Hurst villagers clear 18 tyres in weekend litter pick
A COMMUNITY has collected more than 100 sacks of rubbish thatwere tossed into ditches and hedges around their area, writes Sue Corcoran.
Wokingham borough councillor for Hurst, CllrWayne Smith delivered packs of litter picking sticks, high-viz jackets and sacks to around 35 familieswho cleared up many roads in the village.
Then last weekend a residents’ taskforce assembled, distanced, to tackle a mile of the A321 from Forest Road to Pound Lane.
Among their haul were 18 old tyres, large parts of cars which had been in crashes and many empty bottles and cans.
The caring community’s good deed had taken aweek up to Sunday, but it continues into thisweek.
Cllr Smith said: “It’s quite disgusting that people feel they can just chuck rubbish into any area.
“We’re very fortunate we have the great community thatwe have who turn out to help.
“Usually, we would have a big litter pick centred on one day.
“Butwe need to keep distanced now because of Covid-19. We also gave residents the chance to choose when theywanted to litter pick, in their own time.”
Last year, Hurst had more than 100 piles of fly tipping reported to Wokingham borough.
But Hurst wasn’t theworst.
In the ranking of 17 borough areas Hurst was number nine, with 17 the highest.
Cllr Smith said: “In Hurst we have a brilliant community which is supported by Hurst Residents Facebook page which has grown from 50 members before the first lockdown to 744 now.”
The village’s band of 60 volunteers has provided vital helpwith shopping, medicines and friendship to vulnerable and isolated people.
“Hurst people are still helping in the present lockdown, that’s part of life here. It’s brilliant,” he added.