A group of litter picking volunteers who have been helping to keep Hartlebury Common tidy have been rewarded for their efforts, receiving a commendation award at the BBC Hereford & Worcester’s Make A Difference Awards.
The group were recognised for their environmental work and the positive impact their work has had in clearing Hartlebury Common, the biggest project, The Pickup Artists have ever taken on.
The clean-up has taken three years, over 500 volunteer hours and has been supported by £26,000 worth of funding and team support from Worcestershire County Council.
The Worcestershire County Council Greenspace Team spent over 370 hours clearing the overgrowth so that the volunteers could reach the fly tipped rubbish and litter.
In October 2018, the group of litter picking volunteers the Pickup Artists arranged to pick up the litter around Hartlebury Common’s nature reserve with Worcestershire County Council’s Greenspace Team and the Hartlebury Common Local Group (HCLG).
Headed up by Keep Britain Tidy litter heroes Ambassador Karen Blanchfield and Pauline Round, who both volunteer for the Pickup Artists, the group were shown around the fly tipped area with Martin Barnett, Worcestershire County Council’s Countryside Officer and asked if they would help them to clean it up.
Martin Barnett, Countryside Sites Officer for Worcestershire County Council, said: “It was an honour to be at the West Midlands Safari Park last night and to see the team be commended for all they have done on Hartlebury Common. The Lower Heath project is a great challenge for all involved.”
Councillor Marcus Hart, Cabinet Member for Communities at Worcestershire County Council, said, “I’m really pleased that the team have received a commendation for their hard work and dedication, it couldn’t be more deserving I’m really grateful to BBC Hereford and Worcester for shining a spotlight for what has been a massive team effort to clean up Hartlebury Common, and a fantastic example of what can happen when communities come together with a common goal.”
Karen Blanchfield, Litter Heroes Ambassador for Keep Britain Tidy and member of the Pickup Artists said: “Normally I’m one of many words but when Martin showed us the area in question, it left me speechless at the sheer size of the fly-tipped area. To me it looked like a landfill site higher than 3 metres tall and it stretched 100’s of yards. How and where would we start was in my head but knowing our fantastic community of volunteers that we are blessed to have, we agreed to just start somewhere. That somewhere lead to us to take on the biggest project the pickup artists have ever seen. It was lovely to be able to celebrate the success of this project with the award celebration especially taking some of the team with us. The project is ongoing, and we will continue to volunteer time to keep our local nature reserve fly-tipped and litter free.”
Excavators were needed to remove tons of heavy fly tipped domestic waste, skips and trailers were filled with thousands of bags of litter over the period of the three years.
Lockdown saw the team put the clear up on hold for 6 months that unfortunately saw a rise once again in fly tipping on the common. This did not stop them; they just picked up their pickers and carried on with the job in hand
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