The pro and anti-Brexit brigades were not the only civilian armies on the warpath this weekend.
From West Country beaches to the Yorkshire Dales and Glasgow’s Plantation Park, hundreds of thousands of people of every age (and every political allegiance) were united in their opposition to one thing: litter.
As a result, the whole country is feeling a little cleaner and tidier this morning.
Great swathes of land and sea have been spared umpteen tons of toxic, non-degradable rubbish as a result. Ask anyone who has taken part in the Great British Spring Clean – organised by Keep Britain Tidy and backed by the Daily Mail – and they will tell you this was anything but a chore.
The Go Goldalming Youth Canoe Club during the river Wey litter collection. Great swathes of land and sea have been spared umpteen tons of toxic, non-degradable rubbish as a result
Everyone I met had enjoyed themselves enormously.
In some cases, it also presented some interesting challenges too, as I discovered when I joined a particularly intrepid band of young volunteers in Godalming, Surrey.
Clearing up rubbish is relatively straightforward when you have a bin bag in one hand and a litter-picker in the other. But what if you need to hold a paddle at the same time?
It didn’t bother the members of the Go Godalming Youth Canoe Club as they gathered on the banks of the River Wey in Surrey. Founded by former police officer, Peter Harris, 16 years ago, the club has introduced hundreds of youngsters to the joys of the river.
Over the years, some of its members have not only paddled the 20 miles from Godalming to Weybridge, where the Wey joins the Thames, but have then paddled on all the way to London.
If you head in the opposite direction, however, Godalming is the end of the line for river traffic on the Wey. Town Bridge is the point beyond which no motorised vessel is allowed to proceed.
Yet there is clearly plenty of rubbish upstream and it is also easily accessible by kayak and canoe. So there is no stopping the Go Godalming gang.
Having passed beneath Town Bridge, we make our way upstream to find a remarkable haul of detritus. I am reminded of that old adage about being stuck up a certain creek – except, in this case, I do have a paddle. There are the usual cans and bottles galore plus a lot of crisp packets, of course.
But canoeing instructor Jonathan Allford, 20, finds plenty more besides. He pulls up a fish trap, probably laid by poachers trying to catch some of those North American crayfish which now infest British riverbeds. Even more impressive, is his next find, a Sainsbury’s shopping trolley which he manages to lift in to the central section of his canoe.
There is clearly plenty of rubbish upstream and it is also easily accessible by kayak and canoe. So there is no stopping the Go Godalming gang
His helpers, Amy Mason, seven, and Stanley Cooker, six, are pleased as punch as dog walkers and cyclists along the riverbank admire their curious cargo.
Further downstream, three teenagers have found a mountain of flytipping in the bushes separating the river and the car park at Sainsbury’s. Sam Spraggs, 15, has found a bundle of DVDs, a bath mat and a sleeping bag. Seb Ellery, 14, has filled binliners with books (including a copy of the Bible) and old clothes.
James Rodger, 13, has hauled what looks like a wheel for a trailer or caravan out of the weeds.
‘I’m not sure why that’s in there. It’s still got some good left tread on it!’ jokes Peter Harris, ever the ex-copper. Now 62, he has been closely involved with the River Wey for a long time and says that the flytipping started to get noticeably worse about ten years ago when the local council tips started charging for certain waste.
Having originally started the canoeing club ‘because some local kids were getting a bad press for being in trouble’, he has seen it grow into a very popular community asset.
Five instructors and as many as 50 youngsters might turn up on a summer’s evening for training and a lot of splashing around followed by tea and hot chocolate. It is all run out of a nice old barn which is loaned to the club by the owners of this stretch of the river, the National Trust.
The canoeists are more than happy to repay the favour by keeping the banks litter-free.
Peter’s daughter Tamzin, 18, is in the thick of the clean-up which eventually fills dozens of binliners with every sort of litter, including a pair of suede shoes.
The youngster explains that it is not just a matter of keeping the river clean but also one of safety, too. ‘If you capsize and you hit a shopping trolley or some broken glass, then that’s going to spoil things,’ says James Rodger.
It is a slick operation.
Local policeman Jim Lavery is manning the urns and the tea table on the bank when we return.
A couple of parents are on hand to spray everyone’s hands with antiseptic spray before they dive for plates of biscuits.
Everyone feels that it has been a job well done and Jonathan Allford heads off for Sainsbury’s – still in his waterproof drysuit – to hand back their missing trolley. I move from Surrey to neighbouring Berkshire to catch another Great British Spring Clean.
