The Heighington Parish Litter Group (HPLG) held a coffee morning on the 25th March 2017. The fine sunny day found some 40 visitors in Heighington Village Hall enjoying tea/coffee/ cakes and a chat. The HPLG used the occasion to make presentations of the 2016 Environment Awards. These are presented to people who have made great efforts to
keep our parish beautiful and free from litter. Peter Smyth, Chairman of the group presented three Environment Award Certificates, see Pic 1, to Mrs. Anne Graham and Mrs Judith King of Heighington and Mr Ray and Mrs Elizabeth Smith of Redworth.
Mrs Ann Dobson received the award for Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Trevor King accepted the award on behalf of his wife Judith, who were unable to attend. The silver Maclean Rose Bowl, the premier award, was presented to joint winners Miss Kim Trotter and Mrs Joan Trotter, see Pic 2. Peter Smyth said the pair were regular and reliable litter pickers who tackled any allocated roadsides in all weather conditions. Together they have collected over 200 bags of litter. All the awards recipients have made a valuable contribution to keeping the roadsides around the parish tidy. We are all very grateful for their hard work. The HPLG, a volunteer body, has been in action for over 12 years and has collected nearly 6,500 bags of rubbish from the roadsides of Heighington Parish and reported over 40 incidents of fly-tipping on the roadsides during their monthly picks.
The Group makes monthly picks on the second Saturdays of each month between 10.00am and 12noon. Anyone is welcome to join the picks. We meet at Heighington Village hall or 2 Main Road Redworth. All the necessary equipment (high-viz tabards, pick-sticks, gloves, goggles and bags) are handed out. Our next pick will be on 8th April, 2017. I am sure you agree that these litter picks have made a big difference over the years and we would encourage other groups to form to reduce the litter in other areas and help keep our environment beautiful. After all there are all kinds of bugs in the world but the litter-bug is one of the worst – together we can eliminate it!
