Congleton, 29th April 2025 – Congleton Town Mayor, Cllr Kay Wesley, walked 15km around the town on Saturday to raise money for one of her Mayor’s Charities, myCWA – Cheshire Without Abuse.
The route began at the bus station and followed Lady Warburton’s Walk to Giantswood Lane, then on to Havannah, Buglawton, Mossley, Lamberts lane and Astbury Mere, before returning to the town centre.
Along the way the Mayor and accompanying walkers spotted plants and flowers as part of Congleton Museum’s Our Disappearing Nature Project.
The project’s goal is to catalogue existing flora in Congleton and compare this to a record compiled in 1915 by Reverend G. Cartildge, to see what has changed in 100 years. Today, technology makes it easier for nature-spotters, and the team used an app called iNaturalist to capture images of plants and record them in the database.
In addition to the local project, the same species identification is allowing Congleton to be part of the international City Nature Challenge, in which flora are identified in cities all over the world to help scientists understand changes in biodiversity over time.
Cllr Wesley said “We were lucky with the weather and had a wonderful walk, finding lots of plant species. Just days before, I got the final all-clear for my broken metatarsal, so I was particularly relieved that my foot survived the trek! So far, we have raised over £2000 for myCWA with this event, which is amazing.
“Many thanks to all those who donated, and to the people who joined me on the day including Cllr Suzy Firkin and Helen Mitchell of myCWA. Thanks also to Heather Watson who mapped the walk, which we hope to publish as part of a new collection of walks for Congleton.”
Anyone who still wants to sponsor can do so at https://www.gofundme.com/f/spring-walk-mayor-mycwa.
You can still spot nature anywhere in Congleton to contribute to the Our Disappearing Nature project by downloading the iNaturalist app on your phone and scanning plants, trees and flowers.
Pictures of local flora captured on the walk.
