Bin There, Dump That!

Our job was to spruce up the surrounding streets and green spaces to help make it a cleaner, nicer place to live. Litter picking equipment was provided by Haydon Wick Parish Council.

Tonight we had an amazing turnout from lots of our newer members. We salute you! The getting-to-know-you question was on the worst item of clothing ever owned. So now we all know who had shell suits with poppers down the side, a paisley shirt and dungarees combo and a onesie that does up over the head in the fashion of a body bag!!

As this week was one of our longest runs, we split into two groups – the steadies who were in the capable and charming hands of Charles on his first official run lead, and the speedies led by Emma The Trainer and back marked by Mike.

there was a slightly smaller splinter group of one who had to leave the group after the intro and drive to the task due to injury. How convenient that the meeting point was a local pub – just time for a quick drink and a packet of crisps before the runners arrived!

A member of Haydon Wick Parish Council met us at the pub with the grabbers and the bags ready to spruce up the area. People are asked to dispose of their litter in the bins but sometimes they refuse.

With no time to waste, we popped on our high vis vests – safety first! - and split into two groups. A few of us live in this part of town and it’s extra nice to be helping out in our local hood! We quickly realised that we had probably come to the cleanest part of the town! We really had to keep our eyes peeled to spot anything and the excitement levels soared when one of us found something. There were almost a few scuffles over whose grabber would do the grabbing! Desperate to fill our bin bags, we headed over the road to Moulden Hill Country Park where we thought we might have more success with our treasure hunt. Not much luck there either and we think overall we may have found more frogs than litter but...

the weather was dry, the chat was good, and a few who had arrived with the grumps and needed a pick-me-up left feeling much better after their weekly dose of GoodGym magic.

Next up in our exciting calendar of events we will be running approximately 3km in total; to Swindon's Steam Museum and back, to help with some clearing, weeding and litter picking in the traverser. Steam, Museum of the Great Western Railway is housed in a restored grade II railway building in the heart of the former Swindon Railway Works. Sign up here!