Anderton Centre: Summer Resi

Friday 26th to Sunday 28th July 2024

Lower Rivington

The Anderton Centre was built in 1990 on the site of Anderton New Hall. Anderton New Hall was built in the 1870s to replace Lady Hall which itself was demolished when Lower Rivington Reservoir was constructed in the 1850s, Anderton New hall survived until the 1930 when the derelict building was demolished. Lady Hall, which may have been built in the 1600s was located near what is now the A673 at the bottom end of Lower Rivington Reservoir. The Lady Hall was built to replace Anderton Old Hall which was present on a site near Old Hall Farm not far from Crown Lane, Horwich. The Old Hall dated back to around 1281 and may have been demolished around the time of the Civil War. The areas around the Anderton Centre are largely man made: farms, reservoirs, tree plantations, fields and ponds, but they have become home to wide range of wild species from crows to cormorants, from rabbits to roe deer. And that’s the local history bit done.

BCV’s involvement at the Anderton Centre began in January 2007, at the time the site was dominated by rhododendron. It took us 4 years to clear the terraced grounds which are now used for outdoor activities such as archery and climbing. This year’s residential is the first summer resi without Rick Parker’s leadership, the resi this year was organised by BCVs new leader, Caroline Bruce, and task organiser Tom Bruce.

Our weekend was spent mostly repairing dry stone walls and balsam bashing. In the years after we removed the rhododendron from the site balsam moved in. Getting rid of this invasive took a few years but eventually the grounds were balsam free. However, a few seasons without a summer resi followed by covid allowed the balsam to return with a vengeance, and it was this balsam resurgence that we had to deal with this weekend. The balsam was densely packed with some stems being several centimetres in diameter. Hand pulling and whacking with a weed whacker took care of most of it but some patches couldn’t be reached because they grew in boggy areas or in the middle of brash piles. Japanese knot weed is also present on the site, this needed specialist treatment by our fully trained herbicide operative. To find out more about balsam follow this link to our beginners guide to balsam bashing.

The other half of the task was repairing dry stone walls along the edge of the reservoir. The walls are continually being damaged by livestock and trespassers and need to be repaired by our expert wallers.

As with any resi food and drink played a big part of the weekend with a visit to the pub after Saturday’s work was done, followed by Lynn and Trish’s evening meal, followed by a visit to the fire pit and, even later, various fun and games.

Thanks to the Anderton Centre management and staff for having us back; Tom, and Caroline for organising; Lynn and Trish for cooking; finally thanks to all who turned out to help out.