Volunteers From halow Group Help Clean Up Open Spaces In Westborough

Published on: 19 Dec, 2014
Updated on: 19 Dec, 2014

A group of young people from the halow project did some great work helping to tidy up two open spaces in Westborough and Park Barn.

The team that took part in the tidy up in Westborough and Park Barn.

Six members of halow’s Building Futures Group (BFG) and their support volunteers went on a litter and rubbish pick at the open space behind Foxburrows Avenue and then on to the woodland at the ‘reservoir site’ off Woodside Road.

Joining In! co-ordinator David Rose helped to organise the afternoon with help from Guildford Borough Council community warden Tracy James.

She arranged, via the council’s cleansing department, for equipment, gloves, plastic sacks, and so on, for the team to use. They also used facilities at the Park Barn Centre for their lunch and a well-earned afternoon tea break.

Checking the bushes for litter.

The afternoon was enjoyed by all and very productive.

Along with the usual discarded litter, such as bottles and plastic, among the more unusual items collected included a pair of garden chairs, a metal bumper from a car, a bike wheel and another wheel and tyre from a vehicle of some kind.

One of the larger items found.

Smaller items were bagged up and placed with the larger finds at several convenient locations from which they were collected by GBC’s cleansing team the following morning.

The clean-up came about following discussions with the BFG’s assistant co-ordinator Melanie Simmonds and Alison Marshman from Voluntary Action South West Surrey’s Welcome to Volunteering project.

Is this any good?

Joining In! co-ordinator David Rose said: “It worked really well, bringing everyone together from halow, Guildford Borough Council and ourselves at Voluntary Action. Everyone really enjoyed themselves and we hope to repeat these clean ups. We also have a number of other projects which young people from halow can volunteer helping out it the community.”

Community warden Tracy James added: “Taking opportunity to support young adults attending from the halow project was fantastic. The group were really keen to undertake the litter picking tasks as set and they completed an amazing job in just a few hours.

“Teamwork in this case as in so many others, really makes a difference and even a task such as litter clearance in good company can be great fun! Thanks must be offered to GBC’s cleansing team for their support in enabling the equipment to be used on the day and the removal of the litter/items as collected.

“Those using the green space areas in and near the new Fitness Trail route will also have noticed a difference to the wooded areas nearby. We are already looking forward to additional projects with halow next year.”

Bagging up the litter and other rubbish

halow is a Surrey-based charity that supports more than 150 young people with a learning difficulty to have the same life choices and chances as any other young person.

Piling up the rubbish ready for GBC’s cleansing department to take away.

The halow project’s Building Futures Group (BFG) programme is dedicated to creating opportunities and supporting young people aged 16 to 35 with a learning disability so that they are able independent, meaningful fulfilled lives and become more involved in their local community.

The BFG runs four days a week from September to July. BFG provides life-skills training to prepare young people for independence, developing self confidence, leadership and team work.

Click here for more details about halow’s BFG.

For more details about Voluntary Action’s Welcome to Volunteering service, click here.

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