Member Article

Litter pickers join Big Help Out to mark coronation

A sheep’s head was one of the more unusual items collected by Shropshire litter pickers as part of the coronation Big Help Out. More than 20 bags of rubbish were collected by litter picking group Great Mess to Little Mess on Monday (MAY 8) as part of the national volunteering project to mark the coronation of King Charles. The group, based around Great Ness and Little Ness, made good use of hi-vis clothing, litter picking equipment and signs provided by a grant from a community fund linked to the Twemlows solar farm near Whitchurch, when they took part in the litter pick on Nesscliffe Hill. Group treasurer Claire Dickinson said: “I started the day thinking our gang of regular litter pickers had been very active and there wouldn’t be much litter about to collect - I was proved wrong! “Forty people turned up and we collected 20 bags - that’s about 100kg of rubbish, including lino, carpet, bottles and wrappers, a bike tyre inner tube, a sheep’s head (!) and about 2kg’s worth of aluminium cans. Noticeably, there weren’t many discarded face masks this time.” Community benefit society Shropshire and Telford Community Energy (STCE) helps distribute the grants and is due to launch a share offer to bring the Twemlows solar farm into community ownership later this year. It has a capacity of 10MW, sufficient to power around 3,300 homes each year. Claire added: “We are very grateful for the grant we received from the community fund. Having the right equipment for litter picking means our volunteers can stay safe – it also encourages more people to get involved. “I would urge any community groups in this part of North Shropshire to take advantage of the Twemlows community fund. Grants like this can make such a difference.” STCE director Dave Green said he was delighted to see the group had got good use from the grant. He said: “Twemlows solar farm is a real benefit to the community because of the sustainable, clean energy it produces, and I’m delighted that the community can also benefit in other ways, such as from our grant fund. “The litter pickers do an amazing job of keeping the area clean of rubbish, and it was nice to see so many people turn out to take part in the King’s Big Help Out initiative. Volunteering has positive effects for both the volunteer and the people they help, and marking the coronation in this way was brilliant.” Details of the share offer launch are expected to be announced later this summer, with more information about both the offer and the community benefit grants available by signing up to the STCE newsletter through its website at https://stcenergy.org.uk/

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Melanie Boulter .