CleanUp Tenterden Day - a Success!

Well, I never thought the day would arrive, but arrive it did, along with butterflies in the stomach for me (well, those arrived about a week ago and grew steadily worse). Why? Well, I've been planning this since early June, and I was worried that nobody would show up, or worse, only one person showing up. In a way that would be even more of a slap in the face - like a waiter receiving a tip of a penny. People leave no tip, you think they just forgot. They leave a penny, you know you suck. But no matter - it was, as I say, a great day!

The day before Laura and I went to have a look at the area she would be covering - the footpath in the field behind our row of houses in Shrubcote, where the local kids have set up a makeshift football pitch.

A closer looked revealed that she would have her work cut out.

But she was up to the challenge, as shall be revealed later.

Finally, the day itself...
First off, the weather was beautiful. Sunny, warm, and almost no breeze. Easy to put up the gazebo (which we are getting to be old hands at)...

That pale green tablecloth and I go back a loooong way.

Early birds showing up at four minutes past nine, my mother and stepdad (aka Deputy Mayor of Tenterden and her escort). How do I know it was FOUR minutes past? Because that's when I took this photo.

After we'd set up our gazebo with the aid of Justin Nelson (Tenterden's finest legal eagle) and the two Chris's (above) we were ready for the troops to arrive. And arrive they did.

Emma and Penny.

Sis hands out the 20% off coupons for the William Caxton.

A family thing - Heather Crease (centre) with daughters Di (from Transition Llandrindod, left) and Sue.

The piles of bags kept growing as the pickers in their various locales kept picking...

The Rotarians gave it some stick. (Sorry, couldn't resist the awful pun)

We were joined by Jo Vos, our Community Warden, and new PCSO Danielle Parker...

And yes, a few kids were there too...

Laura returned victorious with her bags of trash...

To reward the returning pickers, tea and coffee was kindly provided by Tenterden Leisure Centre...

And cake was provided by my sister and by Jean Curtis, who could not be there...

Penny Swan and Christine enjoy some post-litter picking cake and coffee.

Still the pile grew, until we finished with 32 bags in total.

The glass, cans and cardboard were taken by myself and Fiona Roberts over to the nearby recycling bins behind the Leisure Centre.

Most unusual finds? well, Emma's team found 63p, and someone found this...

We initially thought it was from a belisha beacon, but we don't have any of those in Tenterden. Looking around us we saw that it was clearly the top of a lamppost from the Leisure Centre. I duly returned it to the Leisure Centre, who were pleased to have it back. Apparently people shake the posts and the tops are so loose that they fall off.  Wow, people must be really bored.

So, all things considered it was a successful day. We did what we came to do, got our pictures in the paper (the incredibly tall photographer from the Kentish Express was there), and had a good time. And we'll do it again next year! