Chesham Environmental Group

17/08/2026

Yesterday we had 21 volunteers come to our work party, and they undertook three parallel streams of activities along Moor Road in Chesham;
 
1. Creating a clearing among the reeds in Chesham Wetland Area, to encourage other plants to establish themselves, which in turn will attract more wildlife.
2. Trimming back vegetation along the Riverside Footpath, to make is easier to walk along.  This is a section of the Chess Valley Walk, and so it is heavily used.
3. Litter picking around the area, which is a regular activity wherever we are.  Sadly, a minority in our community continue to throw their waste everywhere.
 
This above work was completed successfully. Our volunteers did a really great job! They came from as far away as South London, Pinner, Little Chalfont and High Wycombe to join us, some traveling for several hours on public transport to get here. 

For some, this was their first time volunteering with us, which is great, and hope to see you again.  We thank everyone for the time and effort they put into today’s work. Our community, and our wildlife, really appreciates it.
 
Besides the clearance work we did, we also collected 14 full litter bags, as described below:
* 7 purple bags of general rubbish
* 6 blue bags of recyclable litter (cans, bottles, hard plastic items). 
* 1 clear bag of hazardous litter (disposable vapes, cigarette lighters, batteries and 2 NOX canisters).
 
We also collected the following fly-tipped materials:
* 1 HP printer
* Several plastic car parts
* Several cardboard pizza boxes
 
The above items were placed at the entrance to the public car park on Moor Road for collection by Bucks Council’s waste team. We labelled this collection of bags as being the result of a litter pick (so no-one thinks it is fly-tipping).

06/08/2026

We had a productive litter picking session yesterday morning. I resisted saying it was a “good session“ this time because finding litter on our streets is never good. But it was productive in the sense that we cleared the litter from some of our streets.

We covered Pond Park Road, Bellingdon Road, Deansway, Elm Tree Hill, Lowndes Avenue and neighbouring streets. Nine volunteers came along to this session, mostly regulars but also a couple of new faces who were lovely to meet!

We collected 16 full litter bags, as described below:
* 8 purple bags of general rubbish
* 7 blue bags of recyclable litter (cans, bottles, hard plastic items).
* 1 clear bag of hazardous litter (disposable vapes, cigarette lighters, batteries and 2 NOX canisters).

We also collected the following fly-tipped materials:
* 1 car wheel + tyre
* 1 satellite dish
* 1 electric fan motor

The above items have been placed at the junction of Deansway and Bellingdon Road for collection by Bucks Council’s waste team (thanks to BC, as always!). We have also labelled this collection of bags as being the result of a litter pick (so no-one thinks it is fly-tipping).

See a few photos of our litter picking heroes.

02/08/2026

Earlier this week a small group of CEG volunteers and a Chiltern Society River Ranger worked to clear a channel through vegetation in a tributary of the River Chess.

This tributary originates from the spring-fed lagoon beside Millfields and runs through the Duke of Bedford allotments to Bois Moor Road, where it passes underneath and joins the recently restored side stream at the north end of Chesham Moor.

We cut back excess growth of flag irises and sweet grass which was restricting the flow, and created a meandering channel to encourage natural habitats for wildlife.

We placed the cuttings on the bank for invertebrates to wriggle back into the stream.
As you can see in the photos, a family of ducks were delighted to see the flow return and came to feed where we had been working.

29/07/2026

20/07/2026

We had a good litter picking session yesterday. It was sunny but thankfully not heatwave conditions! 16 volunteers joined us, with one volunteer travelling in to Chesham from London’s East End 💚

We covered Severalls Avenue, Frances St, Brockhurst Road, Berkhampstead Road, and neighbouring streets.

We collected 19 full litter bags, as described below:
* 10 purple bags of general rubbish
* 8 blue bags of recyclable litter (cans, bottles, hard plastic items).
* 1 clear bag of hazardous litter (disposable vapes, cigarette lighters and batteries).

We also collected
* 13 nitrous oxide canisters. Finding these is no laughing matter.
* 1 electric floor fan
* 1 “Footpath Closed” sign (which had been flung into some wasteland)
* 1 roadworks orange lamp (broken)
* 1 sheet of plywood

We have placed these items in a safe location for collection by Bucks Council’s waste team (thanks to BC!). We have also labelled this collection of bags as being the result of a litter pick (so no-one thinks it is fly-tipping).

13/07/2026

Hats Off Chesham held on Saturday 11th July was a fantastic day out for everyone who attended or was exhibiting or entertaining. CEG attended this event for the first time, and was delighted at the interest shown by the public in our work for the environment.

Our stand was visited by our local MP Sarah Green, and we were interviewed by Nigel Brand on Chiltern Voice community radio. We signed up 22 new supporters to our mailing list, and so we look forward to some fresh new faces at future work parties.  ❤

See some photos of our stand, Ollie Otter and the Hat. Sorry there weren’t more, but we were enjoying ourselves too much.
 
Thanks for our brilliant volunteers and committee for their support in setting up and being on the stand.

30/06/2026

As we prepare to welcome the RHS judges for their annual visit, we are joining forces with the wonderful volunteers at Chesham Environmental Group who have kindly organised a town centre litter pick on 1st July. Everyone is welcome to take part - we value your help in keeping Chesham tidy!

You can meet us outside Chesham Library on Elgiva Lane at 10am, where you will be given a litter picker and bin bags.

24/06/2026

* MEETING CANCELLED *

A note from our Chair Byron Harding below:

Dear CEG Volunteers and Supporters

As you will be aware, the Met Office has issued a Red Weather Warning for Wed 24th and Thurs 25th June, which includes Chesham.
Met Office warning: https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/warnings-and-advice/uk-warnings/gcpw4j74z -aec7-4ed7-9fbc-1bdfdff3c776

In the interests of everyone’s safety and wellbeing, the CEG Committee has decided to cancel the CEG Town Hall meeting on Thurs 25th June.

We apologise for the inconvenience, and we hope to reschedule the meeting. We will send out another email in the event a new date is set.

Do take care over the next couple of days, and follow government advice.

Best wishes

Byron

Byron Harding
Chair, Chesham Environmental Group

Chesham weather warnings for rain, wind, snow, ice, fog, thunderstorm, lightning, and extreme heat.

22/06/2026

The sun shone on us for litter picking yesterday! It was getting rather too hot by midday, which is when we stopped - and to allow any Dads to head back home for their special day (Father’s Day of course!).

We had a total of 15 CEG brave volunteers, who spread out around the top of Pond Park Road to find and eliminate litter. These wonderful people collected 12 full bags of litter, as you can see in the photos.  Let’s hope the roads stay clean for a while now…
 
We have notified the Waste Team at Bucks Council who will collect the bags shortly. Thank you BC!

We also separately notified Bucks Council of some larger items of fly tipping via FixMyStreet, which usually gets sorted out quite quickly.

08/06/2026

Even though we were not working near the River Chess last week, we still got fairly wet as the expected rain began minutes after we had started work on the clearance of the vegetation on Jacob’s Ladder.  

We had 8 people volunteering with us, including two that had been given the time off work by their employers to work on an environmental enhancement project in the local area. More volunteering days please!

Our main focus was weeding and tidying the historic steps. Of course we also did a small litter pick, collecting 2 bags of cans and bottles for recycling, 1 bag of general waste, 2 aerosol cans and 3 vapes. We labelled these clearly as the results of a litter pick and let Bucks Council know to collect (thanks BC!)