VOLUNTEERS came together to tackle a notorious fly-tipping hot spot in Orford.

The team from the Warrington litter networks came together in collaboration with the ‘Healthy Neighbours Project’ to spend their weekend cleaning up Orford.

Beky Wakefield, the volunteer coordinator for the ‘Healthy Neighbours Project – Orford’, organised a community litter pick on the Grasmere Avenue estate on Saturday, October 1.

The area, which is notorious for fly tipping, was given a thorough clean up by 12 volunteers from the Orford, Poplars and Hulme litter network, along with the extra helping hands of Cllr Nathan Sudworth and local PCSO Dean Pritchard.

Beky said: “The volunteers were keen and eager to make a positive difference to the area and help make it a nicer, tidier place to live for the residents.

“The local residents were very grateful, one kind gentleman thanked me for what we were doing as he walked past me down a path.”

The participants were split into two teams, blue team and red team, for the ‘brilliant’ litter pick and headed out from Radley Common community centre.Warrington Guardian: Helpful volunteers collected 65 bags of rubbish within 2 hours.Helpful volunteers collected 65 bags of rubbish within 2 hours. (Image: Newsquest)

Volunteers in the red team targeted one side of Grasmere Avenue, taking in Quail Close and up to Linnet close.

While volunteers on the blue team tackled the other side of Grasmere Avenue and headed into Avocet Close up to Bittern close.

In just two hours, the two teams managed to fill 65 bags of litter ready to be collected by the council on Monday.

After their hard work, the group joined back together at the Radley Common community centre at 4pm to enjoy some well-earned tea, coffee, hot soup, and cakes.

“A Massive thanks to Dave Appleton, Coop Member Pioneer Champion in Warrington, for donating the refreshments, fruit, cake and biscuits for the volunteers to enjoy,” Beky said.

The litter picks that are carried out within the area are part of the ‘Healthy Neighbours Project’ started by North-West charity, Torus Foundation.

With the aim of the project to ‘empower’ people to become ‘agents of change’ within their communities and tackle local health concerns.

And the project targets Liverpool, St Helens and Warrington, with Torus working with local partners such as ‘The Roy Humphreys Centre’ in Longford, who helped organise the Orford litter pick.

More upcoming organised litter picks are in the pipeline, with one planned for Sunday, October 16 and another for Friday, October 28.

If you would like to get involved contact Beky at beky_hnproject@outlook.com