FOMV

This weekend we had our first volunteering day with students from the University of Manchester who gave up their Sunday afternoons to help us with our ambitious new plans for better pathways and access to the Medlock Valley. We are now installing bespoke signposts indicating two different trails for visitors to follow: the Sculpture Trail and the Woodland Trail. The signposts have been hand-crafted by Stephen Butt Carty from our partner group on the River Gort in Ireland, using local wood. Thank you to everyone who has been involved – if you are a student you can still sign up via the Volunteer Hub, or follow our Facebook page for information about future events. There will be very regular volunteering opportunities in the coming weeks and months.

On Saturday 30th November at noon, we will be back with 1-ton bags of MOT to improve large sections of pathways. Many of these are so-called “desire paths”, sometimes following or remembering old streets, the cobbles of which are now buried under several inches of soil. You can check out the history you are walking on with this excellent online resource of overlaying historical maps dating to 1772:

https://manchester.publicprofiler.org

By making paths better signalled and more accessible, we hope to bring in more casual visitors who might otherwise walk past the valley, increasing footfall and in the long term making the area feel safer and more welcoming for all. Remember that just visiting the Valley is in itself an act of volunteering: the “desire paths” have ultimately been created by walkers, not institutions, so do pay the area a visit and spread the word to others.