We often refer to the saying “not all heroes wear capes” and in this case they don’t, but they do wear high vis jackets, carry litter picking poles and wield blue bags, writes Sue Reece.
Their superpower is not super strength or invincibility, it is the resilience to carry on keeping the streets of Chilton litter free.
The group of volunteers first came together in 2018, supported by funding from the then County Councillor, Alderman Christine Potts, and joined one of the early Great British Spring Clean-up events organised by Keep Britian Tidy.
A simple scroll through social media shows that they have since met every month. They even continued through Covid making this their socially distant outdoor activity.
“The regulars” including Christine, Lenny, Jean, June, Mary, Anne, Fiona, Marion, the two Kevins and Stuart have lost count of the number of blue bags and associated waste items they have collected and disposed of over the years.
This week was no exception, although they did admit that it’s not usual to pick up a stray supermarket trolley en route.
The Local Government Association estimates that councils spend £1billion per year dealing with litter, fly tipping and cleaning up chewing gum, which costs the average town centre £60,000 per year (up to £56 million for 936 towns in England).
Durham County Council have also recently announced the allocation of an additional £150,000 to its clean-up operation across the county.
This covers a wide range of activities including tidying up areas, deep cleaning footpaths and installing traps to catch litter.
Local litter picking is still however, one of the most effective and powerful way to unite communities and make a visible positive change, empowering individuals to take ownership and feel a sense of pride and responsibility for their local outdoors spaces.
It also has a direct impact on improving your wellbeing, building community connections, protecting wildlife, enhancing public safety and boosting the image of your town.
The Chilton group meet at 10am in front of the Town Council at Hutton House on the first Saturday of the month, pick for an hour, then finish with a well-earned cuppa and biscuits, supplied by Callum in the Wheatsheaf pub (The Bush). They always offer a warm welcome to newcomers.
If you want to get involved, be a “Changemaker for Chilton” and meet some real-life local heroes, come along to the next litter pick. Details are always posted on the Chilton Community Spirit Facebook page.
Ferryhill & Chilton's local community newspaper.
