I thought I would share with you our recent community litter pick. We were given jackets, gloves and those litter grabbers and a big red bag. We were even asked if we would go in our local paper! My 5 year old was under the impression that the organisers had thrown rubbish on the floor for us to pick up, and really found it hard to comprehend that people would possibly just put it on the floor, instead of using a bin. I found it surprising how many cigarette ends there were – but there is nowhere to put them, possibly as it may be a sign of ‘encouraging’ smoking if there were. More disgustingly were the number of bags containing dog poo that were just thrown down.
The children noticed that the main thing that we collected was cans (lager, red bull etc). We didn’t realise whilst we were collecting the rubbish, but, for everyone who helped out they received vouchers as a thank you. These covered the cost (you could pay if you didn’t have vouchers) of things such as a roll about in the zorbing body ball. We also got a drink, a hot dog or burger and some cake. Entertainment after the litter pick also included crafts, dressing up, outdoor fun equipment, and generally things to encourage children to get outdoors. And oops this Father Christmas hat, I thought that would be it, he’d be Christmas mad again, but he was ok after the event.The police were there and also the fire brigade – offering a good look around, and trying on of uniform.
