Picking it up as we go along

This warm July evening marked Windsor and Maidenhead's first group litter pick. Newcomer Elly (a big welcome to you!) asked Amy how it all works and Amy had to admit she really had no idea...Luckily we had Slough Taskforce member and litter picking expert Jen with us, as well as lots of other brilliant and lovely people (Ana, Charlotte, Rheka, Tara and Wendy that's you!) so we had no trouble picking it up as we went along...

We met outside Maidenhead's Coppa Club and agreed it was a good thing it was closed, or we might have been too tempted by cool drinks and not have made it much further. We devised a divide and conquer strategy and set off in three small groups heading South along different routes, converging and diverging at various points along York Stream in a sociable yet distanced fashion.

And my goodness did we conquer! We're not just talking quantity - the expected cigarette butts, cans, bottles, snack wrappers - but quality too. If, that is, you define the quality of your haul by its bizarre and grotesque nature. Some of the more surprising items included:

• A stick-on bra (the bust of all the jokes)
• A set of false nails and a pile of hair trimmings (evidence of illicit manicuring and barbering during lockdown or something more sinister??)
• A black t-shirt
• A metal spoon and broken bowl
• The oxygen tank for a Lego mini-figure

Litter is a bit rubbish, but it was a lovely evening to be out along Maidenhead's Waterways - discovering new paths, admiring the wild-flowers and seeing swans and ducks. It was great to revisit the Green Lane weir, where we recently had a weir-ly pun-derful community mission helping Maidenhead Waterways clear weeds from the channel (link to that run report here), and where we hope to return on a regular basis. It was also heart-warming how many passers-by thanked us for our efforts.

We in turn owe a huge thanks to Councillor Phil Haseler, who lent us litter pickers and hoops. If you are interested in joining one of Cllr Haseler's group litter picks in Cox Green click this link to join his Facebook group, where he posts details. Don't forget that if you do good deeds like this outside of official GoodGym activities you can still log them through your GoodGym profile so that they contribute to your numbers. This is important if you like cake because we celebrate milestone numbers of good deeds with cake! As an aside, is anyone any good at making cake? We are going to need a lot of cake...