What a Rubbish Day!
Saturday 20th September stamped its Autumnal intent with authority as a blanket of gloom dominated the sky above with the chance of rain being highly probable – the weather could determine a low turnout.
With the final kit checks made - special thanks to William Fletcher School for the short-term loan of their high vis jackets and to Cherwell District Council for litter picker sticks, gloves and refuse sacks, we made our way to the meeting point at Rutten Lane car park for what we hoped would be an environmentally impactful day while bringing our community together.
With a morning and afternoon sessions planned, all we needed were the fine people of Yarnton to make it a success!
As the first family approached, our spirits raised and while we welcomed them with ‘kit’ to do battle with litter, more families who heeded the call turned up. For the first time I truly realised how important the Yarnton Village News is to socialise key important messages to our Parish.
The number for the morning session was just shy of 20 and the haul of litter they brough back was impressive to say the least. The classic mix of cans, plastic bottles and wrappers along with car detritus and a pair of underpants – no pressure to those who committed for the afternoon session.
Rain, so far, had not intervened.
Ater lunch, we were back at Rutten Lane car park for the afternoon session, keen to see if a bigger turnout was possible. It was. A strong group of 24 steely-eyed litter pickers, young and old, assessed what the morning group had achieved and with unflinching resolve sent out to inflict more cleanliness on our roads, streets, footpaths and ditches.
The heavens opened. This did not dampen the spirits of our litter pickers, it galvanised them and while the haul was not as big as what the morning crew collected, it was no doubt a strong effort. Strangely more car parts, including number plates and a Covid 2020 warning sign!
The outcome generated mixed emotions. On the one hand, it was fantastic to collect that amount of litter from our village, however, it was concerning how much litter we bagged for proper disposal.
We will be back next year and ideally, we won't be bagging as much litter. We need to talk more about the consequences of litter and littering and the impact it has from both an environmental and societal view and to be brave in 'calling it out' if you see someone littering and to also resist the temptation of dropping it.
Thank you to everyone who took part, supported and helped raise awareness for what was truly a 'rubbish' day!
Samuel Smith
Parish Councillor
