AN Open Day is taking place at the New Cut Heritage and Ecology Trail this coming Saturday (March 28) from 10-30am-1pm providing an update on the vision to enhance a group of valuable open spaces.
Visitors to the event at Woolston Hub on Hall Road, will be able to view old maps and hear about Old Billy, the World’s Oldest horse in the Guinness book of Records, who originated from Woolston.
Group members will be available to talk about the local history and the importance of the river and local canal.
They are also interested to speak with people with memories of years gone by and see old photographs.
The New Cut Heritage & Ecology Trail is a project with vision to enhance a valuable group of local open spaces for benefits for local people and residents of the wider town for casual leisure, formal leisure for health & wellbeing, education, enjoyment of flora/fauna/local heritage and for a useful route for transport within the area.
It incorporates:-
- The linear footpath from Paddington Bank off Kingsway up to Weir Lane, Woolston (where it joins with links to Woolston Eyes)
- Paddington Meadows Local Nature Reserve
- The new £1.2m Ecology Park location, adjacent to Manchester Road
- Woolston Park South
- Larkfield Park
It also passes Grey Mist Mere and Nottingham Close local play area.
The Linear footpath is rich with heritage and is the course of the towpath of the disused Woolston New Cut Canal, a Cut created to take out large bends in the River Mersey – used widely by the Mersey Flats.
Discussions with the Environment Agency re their Flood Defence Works at Paddington Bank have been fruitful, with agreement for Trail items to be incorporated into concrete walls, in bitmac surface and for three interpretation boards to give public information on the Trail.
Two bench seats have also been installed by the Council by the Ecology Park section of the Trail.
Discussions with the Council have created a plan, to continue a tarmac surface which will be a part of flood defence works – up to the start of Paddington Meadows by Larkfield Avenue-currently a muddy and puddled path.
