'Phenomenal' turnout as 55 bags of rubbish cleared in Kettering litter pick

An incredible 75 volunteers came out in force to clear litter from a much-loved Kettering beauty spot at the weekend.

Kettering's Green Party organised the litter pick for the Save Weekley Hall Wood campaign on Saturday (July 18) to tidy up the woodland and meadow.

They urged an army of volunteers to join them and the people of Kettering delivered - making it the largest-attended litter pick in Kettering one of the organisers, Dez Dell, knows of.

In total 55 bags of waste were cleared from the wood and meadow, of which part is under threat from a bid to turn it into warehouses.

Dez said: "Thank you to everyone that donated their morning to litter picking at the threatened Weekley Hall Wood and wildflower meadow.

"This was the largest attended litter pick in Kettering that I know of, with 75 volunteers helping.

"The fact that everyone cared so much to clean up is really inspirational - especially all the kids who got to enjoy picking with the dinosaur litter pickers.

"It shows how much local residents really care for this beautiful area and don't want to see it bulldozered to make way for warehousing. 55 bags is the most that has been ever found on any of our litter picks."

Items collected included plumbing waste, plastic bags, bottles and old oil containers.

Keira Dell (12), the niece of organiser Dez, said: "I'm astounded at how much we got but I'm glad we did something for the earth.

"The amount of campsites we found was bad but we cleaned lots up. I hope others will try to do what we did, and make a small but important decision to pick up a piece of litter every once in a while."

The organisers thanked Kettering Council's street cleansing team for lending litter pickers, hoops and bags.

The litter was left by the lay-by bin to be collected today.