. This includes weekly clean-ups and litter picks, we have had NO vandalism on the site which is proof that an improved Urban Environment is an asset to a community. Many hundreds of Plants / Bulbs have been planted and we have also planted many of the trees on the corner.
This was written in 2013, since then the stream area has seen an invasion of JAPANESE KNOTWEED which has devastated the area, there is a problem trying to establish ownership of this particular piece of land and also who would be responsible for clearing the knotweed and restoring the area to its former glory, there are several factions involved, including, Wigan MBC, Admiral Taverns { they own the pub bordering Colliers Corner } Trent & Mersey River Authority, Environment agencies, United Utilities who have underground water storage tanks could also be involved, but, we have been forbidden from working on the stream area because of the problem of Japanese knotweed.
A photo below shows the stream when we maintained it, prior to the Japanese Knotweed.
COLLIERS CORNER BEFORE RENOVATION
COLLIERS CORNER DURING RENOVATION, THE BUILDING IN THE BACKGROUND IS THE SITE OF THE FORMERS MINES RECUE STATION.
COLLIERS CORNER FOLLOWING RENOVATION
STREAM ON COLLIERS CORNER
COLLIERS CORNER SPRING 2021
REPLICA OF HOWE BRIDGE PIT WHEEL & TRUCK, TO PAY HOMAGE TO THE LOCAL “ HOWE BRIDGE PITS “
The largest of the early pits owned by the Fletchers which eventually became the Howe Bridge Collieries were Lovers' Lane Colliery which lasted until 1898 and the Eckersley Fold pits. The Crombouke Day-Eye, a drift mine or adit dates from the 1840s when a drift was driven into the Crombouke and the Brassey mines at a gradient of 1 in 5.[nb 1] The Crombouke and Eckersley Fold pits closed in 1907. The company sank the deep mines of Howe Bridge Colliery in 1845. Three shafts were sunk to the Seven Feet mine, the Victoria pit where coal was wound at 447 feet, the Puffer for pumping water at 435 feet and the Volunteer, the upcast ventilation shaft.[16] Howe Bridge Colliery was taken over by Manchester Collieries and closed in 1959.[17]
WICKER SCULPTURE OF HERON ON CORNER
CHILEAN PINE, DONATED BY RESIDENT
COLLIERS CORNER CHRISTMAS 2020, LIGHTS &
TRAIL OF “ 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS “
LOTS OF IDEAS, DONATIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONS BY LOCAL RESIDENTS
ALWAYS SOMETHING TO DO, 52 WEEKS PER YEAR,
TWO EXAMPLES
COLLIERS CORNER AT EASTER 2021,
BAUBLES, LIGHTS, DECORATIONS,
ANOTHER GREEN FLAG AWARDED TO COLLIERS CORNER
2020 / 2021
COLLIERS CORNER HAS BEEN AWARDED A MUCH DESERVED GREEN FLAG FOR THE AREA FOR MANY YEARS.
AND YET ANOTHER GREEN FLAG 2021 / 2022
GREEN FLAG CELEBRATION MONDAY OCTOBER 18TH 2021
Green flags are flying high across our Borough's parks this week
Jubilee Park in Ashton, Pennington Hall Park in Leigh, and Alexandra Park in Wigan have all been awarded the prestigious Green Flag Award - which means the space boasts the highest possible standards and is beautifully maintained - for the 13th year running.
Mesnes Park, also in Wigan, has been recognised for the sixth year running and,
a fifth green space maintained and managed by volunteer group the Bridgers has also been recognised once again.
Colliers Corner, Howe Bridge which is supported by Wigan Council’s improve a green space initiative, scooped ANOTHER community award and celebrated with a flag raising ceremony earlier this week.
Photo BELOW shows the Mayor of Wigan, Councillor Yvonne Klieve and Chairman of the Bridgers, Terry Daly showing the Green Flag before it was raised on the new flagpole which was bought with grant money from Wigan Council, AND, the event was also attended by Past & Present members of the Bridgers, local Councillors John Harding & Debra Wailes, Retired Councillor Susan Loudon, retired Chairman of Atherton Environment Projects Keith Sumner, retired Chairman of 2nd Atherton Scouts & Guides Joe & Mary Morris, Keep Britain Tidy representatives and Parks & Green Spaces personnel from Wigan MBC
To everyone mentioned above I would like to say a MASSIVE THANKYOU, but, my biggest thankyou goes to our Present volunteers, both from the Bridgers, the Gardeners Bowling Club and our local residents, They have been FANTASTIC.
During the past eighteen months, which has undoubtedly been one of the most challenging and quite traumatic periods of our lives, our volunteers have been immense, Also a massive thankyou to Wigan MBC who have stuck with us and supported us throughout this time, but,
From October 2021 the corner will be maintained by members of the Bridgers Community Group only.
This is an email from Mike Lawrie { Glendale Gardening Services } who was judging the corner on behalf of the “ Tidy Britain Team “ following his visit to Howe Bridge to judge Colliers Corner for a Green Flag Award
Hi Terry
Great to meet you and your members today. I was very impressed with my visit today, I was showing some photos of your site to my staff, (Professional Groundsman and members of the IOG) they could not believe all the work was done by unpaid labour. Well Done!!!
kind regards
Mike
COMMUNITY USE OF CORNER
We have used the corner for plant sales and as a place where people can spend a bit of time to relax and watch the world go by, the plant sales are to raise money to pay for ALL the plants we use in the village on our various sites
KITSON`S TRANSPORT STORING OUR PLANTS OVERNIGHT AT ONE OF OUR PLANT SALES, EXCELLENT GESTURE AND SERVICE FROM IVOR KITSON
