The St Andrews Eco Church group organized its second annual Litter Pick at the end of February in conjunction with Holt Town Council and Greening Holt.
Gemma, the Clerk to the Council arranged for the equipment to be collected from North Norfolk District Council, advertised the event through the Holt Chronicle, and organized the collection of the rubbish by SERCO at the end of the morning.
Many of our congregation joined us, as did folk from the town and others who had seen it advertised on social media. Our aim this year was to clear as much rubbish from the roads into and out of Holt. Because many people pick up rubbish as they walk into town, and our street cleaner does a great job, our town centre is mostly litter free.
Thanks to the 25 people who turned up, we achieved our aim and were proud of the 20 or so bags collected by SERCO. One volunteer commented ”It is such a pleasure now to drive along the bypass and see primroses, and snowdrops rather than the empty bottles and cans”.
As an Ecochurch group, it has been a reasonably straightforward task, mainly thanks to being able to liaise with the other like minded groups in the town. As community engagement is an important part of Ecochurch, it was an added bonus. Last year we held the event in April, but decided this year to hold it before the hedgerows had greened up – it did make it easier to reach in to collect the cans.
Last year, we had 12 volunteers, this year 25. We will need more equipment for next year!
