My mum, queen of the litter-pickers
When my mother Audrey Shorer started litter-picking in her local park, Seven Kings, in Ilford, East London, 12 years ago, she didn’t realise that she would end up transforming her local community for the better. She contacted the local council and her enthusiasm for regenerating the park fired them up. Over a decade, she has organised the planting of 100 saplings, cleared the riverbank of Seven Kings water, created an orchard of apples, pears and plums, and overseen the planting of more than 1,000 spring bulbs. Mum worked closely with a local school to include children with special needs, accompanied by their teachers, in her litter-picking. She campaigned to restore the park’s bandstand and booked musicians and bands to play there, from jazz and reggae to folk and heavy rock. She’s always had a great community spirit. In her younger days, she ran a youth club at the local church, keeping many youngsters on the straight and narrow by giving them the skills to make better choices in the future. Every week she works with Age UK as a telephone befriender, talking with lonely people who just need a friendly voice on the phone, helping raise their spirits to cope with their daily lives. She has published three books and sang with a gospel choir. At 90, she certainly likes to keep busy!
MIKE SHORER, Newhaven, E. Sussex. LITTERInG isn’t always the fault of the public. Last week, I drove home on the A47 bypass from norwich following a bin lorry that was spewing papers and litter all the way. The rubbish got caught in the branches of trees and was scattered over the verges.
BARBARA LYON, Dereham, Norfolk. DRIVInG via the A2/M2 to Dover, I was shocked to see the amount of litter on the verges and central carriageways. Much of it had obviously been there for months. For anyone arriving in Dover, what a dreadful first impression they must get of our country.