Trust Update

COVID-19 Mersey Rivers Trust Update

The Covid 19 outbreak and the important measures introduced by the Government are hitting hard across a range of UK businesses and firms. The Mersey Rivers Trust (MRT) has worked hard to deliver our projects and initiatives and for the last 10 days all staff have been working from home.

We are committed to continuing our excellent progress and improvements to the rivers in the Mersey Catchment, however following a review of our activities and workload we have reluctantly decided to “Furlough” a number of MRT staff under the terms of the Government’s “Job Retention Scheme”. The Trust will maintain a small team of staff to carry out desk based engagement with our partners and funders in addition to managing the Trust.

The above measures will help to

  • Protect the health and wellbeing of our staff and the public by not travelling and working outdoors
  • Ensure a strong future for the Trust by retaining all of our staff and allowing us to continue our important work as soon as possible
  • Provide the best service to our partners, funders and volunteers during this difficult time.

If you need to contact the Trust please do so via our info@merseyrivers.org email address and not via your normal MRT contact.

We suspended all of our volunteer activities several weeks ago to protect the health and wellbeing of volunteers. We will keep in touch with our volunteers and arrange new events as soon as this becomes possible.

We will continue our online communications and continue with online hosting of the Lower Mersey, Upper Mersey and Alt Crossens CaBa partnerships, plus online engagement with the River Bollin BEACON group. We will continue to engage with our partners online as far as possible.

Your help and understanding would be appreciated under these exceptional circumstances which we hope will end as soon as possible.

News & Events

Coppicing and dead Hedging at Lindow Common 1st December 2026
01/12/26
We're joining the Bollin Valley Partnership to help conserve the special habitat within Lindow Common through coppicing and dead hedging.
Battling the Birch at Lindow Common 18 November 2026
18/11/26
We're joining the Bollin Valley Partnership to help conserve the special habitat within Lindow Common by removing self-seeded Birch.
Battling the Birch at Lindow Common 14 October 2026
14/10/26
We're joining the Bollin Valley Partnership to help conserve the special habitat within Lindow Common by removing self-seeded Birch.
Big River Watch September 2026
04/09/26
The Big River Watch 2026 is coming!
Alt weir removal scheduled
02/09/26
Exciting Update on the River Alt weir removal
River Alt Weir
Planning and design work to remove the disused River Alt weir
Wilmslow Bioblitz
08/08/26
Join us for a family-friendly Bioblitz on Saturday 8 August 2026
Unlocking the River Bollin
03/08/26
Restoring Fish Migration at Wilmslow Park
Merseyside pupils design their perfect river
23/07/26
Local pupils design their ideal river in our collaboration with schools and local partners
Kirkby Bioblitz
23/07/26
Join us for a family-friendly Bioblitz on Thursday 23rd July 2026
Croxteth Bioblitz July 2026
04/07/26
Join us at Croxteth Park on Saturday 4th July as part of Mersey Rivers Week
Balsam Bash at John O Jerusalem
01/07/26
Wednesday 1 July 2026 - Balsam Bash at John O Jerusalem
Balsam Bash at Rossmill
18/06/26
Thursday 18 June 2026 Balsam Bash at Rossmill
Mersey Valley Way Guided Walks
12/06/26
Summer guided walks on the River Mersey
Bracken Control: Tegg's Nose Country Park June
03/06/26
Wednesday 3 June. We're joining the Bollin Valley Partnership again to help control bracken and preserve valuable habitat at Tegg's Nose Country Park, Cheshire.
Mersey Rivers Week 2026
02/06/26
Join the Mersey Rivers Trust team at Mersey Rivers Week events in June and July 2026
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