16 | NOVEMBER 2017 | LIVING in Havering
Keeping our borough clean and green
Friendly bunch Every year thousands of volunteers make a huge difference to the lives our residents and our local environment. One of the oldest and most dedicated of this band of volunteers is Albert Davis. Albert, or Bert to his friends, is 90 years old and lives in Rainham. He started work at just 14 years old in 1941 repairing bomb damaged buildings. He later set up his own business building home extensions with Bert specialising in electrical work. He retired from the building trade at 52 and then went on to own and run a guest house in Bexhill. After retiring and returning to Rainham he started volunteering after seeing an advert for a community clean up job. “I’m happy to do anything, any job that comes along” said Bert. “I went to two clean-ups last month, one in Elm Park and another in Gidea Park. We were raking and collecting up cuttings from bushes. I like working with people as it’s boring sitting indoors. You can only watch so much TV! Recently I have been painting fences at a school in Hornchurch and once a month I help the Friends of Raphael Park when they do their litter clean ups.” Bert uses his Freedom Pass to travel all around the borough by bus and Shelley Hart, the Chief Executive Officer of the Havering Volunteer Centre describes him as “one of the most dedicated of my volunteers.” Bert has a message for every reader of Living: “Give volunteering a try. There are so many different things you can do and it’s good to keep active.” If you would like to find a volunteering role in our borough please contact the Havering Volunteer Centre on 01708 922214.
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www.haveringvc.org.uk
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Bert cleans up
The Friends of Ingrebourne Valley and Hornchurch Country Park have been active since 2012 undertaking regular community clean-ups across the park, clearing shrubbery, planting, litter-picking and general maintenance work. Living in Havering caught up with Ray Randall from Hornchurch and some of the team of volunteers on one of their regular working parties. “We hold these sessions at least once a month on a Sunday, meeting up at 10am at the Visitor Centre and usually get between 12 and 25 people turning up. Every little helps, and you don’t have to make a regular commitment” said Ray. The Friends have a number of projects currently underway including planting reeds in the pond near the children’s play area to help clean the water that flows into a stream that feeds the Ingrebourne river, cleaning various water courses in the park by removing fallen branches and litter, removing non-native invasive species of plants, and maintaining pathways.