Christchurch in action

Friends of Cheney Row Park (FoCRP) is a not-for-profit community group managed by a committee of volunteers on behalf of local residents. Events are open to all. We run litter-picking sessions in the park and surrounding area. We also tend to trees, wildflowers and recently planted spring bulbs.

CUDS was formed primarily to litter pick around our town and its environs. We do so about 4 times a month for 2 hours each time and then have a cup of tea and the all-important biscuits. We also strip useless bits of turf off areas, dig over, plant bulbs and sow wildflower seeds which we maintain on 2 roundabouts and various other places. At present we have about 28 members. We are not a charity - we are funded by grants for which I apply and have back-up from Dervizes Town Council's Park and Open Spaces team when we can't shift all the stuff we have collected ourselves. When we started over 3 years ago, we were viewed with some suspicion - as in 'Are you all doing Community Payback?' and so forth - interesting to think that a great group of oldies would be doing that! Now, in our bright blue hivis vests emblazed with CUDS on the back, nearly everybody knows who we are - and if they don't, they must have been asleep. We work with local groups - Beavers, the Canoe Club, The Lions at their Fair and recently with The Fulltone Orchestra at their free event in the Market Place. We are also planning our reward - apart from cake, which we have before our summer and Christmas breaks. This time we are going on a day out to visit various gardens in Somerset - it's great to be sociable and many have made firm friends within our group.

Who are we? We are an environmental group undertaking planting in our village, litter picks, promoting reduction in Co2 and smart driving, and working with the local community to make our village a litter free area. We deliver over 1700 newsletters around our village promoting our message and work with Thringstone Primary School and the local brownie group various events, including a scarecrow festival in June 2011 which brought together all sectors of the community . We held another scarecrow event, in conjunction with Thringstone Methodists, on Saturday 6th July 2013. Our chairman litter picks daily, and is helped by others who litter pick regularly. We try, where possible, to recycle items which can be recycled. We petitioned for extra recycling bins in our village and now have two tin and plastic bottle recycling points and a glass recycling point, and are currently asking for the council to consider ways of recycling acceptable items put in roadside litter bins. Between February 2013 and the end of February 2014, we removed 1,958 bags of litter from the village and woodlands, which we feel is a staggering amount. We have also worked with other groups on environmental issues in the village, and were part of the steering group that saw Thringstone Youth Club win the Children and Young People\\\\\\\'s Green Footprints Award in 2011 for their mural project. We have taken over several flowerbeds and previously untidy and unused areas in the village for planting and offer historical and environmental walks around the village. Please see our website which is www.friends-of-thringstone.org.uk for further details on our group, plus details on our constitution, health and safety policy, equal opportunities policy, parental consent statements and volunteer expenses statement. You can also see on that site details of all our publications. What have we done? In 2009 we won the NW Leicestershire Green Footprints Awards, were awarded an outstanding achievement certificate by East Midlands In Bloom in 2009, and won a gold and silver in the village achievement awards run by the Rural Community Council. In 2010 and were finalists in the Community and Partnerships category of the NWLDC\\\\\\\'s Green Footprints Awards and again in 2013. In 2011 we won The Queen\\\\\\\'s Award for Voluntary Service, something of which we are very proud, especially since 2011 was the European Year of Volunteering,. In 2015 we won the Big Tidy Award at the Keep Britain Tidy Jubilee Awards 2015. In 2021 we won the Leicestershire Live Environmental Heroes Award and also won the Community Organisation Award 2021 with Leicestershire Community Champions. We have a facebook page, and we are also on twitter - address is @Thringstone2. In 2019, our chairman was awarded a British Empire Medal for service to Thringstone and in September 2019, her dog, who accompanied her on all her litter picks, was awarded a commendation from the PDSA.

A potential group for pickers in Watford, not yet formed!

Our aim is to keep the roadsides free of litter so everyone can enjoy the Coln Valley.

We are a group of like minded volunteers who clear litter within the Tiptree village and surrounding lanes and woodlands on a regular basis.

just an hour a week walking the lanes will keep our parish clean and tidy and enjoy some fresh air and a little exercise at the same time !

Litter picks are held once a month for both Key Hill Cemetery & Warstone Lane Cemetery Est 2004 in Birmingham Jewellery Quarter, Hockley. Free places to book are via the website Eventbrite . Places are limited . Check out our new Hi Vis Vests our litter pickers are wearing , rocking the colour purple. You can book a place to volunteer or to book our guided tours the second Sunday of the month of both cemeteries here via website Eventbrite. The Friends of Key Hill Cemetery & Warstone Lane Cemetery are the only group to care for the cemeteries & raise funds for grave restoration

To make my area cleaner and more presentable.

The A3057 and A3090 are usually full of litter and the verges are only cleared infrequently - and in many places never. In the Summer it does not look so bad because of the grass - but come the Winter! A number of more minor roads are also left with litter because it would seem that Test Valley Borough Council only cares, if at all, about Andover and Romsey. The aim is to get Test Valley BC to do what it is required to do under the EPA for the district as a whole and not just the main urban areas.