The Great Uppermill Spring Clean

There was an excellent turnout recently by the Uppermill Community Action Network (UCAN) as part of the national Great British Spring Clean organised by Keep Britain Tidy which ran from 28 May to 13 June 2021.

It was a double pleasure for us – a pleasure to meet up with fellow volunteers after such a long break due to the necessary restrictions around the Covid-19 pandemic and a pleasure that, once again, we could engage in this valuable environmental work to remove litter which contributes to keeping our village clean and tidy and help protect the local wildlife.

We obviously ensured that we still followed the current government guidance regarding Covid-19 on the number of people permitted to gather outside in a group, social distancing measures etc.

After we all collected our respective equipment – Hi-visibility jackets, gloves, litter picking sticks, rolls of bin liners and hoops to hold the bags we set off on various paths around the village, really happy to be together and for the opportunity once again to collectively make a positive difference to our much-loved village.

We were really delighted to find that there was far less litter than the last time we had a team litter-pick thanks, largely, to a number of factors: more people using the bins or taking their litter home, local walkers collecting litter, UCAN volunteers litter picking on their own during lockdowns and also credit to Oldham Council Street Cleaning Team for their excellent work.

So, in summary of our team effort, we collected 10 bin-liner sized bags of litter, ranging from the smallest of items such as cigarette stubs right through to much larger items such as a one-tonne dumpy bag, a slab of polystyrene and a broken gargoyle-type garden ornament.

After a full morning of litter-picking, on what was a beautiful sunny day, we all sat to rest our tired feet and aching backs and savoured the relaxing time together by drinking a glass of cooling water, orange juice or a cheery cup of tea, along with a biscuit (or two!) with thanks due to Greg Barratt from Tesco for so generously providing refreshments and thanks also to the Canal and River Trust for the equipment we used.

We are also now in a position to confirm future dates for your diaries if you would like to join us and these are:

We usually meet at Spring Gardens, Moorgate Street [by the canal bridge] at 10AM but sometimes this varies so we will confirm this nearer to each of the above dates.  As usual, all equipment will be provide by Canal & River Trust [CRT] and you are recommended to wear suitable clothing for the weather conditions on the day and stout footwear.

We always pleased to welcome new volunteers and anyone who would like further information please contact Peter Killan on 01457 878361 or email peterkillan@hotmail.com

Author: Jude Gidney - Editor

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