Hundreds of volunteers joined in this year’s national Great British Spring Clean that recently took place in parks across the borough.
The mass action clean-up, organised by Litter Action Group for Ealing Residents, better known as LAGER Can, saw local people put in more than 1,300 volunteering hours. And it led to 2,500 bags of rubbish being collected from 146 parks and open spaces across the borough’s 7 towns.
With support from Ealing Council’s park rangers and other staff, as well as school groups and residents, the group spent 2 weeks in March litter-picking, reporting fly-tips and pulling the community together to get the job done.
This was the second year the award-winning community group led the charge to ‘spring clean’ the parks. LAGER Can has taken on similar challenges in previous years and received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS) in 2021, which is the equivalent of an MBE for voluntary groups.
‘It only takes a small group to make a colossal impact’
Cathy Swift, who runs the group, said: “It always warms my heart to see so many people step up to the plate. Our message is that anybody can get involved in making their environment cleaner, and it only takes a very small group of people to make a colossal impact.
“We have a very extensive programme of group events so people can either work on their own, or with a friend, or they can join a group event. We try to make it easy as possible for everybody who wants to join in.”
LAGER Can volunteer Tricia, who works at Derwentwater Primary School in Acton, organised for a group of children to join in with the spring clean clear-up in Springfield Gardens, Acton.
She said: “We had 24 students from years 4-6 take part in the event. The kids were thrilled the be doing their part, and for many of them it was the first time they had litter picked. We collected 13 bags of rubbish.”
Keep the momentum going
If you would like to become a LAGER Can volunteer, you can join its Facebook group, or email the team at lagercan2020@gmail.com
If you want to arrange your own community litter-picking event, any time of year, the council can give you equipment to help you do this. You can also arrange for the bags to be collected when you have finished. Find out more on the council’s website.
