Rescue - Rivers and Environmental Spaces Clean Up Event

Sat. 10th and Sun 11th March 2007

38 people turned up at 10 a.m. on Sunday 11 March (I expected no more than 25!), including 4 Brownies and 2 Brown Owls, and several families with children. One group picked around the children's playground, Laurel Park field, the sports pavilion, and the footpath near the football field: they had 11 bags of litter, plus a dustbin, a road cone minus its base and a broken cricket bat. The other group headed through the woods and via Gipsy Lane to the Riverside open space, which stretches along Lower Earley Way from Wokingham Road to Sindlesham Mill: they collected 31 bags, some chairs, a lap-top bag (minus lap-top), 3 bundles of newspapers and a bag of restaurant flyers.

In the afternoon, there were 15 people (including 4 from the morning), and 2 venues: Sol Joel Park (5) and the footpath from Lower Earley Way behind Paddick Drive that leads to Gipsy Lane (10). Each group collected 11 bags, plus a provisional driving licence, a plastic wallet containing a driving licence, debit VISA card and Tesco Clubcard - and 3 syringes!

Grahame and Brian Hackett collected the bags from various points at the end of the afternoon, and took them to the Interpretation Centre compound, where they were kept overnight until Wokingham BC could collect them on Monday morning.

People seem to have enjoyed the experience, and were both shocked and surprised at how much rubbish we found in the area.

Thanks to Jean Hackett for the above text and Sheila Crowson for the photos.