A group of green-minded volunteers spent the day clearing rubbish from the Transpennine Trail between Skelton Grange Environment Centre and Thwaite Mills Watermill Museum in a Big Tidy Up event. The trail, alongside the Aire & Calder Navigation, is very popular with cyclists, walkers and anglers, but is sadly often used for fly tipping or careless littering.
Thirty one bags of rubbish were collected during the day, and they were shuttled to a skip in an eco-friendly way by using a bicycle trailer. The event was organised by BTCV Skelton Grange Environment Centre, and was supported by volunteer rangers from Sustrans, as well as the Thwaite Mills Watermill Museum.
"It was really satisfying to clean up this trail, as a lot of our staff and volunteers cycle to work along it every day", said Project Officer Toby Roberts. "It's a great area for spotting wildlife, so it's great to get rid of the rubbish that can really ruin the view, and keep it clean and safe for everyone."
Skelton Grange Environment Centre is an innovative environmental education project in South Leeds, which is a partnership between BTCV and National Grid with support from Leeds City Council. It offers a range of fun, hands-on environmental education activities for schoolchildren which aim to encourage an interest in the natural world.
BTCV is supporting the Big Tidy Up, the country's biggest ever litter tidy up, organised by Keep Britain Tidy. See www.bigtidyup.org.