The last day of the school half term holiday, Friday 21st February, saw the long awaited and much anticipated Community Litter Pick take place at Beggarwod Park.
The emphasis was very much on Community, with the event having been jointly planned by The Café in the Park, Hatch Warren Nature Group and us, the Beggarwood Wildlife Group.
Annie and Bill from the Lions Club, local councillor Stacey Hart also joined us along with Gill and field expert Alan from Natural Basingstoke, who also kindly provided an assortment of exhibits to display at his wildlife table in the café, après pick.
At the scheduled start time of 10.30am there were approximately 50 people ready and raring to go, with a good mix of Mums, Dads, Grandparents and Children, all armed with grabbing tools supplied by Basingstoke Council.
After a quick health and safety talk from the Beggarwood Wildlife Group leader Ildiko Seregi the pick began.
Groups of people went off in all direction including Beggarwood Wildlife Group member Mary, who, like the pied piper, seemed to attract the most followers as she headed along the top path and then down to the playground.
Sue headed off to the Holly Blue with her grandchildren and several others to tidy up the Wildlife Meadow and the surrounding areas, while the rest of us cleared around the perimeters of the park.
By the time we all returned to the café a good amount of litter had been collected, and the Council guys were soon there to load it all on to a truck and take it away.
At the end of the pick, we all retreated to the Café where Annie, the local Community ambassador, had prepared some indoor activities to keep the children amused while they ate the free cookies provided by Sophie from the Café.
The Natural Basingstoke table which offered guess the skull, nest, poo and feather activities was very popular.
It was great to see so many people turn out and to get such positive feedback. All in all, it was agreed that the whole thing had been a very worthwhile event which should be repeated sometime in the future.
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