Villagers across the Melton borough show support for '˜Clean for the Queen' campaign

In Long Clawson four-year-old twins Scarlett and Ebony Bright were the youngest volunteers helping to clean up the children’s playgrounds, with their parents, at The Sands on Saturday.

Meanwhile the village’s most senior volunteer, 83-year-old Shirley Robinson, was among those collecting rubbish on the main Melton Road leading into Long Clawson.

The clean-up was organised by Elaine Bedford, on behalf of the Long Clawson Women’s Institute. She said: “There were between 20 and 30 villagers who came, more than we expected.

“They spent two hours cleaning up the centre of the village and all the approach roads. I’m told that 20 bags of rubbish were collected and among the items recovered were hub caps, a car bumper, a pushchair and a picture frame. Overall we thought it was a great success.”

Free coffee and biscuits were provided for the volunteers on behalf of the Long Clawson WI committee.

Villagers in Scalford, Hoby, Rotherby, Brooksby and Ragdale also got involved in the ‘Clean for the Queen’ campaign, a project forming part of the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations.

Scalford Primary School upper key stage two pupils gathered at the village hall on Friday and spent about an hour filling a sack with rubbish from the field and grounds around the village hall.

Headteacher Marie Waring said: “It was a very useful exercise and, from our point of view, it was about educating the children about the impact litter has upon the environment.”

Hoby with Rotherby Parish Council arranged a ‘Clean for the Queen’ event on Saturday which involved the villages of Hoby, Rotherby, Brooksby and Ragdale.

Over 60 bags of litter were collected from the roads around the villages and quite a number of tyres and car bumpers and batteries and other items were collected as well.

Nearly 40 people took part including three very enthusiastic children, with the litter pickers sporting new high visibility coats sponsored by Danaher and Walsh.

The morning, organised by parish council chairman Nicola Wheeler, concluded with a light lunch of soup and a roll provided in the village hall, which was well received as everyone returned after their busy morning along the village roads.

In Melton a team of litter pickers and Friends of Melton Country Park also got to work in the park on Saturday, tidying up areas for the benefit of public visitors and the wider community.

Meanwhile, volunteers were busy clearing up in Bottesford on Saturday.

Members of Bottesford Parish Council and a team of very enthusiastic volunteers carried out a litter pick in the village skatepark and allotments.

Parish councillor and event co-ordinator Yvette Smith said: “I would like to express my thanks to all of our supporters and volunteers, and hope that regular users of the skatepark and allotments recognise that the space is now significantly tidier.

“I would also like to urge people to either use the litter bins provided on-site or take any rubbish home with them, in order to protect the health of children playing in the park, and to reduce pollution and threats to wildlife in the adjacent River Devon.”

Coun Smith was impressed by the actions of youngsters who volunteered for the village clean-up, saying: “Our younger volunteers certainly got into the spirit of things and did a great job collecting discarded crisp and chocolate wrappers.”