After a fun filled Saturday at the Fitness Festival and some of us sporting new tan lines, 6 of us met at Great Salterns for a litter pick. We were joined by the Baffins ward local councillors who also would assist with some litter picking for us and a kind dog walker who happily took a bag and a litter picker to collect rubbish on his walk. Judy brought along Tess who represents our GG Portsmouth canine division and also a bucket for any recyclable that we would collect.

We all headed off towards ‘Macdonalds’ corner and collect the smaller items of paper, crisp packets and cigarette buts. Tony found the area where most people deposited their used bbq’s and we collected those en route. Katie, Judy, Sarah and Rachel were spotted surrounding an area of grass and on closure inspection it was a large amount of broken glass that has just been left. The area is a short cut from a local school which was clear when Jo found part of a detention slip that had been discarded. Katie found someone’s essay on a Elizabeth 1st and read out various parts including a dubious spelling of Armada. I don’t think Spanish Amanda was involved, but who knows.

We arrived at ‘Macdonalds’ corner and this is where very large amounts of litter were found and our bags and recycling bucket was soon filled. We found an area that is used to hang out and collected, more school work and detention slips, glass bottles, half a motorcycle tyre, large plastic containers, plastic bottles and fast food packaging. Tony found a love heart tin lid although the love for the rubbish wasn’t there. We also found a large amount of video tape, Sarah and Jo discussed whether this was VHS or Betamax but we couldn’t decide. As with all our litter picks, it wouldn’t be the same without finding any clothing and Judy managed to collect some old socks.

We cleaned most of the area but there was so much more we ran out of time and we will need to head back to that area so that we can remove even more. We carried our full and heavy bags back to the car park and left them next to the bins so that the council will remove them.

We all then headed to the local café to have a late breakfast/lunch and enjoyed the warm weather.