The Great British Spring Clean took place between 28 May and 13 June. Organised by Keep Britain Tidy, the event encouraged “individuals, schools, councils, local groups and businesses … to help keep local communities clean, green and litter-free.”
One of Wirral’s local litter-picking groups, Wirral Wombles 
took part, with organised group litter picks taking place in Ford Hill, Noctorum/Beechwood, around the Leasowe lighthouse area, Gilroy Road Nature Park in West Kirby and Boundary Road heading towards Upton Village Road. One group also took park by clearing litter between Seacombe Ferry and Woodside at Birkenhead.
Also, many people went out litter-picking in smaller groups or as individuals all over the borough. Andrea Cutts who, along with her sister, Lindsey Whitley, started the Wirral Wombles group said, “A quick tot up of the stats reported by Wirral Wombles for the Great British Spring Clean last week is 186 bin bags of litter collected, weighing 557 kgs. From 17 January 2021 when we set up, to the end of May, the totals were 4782 bags, 17,380 kgs!”
birkenhead.news spoke to one of the litter pickers on the Seacombe to Woodside route, Kiera Tuck. After the event, she said, “I just want to say a massive ‘thank you’ to everyone who turned up. We were overwhelmed with the amount of litter. We collected 18 bags full and could of done more but we were all exhausted!”
We asked Kiera why she goes out litter picking; “My little boy comes out with me litter picking a couple of times a week around our neighbourhood. It’s good for your physical health, because you get exercise and it’s good for your mental health – you’re out and about and you feel good, by doing something for the community.”
Andrea Cutts told us why she started the Wirral Wombles group; “In January this year, we were at Leasowe Nature Reserve, near the pond, partly to litter pick and because we were hoping to see the kingfisher we know to be there.” After clearing several bags of litter, the sisters saw that there was still a lot more to be done. “We chatted about how we could try and reach out to get more people involved through some sort of group.”, Andrea explained.
And of that thought, Lindsey set up a Facebook group called ‘Wirral Wombles’, obviously not knowing quite what would happen. To the sisters’ delight, and no doubt, some pleasant surprise, just a few months later, there are over 2500 members of the group, some just to cheer on the good work, but many who actively involve themselves in keeping their community litter-free.
If you would like to join the group, please visit their Facebook group to find out more.
Facebook Comments