Friends of Poldhu

Osterly lock

Billingham and surrounding villages

Ilminster Forum is the local regeneration group that helps implement community projects for the benefit of the town and its residents identified through the Community Plan.

Group for volunteer litter pickers in Deptford area

We are local people working with Elmbridge Council to maintain and improve Hurst Park, East Molesey, which is 80 acres of public open space along the Thames upstream of Hampton Court and Molesey Lock. Hurst Park comprises a number of habitats: mown grass, wildflower meadows and grassland, copses, damp scrapes and river edge.

The B roads and public walking routes and fields between Corfe Mullen and Wimborne are becoming dropzones for litter impacting on scenery and wildlife. I regularly pick up litter on walks and encourage others to do likewise. Aim...reduce litter in BH21 and surrounds tok eep our area beautiful.

Living near the recreation ground and being a dog walker I usually pick up litter whilst wandering and have taken part in litter clearance events in Chelmsford. My hope is that by setting up this group I can act as a focal point for local residents in helping to maintain the beauty of this town by taking part in occasional "pick-up" events.

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.

We wish to live in a clean tidy safe environment. if you want to make a difference you have to get up and do something about. Our group litter picks regularly and several do it while dog walking. Like minded group of people who enjoy living in a litter free community. Litter costs nature and the environment we continue to strive to fight against this needless blight.

We periodically organise group litter picks around the Purbrook and Widley areas, including in local woodland. The aim of the Adopt a Grot Spot campaign is for individual residents to tackle litter in areas not routinely cleared by the Council.