Picking it up as we go along

8 Goodgymers helped their local community in Windsor and Maidenhead
Charlotte
Amy L
Elinor Scanlon
Tara Isherwood
Wendy Rumble
Rekha
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Windsor and Maidenhead

Thursday 16th July 2020

Credits
Amy L
Amy L

SESSION ORGANISER

Wendy Rumble
Wendy Rumble

PHOTOGRAPHER

Rekha
Rekha

PHOTOGRAPHER

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Report written by Amy L (she/her)

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This warm July evening marked Windsor and Maidenhead's first group litter pick. Newcomer Elly (a big welcome to you!) asked Amy how it all works and Amy had to admit she really had no idea...Luckily we had Slough Taskforce member and litter picking expert Jen with us, as well as lots of other brilliant and lovely people (Ana, Charlotte, Rheka, Tara and Wendy that's you!) so we had no trouble picking it up as we went along...

We met outside Maidenhead's Coppa Club and agreed it was a good thing it was closed, or we might have been too tempted by cool drinks and not have made it much further. We devised a divide and conquer strategy and set off in three small groups heading South along different routes, converging and diverging at various points along York Stream in a sociable yet distanced fashion.

And my goodness did we conquer! We're not just talking quantity - the expected cigarette butts, cans, bottles, snack wrappers - but quality too. If, that is, you define the quality of your haul by its bizarre and grotesque nature. Some of the more surprising items included:

  • A stick-on bra (the bust of all the jokes)
  • A set of false nails and a pile of hair trimmings (evidence of illicit manicuring and barbering during lockdown or something more sinister??)
  • A black t-shirt
  • A metal spoon and broken bowl
  • The oxygen tank for a Lego mini-figure

Litter is a bit rubbish, but it was a lovely evening to be out along Maidenhead's Waterways - discovering new paths, admiring the wild-flowers and seeing swans and ducks. It was great to revisit the Green Lane weir, where we recently had a weir-ly pun-derful community mission helping Maidenhead Waterways clear weeds from the channel (link to that run report here), and where we hope to return on a regular basis. It was also heart-warming how many passers-by thanked us for our efforts.

We in turn owe a huge thanks to Councillor Phil Haseler, who lent us litter pickers and hoops. If you are interested in joining one of Cllr Haseler's group litter picks in Cox Green click this link to join his Facebook group, where he posts details. Don't forget that if you do good deeds like this outside of official GoodGym activities you can still log them through your GoodGym profile so that they contribute to your numbers. This is important if you like cake because we celebrate milestone numbers of good deeds with cake! As an aside, is anyone any good at making cake? We are going to need a lot of cake...


This task supported
Maidenhead Waterways
Restoring our waterways - breathing life into Maidenhead

The Maidenehead Waterways Project aims to restore and enlarge channels through the town centre into an accessible waterway that everyone can enjoy, whether for boating, walking, cycling, fishing or appreciating nature.

See more

Discuss this report
Becs Clarke

Fri 17th Jul 2020 at 10:43am

great report and pictures! well done all :)

Ealing runner

Fri 17th Jul 2020 at 10:35pm

Love this

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