Whetstone’s been wombled !!
We’ve Been Wombled!!
Residents of Whetstone could be forgiven if they thought aliens from above had dropped dozens of bags of rubbish overnight on Saturday 11th January on the corner of Cemetery Road! In fact, Whetstone had been targeted by the South Leicestershire Litter Wombles (‘Wombles’ for short), headed up by Bob Lee, Mastermind of the group, which now boasts after only being operational since March last year, several hundred active volunteer followers mainly located in South Leicestershire but now fast becoming county-wide.
The Wombles take it upon themselves, individually or in groups, to seek out locations where there is a litter problem that needs cleaning up – and there are many, many places to choose from! As residents of Whetstone, we thought it was a fairly clean village but how wrong we were! We’d observed over a few months how much rubbish is deposited on our highways and byways and we were quite angry that folk are happy to treat our much loved village as a dumping ground for their waste. In fact, certain areas around Whetstone have already undergone a couple of litter picks last year.
Glass bottles, some still containing alcohol, empty drinks cans, empty nitrous oxide canisters, nappies, dog poo bags that should be deposited into specific waste bins, car tyres & other car parts including door panels, etc. fast food containers, plastics of all descriptions that just will not decompose, a bathroom sink pedestal, a typist’s chair recklessly thrown into the brook, food wrappers, etc. etc. the list continues and is endless, were all picked up by around 30 enthusiastic volunteers on Saturday morning. Volunteers worked for around 3 hours spread out around the perimeter of the village in all directions and their bounty amounted to 75 bags of pure unwanted dross discarded at will on the pavements, roadside, hedges, ditches, the brook by thoughtless people who care little for their environment.
There are plenty of excuses for dumping rubbish but there is absolutely NO reason to do so!
By way of a huge blessing, the empty aluminium drinks cans that are tossed into ditches and hedges, can, in fact, be turned into something amazing. The Wombles have teamed up with The Rotary Club of Leicester Novus which has an aim of saving empty crushed aluminium cans (1 million!) that will go towards being recycled and funding the cost of a new helipad for Leicester Royal Infirmary. This may be news for many people but the great thing is, every can saved will be a can towards this amazing new facility for the people of Leicester and beyond. The helipad will be used by Air Ambulance to land emergency cases for treatment at the LRI. So everyone – we are putting a plea out to SAVE YOUR EMPTY CANS – they are valuable! We’d welcome support in collecting cans from local church groups, schools, businesses, friends, family, neighbours, in fact anyone who has an interest in helping to fund this valuable resource for our community. Please pass the word along.
South Leicestershire Litter Wombles – Our slogan: Action Not Words!
Please feel free to contact the following for more information:-
Bob Lee – via the ‘South Leicestershire Litter Wombles’ facebook page
Geoff Walker – via the ‘South Leicestershire Litter Wombles’ facebook page
Leslie & June McWatt, Whetstone residents & volunteer Wombles via the ‘South Leicestershire Litter Wombles’ facebook page