Great British Spring Clean

More people have spent time litter-picking in the past year than watched the much-talked-about series finale of Happy Valley!

New research for Keep Britain Tidy reveals that more than 8.5 million adults – 16% of the adult population - in the UK participate in litter-picking at least once every six months, a million more than watched the end of the hit BBC series.

The research was carried by YouGov to mark the launch of the Great British Spring Clean, back for its eighth year the nation’s biggest mass-action environmental campaign runs from March 17th to April 2nd.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of individuals take part in the campaign, picking up the litter that pollutes our streets, parks and beaches and showing the world that they care about the environment on their doorstep.

Last year, more than 430,000 volunteers, including school children, faith groups, businesses and community groups, collected a staggering 449,406 bags of rubbish across the country, from the north of Scotland to the Cornish coast.

Litter-picking is a simple action that anyone can do to make an immediate and visible difference to their area and can increase the sense of pride that people feel about the community in which they live. Of those who took part in last year’s Great British Spring Clean, 85% reported that taking part made them feel more pride in their local area.

The Great British Spring Clean people across the country, volunteers – dubbed #LitterHeroes by the charity – to families, schools, groups of friends, businesses, community groups and local authorities to come together to clean up in their neighbourhoods.

The charity wants to empower everybody to take pride in their area by taking part in the

#BigBagChallenge - pledging on its website to pick a bag or more of litter, helping make a huge difference to the environment.

Commenting on the findings, Keep Britain Tidy Chief Executive Allison Ogden-Newton OBE said:

“It is amazing to see that so many of us are now taking action in our day-to-day lives to improve our environment.

“Litter is a blight that affects every corner of the country and can make people feel unsafe in an area. It pollutes our watercourses and, ultimately, our oceans, choking marine life with plastic.

“The Great British Spring Clean is a moment when all those individuals who are now making litter-picking a part of their lives come together to show that small, individual actions, when taken collectively, can make a huge difference. We would like to see all 8.5 million of them - and more - joining us and pledging.”

To find out more and to make a pledge visit www.keepbritaintidy.org

Wickford Memorial parkrun

Wickford Memorial parkrun takes place every Saturday morning at 9:00am in Memorial Park, Wickford. The course is 5km mainly on path and approximately 2.3 laps of the park.

This community event started on 29th February 2020 and lasted all of three weeks before lockdown brought the event to an abrupt halt. It resumed in July 2021 and since then has grown from strength to strength. It now averages 180 participants per week.

It is an inclusive event and runners, joggers and walkers are all very welcome. Children under 11 can walk or run with a responsible adult and even dogs can join in, provided they are on a short hand-held lead.

There is a a great team of volunteers who organise the event each week and who are very welcoming to new participants.

At 8:50am there is a “First timers welcome”. This is for anyone new to parkrun or visiting Memorial Park for the first time. The course is explained in detail and what you need to do once you have finished. If you have any questions, any of the “hi-viz heroes” in their bright pink vests will be more than willing to answer them.

At 8:55am there is an event briefing. This covers the course rules and lets participants know if there are any course changes due to weather conditions or fallen trees. Shoutouts are made to our newcomers and “parkrun tourists” and also to anyone achieving a milestone event in walking, running or volunteering.

9:00am 3,2,1… GO. The event starts and you can complete it in your own time. No one is ever last as there are tail walkers wearing orange vests who walk behind the last participant and offer encouragement as needed.

We have more and more walkers joining us which is great to see and most come back each week once they get the parkrun bug. Our marshals around the course give lots of encouragement along the way.

When you have finished you will be given a finish token. You give this to one of the barcode scanners standing at the back of the finish funnel along with your athlete ID, which you download, once registered. This then records your time and finish position which is then emailed to you once the results are processed.

The best thing about parkrun is that it is entirely FREE so the only thing you need to do is turn up.

If you would like to give it a try then you can register via: www.parkrun.org.uk/register

The volunteers are what makes parkrun tick and lots of friendships have been formed by the regular volunteers who help out each week.

If you are interested in volunteering, then let us know by emailing wickfordmemorial@parkrun.com. We are always happy to take on more volunteers and there is no commitment required. Just volunteer as and when you want to. Parkrun has changed the lives of many people, improving both fitness and mental health.

One other incentive is post-event coffee and chat. Huttons Cafe is open for breakfast and lots of our walkers and runners meet after for a chat so yet another reason to come along.

We are friendly, honest and professional, and offer the very best in landscaping and tree services.