Never Mind The Bollards

The day started and ended with buckets of rain, but the weather gods were on our side allowing for a brief dry spell just for our community mission!

Seven of us arrived by running (Pauline, John and Eimear), cycling (Emma, Sallyann and Phil) and taxi (sorry, injury issues, but I did walk 6k home at the end!!) meeting Elaine and Steve from the Sustrans Liverpool Volunteer Group at the Broadway Bridge. We were shown a steep embankment covered in trees, bushes, brambles and lots and lots of litter!

The Sustrans volunteers do an amazing job keeping the Loop Line in great condition for everyone to enjoy, and their hard work is shown to pay off by the busyness of the line which is used by many walkers, cyclists and runners every day. It's a beautiful 10 mile route through the city from Hunts Cross to Aintree. Elaine also said that the Loop Line had been a bit of a life saver during lockdown, having a space like this to keep busy and enjoy was really valued.

However accessing the embankment to clear up the rubbish is tricky and takes some sure footed, goat like GoodGymers to do the job!

While Eimear, Phil and John did a great job clearing various patches along the route, Pauline and Sallyann worked continuously at the grottiest patch filling bag after bag with rubbish that had been building up all year. Between them they started a book club, collected a bunch of car keys, created a dystopian Mary Poppins tableau, went space hopping, and said it was a load of bollards.

Meanwhile Emma went on a mission unearthing 3 shopping trolleys, 6 car tyres, a calor gas container, a fire hydrant, a TV front, a rather large hammer and a whole bunch of other bargain hunt finds!

After 18 filled bin bags and enough items to fill a scrap yard, our now tyred team shared some chocolate biscuits and trolleyed on home!