BRIGHTENING OUR STREETS
A group that is making things look nicer
My Green Valley Swansea Valley
When Laura Santiago moved to this beautiful part of south Wales four years ago, she was shocked at the amount of litter. “People didn’t seem to notice
– it was like litter had become part of the landscape,” she says. Instead of moaning, she decided to do something and put out a call on Facebook to organise a litter pick. Kerina Lake responded and together they ran the first one two years ago in Pontardawe and set up My Green Valley. Their ‘picks’ quickly became social events. “In lockdown, group events weren’t possible so we started loaning out litter picking kits for families to take on their daily exercise, and they’ve carried on.”
There are now more than 160 regular volunteers helping to clean up their area. “If you can think of it, we’ve found it,” says Laura, for whom My Green Valley has become what she does most days. “The councils are supportive, taking the waste away, local primary schools have got involved, and we’re finding new schemes to get things recycled. We’re also going to be creating a community garden at a disused chapel in Trebanos.”
Our reader nominator sums it up: ‘Simple, cheap, vital for public health – homemade fun with attitude!’ facebook.com/mygreenvalleyorg
Nominated by Heather Pudner WE ALSO LOVED Knighton Wild Knighton, Leicestershire
A volunteer group who tend to a pocket of green space in the city. So far they’ve sown a meadow, put up bird boxes and bug homes and organised a river of painted stones in lockdown to promote togetherness. knightonwild.org.uk
Nominated by Lucy Baker