Bracknell Forest Council and Bracknell Town Council have joined forces for a series of co-ordinated clear-ups which all come together at the end in South Hill Park. More than a hundred local residents have rounded up enough rubbish to fill three tipper trucks and have already split them into what is recyclable and what is not.
Dorothy Hayes MBE, the councillor in charge of waste and recycling for the borough, says that she has noticed a marked improvement in people’s habits.
‘There has definitely been a drop in plastic,’ she says, adding that the council has recently taken delivery of a new specialist recycling truck and named it after a locally-born superstar.
‘We call it “Kate Binslet”,’ she says, helping her two-year-old granddaughter master the lobster claw of a litter-picker. ‘It’s already saved thousands of tons.’
Surveying Bracknell’s handiwork, Councillor Marc Brunel-Walker wants to pay tribute to the Daily Mail. ‘We really have seen a big drop in the number of plastic bags this year and that is down to the Mail’s campaign to stop them,’ he says.
Deputy council leader Dale Birch agrees: ‘This is the time of year when we cut the grass verges for the first time and we are finding that a lot less stuff has been thrown in there. It’s all about unconscious recall and changing habits and that’s what the Mail has been doing.’
One recurring aspect of all this weekend’s efforts right across the country has been the number of young people rolling up their sleeves.
At one spring clean-up after another, we have seen large numbers of schoolchildren and students getting stuck in because they are enjoying it, not because they are being prodded by a parent. Here in Bracknell, I meet the 1st Priestwood Guides happily doing their bit.
Just up the road, a litter blitz by the Egham Residents’ Association is soon beefed up by the arrival of the 1st Egham Scouts who help to fill 20 binliners in just a couple of hours.
And so it continues. The Great British Spring Clean has only just begun. Look on the website and you will see that there are events and gatherings right across Britain over the next four weeks. Volunteers are warmly welcomed everywhere. Don’t wait to be asked.
Give them a medal… Our litter army: Children join the Great British Spring Clean
By Louise Atkinson and Eleanor Sharples for the Daily Mail
After children led the way to kick off the Great British Spring Clean in spectacular style on Friday, this weekend saw what the adults could do.
And it was magnificent. Thousands of big-hearted volunteers – many of them Daily Mail readers – took part throughout the land.
Some did it in groups, some alone – but all made an amazing difference. Here are some of the litter heroes who took part over the weekend… And you could be one of them – there’s still plenty of time to sign up!
23,000 wet wipes in just two hours
Fulham Scouts out collecting wet wipes on the Thames. Volunteers take part in the Thames 21 ‘Big Wet Wipe Count’, along the Thames near Hammersmith Bridge. Last year they found the largest concentration of wet wipes ever recorded on a clean-up at this site (over 5,400 from an area the size of half a tennis court)
A staggering 23,000 wet wipes were pulled from the Thames near Hammersmith Bridge yesterday – in two hours.
A total of 160 volunteers filled 473 bin bags at the event, run by the charity Thames 21.
Alice Hall, Thames River Watch programme coordinator, said: ‘Bringing people down to the shore and them seeing the huge mounds of wet wipes really has a “wow” impact, and people just think: “Oh my goodness this is horrific”.’ Among the volunteers were 28 cubs and scouts.
Jamie Kelly group scout leader said: ‘It is shocking how much pollution is actually in the river.
‘This is part of young people’s heritage and they need to understand what they can really do to protect it.’ Maudie Blackie-Kelly, 13, said: ‘I look at the trees and the river and see how beautiful it is but when I come down here you realise that this is our world, this is what we’re doing to it and we really need to stop.’
Today has filled me with hope
Jenny Elliott helps clear up Primrose Nature Reserve in Jarrow, South Tyneside, as part of the Daily Mail’s Great British Spring Clean campaign
Helpers in Tyneside ended up with 45 black bin bags packed with rubbish from a nature reserve a four-hour operation on Saturday.
Primrose Nature Reserve in Jarrow hosted the event as helpers armed with litter-grabbers from the local community scoured river banks and grass.
The vast pile of rubbish they amassed included plastic waste, crisp packets, water bottles, beer cans and large plastic containers – along with car tyres, metal poles, a microwave door, two shopping trollies, a children’s bike and even the remains of a mattress.
Gayle White, 43, said: ‘This campaign is vital. You have got a wide variety of wildlife in this area and if you don’t look after your own environment who is going to? Today has filled me with hope.’
