Over twenty people gathered together last Saturday afternoon to clean up one of the ‘litter-magnet’ areas of Peasedown St John.  

Organised by local Lib Dem campaigner Nathan Hartley, the event was planned to encourage social action and help people feel a greater sense of pride in their community. For over two hours local residents, representatives from the Churches and political activists filled the grounds of the youth centre to pick up litter and various other things they found lying around.

Tidying Up: Cerys, Edward Thompson, Charles Bevan, Karen Smith, Cllr Sarah Bevan, Revd Matthew Street, Rhona, Hazel, Hannah Davis, Ray Lockhart – and Nathan Hartley at the front!

Nathan said;

“The afternoon was nothing short of a great success. My original intention was to start at the youth club and move up through the village towards Beacon Field. However, we didn’t quite get that far – in fact we did out of the youth club at all. The litter just kept coming, the refuse sacks just kept be filled. After two hours of hard labour there were 18 full sacks of rubbish.” 

Equipment for the day was provided by B&NES Council, the team was lent 10 litter-pickers and 250 orange refuse sacks. Nathan added: 

“I’m really pleased that the Council was so supportive in providing us with what we needed. I know that everyone who helped felt a great sense of satisfaction at the end and many are looking forward to the next one in the very near future. 

“As part of a community I believe we all have a social responsibility to work with other people to build a society that we can all we proud of.”