Alsager
Nub News

Meet the team who put up this year's poppies and do so much more for Alsager

By Deborah Bowyer   7th Nov 2025

Facilities manager, Samantha Wakefield, with the two town rangers. (Photo: Nub News)
Facilities manager, Samantha Wakefield, with the two town rangers. (Photo: Nub News)

Walk around Alsager, and you will see the giant poppies each one with a soldier's name written on it.

At the town boundary signs, there's also a soldier silhouette as a tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country.

In total, there are five silhouettes and of the 150 poppies 53 bear the names of soldier inscribed on the Cenotaph at the junction of Sandbach Road South and Ashmore's Lane.

Alsager Town Council are behind both and the town's two town rangers, Des Jones and Simon Wotten, have installed all the poppies and silhouettes in the town.

Des Jones and Simon Wotten are Alsager's two town rangers. (Photo: Nub News),

Walking around the town you will see a variety of projects which the town rangers get involved in from maintenance and cleansing to ensure Alsager is a clean, safe, attractive place to live.

They are both part-time doing 18.5 hours a week and are both in work on Wednesdays to ensure they can catch up and work on bigger projects together.

One of the 53 poppies bearing a soldier's name. (Photo: Nub News)

Simon Wootten originally trained as a quantity surveyor with Stoke City Council before becoming facilities manager in Alsager and then town ranger.

"We often get complimentary comments as we're working around the town. It's a great place to work and we love keeping it tidy and an attractive place to live."

The other town ranger, Des Jones, worked in Newcastle-Under-Lyme before moving to the Alsager job. "We enjoy making it a nice place to visit," he said.

One of the five soldier silhouettes purchased by Alsager Town Council. (Photo: Nub News)

The two rangers work on a variety of projects including the maintenance of public open spaces, horticultural features, highway verges, car parks, formal parks and street cleansing duties.

The town ranger is headed up by facilities manager, Samantha Wakefield, who monitors requests from members of the public to look things in the town which could mean untidy or littered paths and alleyways to bigger projects.

"We monitor customer requests and providing updates on Social Media to keep residents informed, " said Samantha. "Alsager is a fantastic town and we want to ensure it continues to look its very best."

One of the projects the town rangers have been involved in. (Photo: Nub News)

Members of the public can email the service on [email protected]

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