Bottle tops and a dumped bar stool
Volunteers keeping the plastic waste off of the streets of Chingford in East London
Litter heroes in Chingford, north-east London, collected more than 30 bags of rubbish, dozens of bottle tops – and a bar stool top. They spent two hours cleaning up Chingford Green, the assembly hall and the library on Saturday morning.
Yvonne Sanders, 64, who organised the event, said: ‘I started litter picking last year and it was because I am very sad to see our neighbourhood looking unloved and uncared for. I think if the streets are kept cleaner people are less likely to drop litter.’
She added: It is setting an example as well. I don’t think it’s good for people’s mental health to see litter and rubbish when they’re expecting to be outside in a green space.’
Enough parts to build a new car
Don Catchment Rivers Trust and the British Canoe Union take part in Great British Spring clean on the River Don in Sheffield
Two bikes, a lawnmower, a vacuum cleaner, nine car bumpers and 12 car tyres were hauled from the River Don by a group of volunteers on Saturday.
More than 100 eco-warriors worked hard along a 500-yard stretch of the river, which runs through the former industrial heartland of Sheffield.
‘We almost had enough old car parts to build a new car!’ laughed local mother Jane Campbell, 40, who helped to co-ordinate the weekend’s volunteer efforts.
She said it ‘took a trillion acts of carelessness to clog our planet with rubbish and plastic’ but said ‘all it needs now is a trillion acts of carefulness’ to rid Britain of the scourge of waste on our streets.
Oh, I do love to clean up by the seaside
Families flocked to the seafront in Swansea, South Wales, to join the Great British Spring Clean. Children armed with litter pickers took to the sand in a bid to clear the beach of plastic and waste
Families flocked to the seafront in Swansea to join the Great British Spring Clean.
The sun was shining as around 50 volunteers filled bags with fishing wire, plastic bottles and piles of wet wipes.
Nicky Williams, 40, a medical clerk, took her two-year-old son Mateo to join the mass clean-up. She said: ‘Mateo is enjoying running around and helping out. It’s been a great day.’
Mother-of-three Khaireen Ellyna, 41, an artist, was shocked at the number of wet wipes tangled in the seaweed. She was joined by her daughters – Rowdha, eight, Habeba, six, and four-year-old Ali – who said they were having ‘lots of fun’.
The fantastic volunteers filled 17 bags of rubbish and recycling at the spring clean event yesterday.
Phil Budd, 55, who organised the seaside litter pick, said: ‘These events are a great opportunity for people to get out and feel positive about doing something for their area.’
What’s this? Undies in the Undergrowth
The 50 volunteers clearing up around Chesham Bois, Buckinghamshire on Saturday were certainly in for a shock as they probed the undergrowth. Along with 19 bags of rubbish, they made rather a more personal discovery… of some discarded underwear
The 50 volunteers clearing up around Chesham Bois, Buckinghamshire on Saturday were certainly in for a shock as they probed the undergrowth. Along with 19 bags of rubbish, they made rather a more personal discovery… of some discarded underwear!
Event coordinator John Bailey said: ‘We picked up the usual: food wrappers, car hub caps, bottles and cans – but our prize find was a set of men’s underpants and ladies knickers at seperate parts of the common… goodness knows what was going on for them to have been discarded!’
Happy families
Parents and pupils of Maidenbower Infants School joined members of the public in Crawley to clear up Maidenbower on Saturday
Up to 50 children armed with litter pickers joined the Great British Spring Clean in Maidenbower near Crawley, West Sussex. They joined mums, dads and other volunteers, collecting almost 60 bin bags of rubbish. The group also found some more unusual items including a pair of car headlights, a child’s scooter, traffic cones and – more predictably – a shopping trolley.
Hannah Witham, from The Brook School, said: ‘Little voices shout the loudest and hopefully all members of the community will learn something from our little people.’
Councillor Duncan Peck said: ‘It was a really excellent initiative and the children should be commended for being the driving force.’
This is really fun!
Brandon in Bloom and local runners team up to pick litter in Brandon country park, Suffolk
A dozen runners combined their love of exercise with care for the environment by picking up litter on one of their regular routes in Suffolk.
Members of the Brandon Fern Hoppers club collected 12 bags of rubbish and other items including an old double mattress, scrap metal, car parts, a suitcase and carpet offcuts on Saturday morning, after marshalling or taking part in the weekly 5km run around Brandon Country Park.
The youngest there were Louisa Silkstone, six, and brother Nathaniel, four. Louisa, who is a pupil at Forest Academy school in Brandon, said: ‘This is actually really fun. I want to get my own litter grabber now so I can do it again somewhere else.’