In between all the Capital of Culture festivities over the weekend, my Mum and Step-Dad Roger joined me, Wendy and Liam for a litter picking session on the streets of Kensington.
You see life when you come to visit me!
As part of the launch of Respect week, we joined Venture Housing staff on Boaler Street at 11am on Saturday and picked litter in the Molyneux area, accompanied by staff from Rodney Housing, volunteer residents and local school kids and volunteers from the Youth Offending Team.
There were a few items of concern - a knife hidden behind a cable box, empty bottles of methadone and some surprising items of clothing, which highlighted some of the difficulties the area experiences. But the majority of rubbish, as you would expect, related to food, drink and smoking related litter.
I took the decision to spend nearly half an hour clearing out the mountains of litter behind the walls of a double fronted property. I know the council staff would not clear it up as it was not on the public highway and clearly the residents of the property were happy to see it piling up, but people walking by agreed with me that the area would be much better with it gone.
Those people who deliver telephone directories have got some thinking to do too. Wendy and I found about half a dozen, dirty, wet phone books tucked behind front walls.
Lots of people stopped to chat and were appreciative of our work, and yes of course they are right, the council tax should pay for this service, but that doesn't mean we cannot muck in too (literally as it happens).
A big thank you to all the volunteers who entered into the litter pick with real enthusiasm, the difference we made in St Michael's Grove and Onslow Road alone were well worth it. You were all great.
No comments:
Post a Comment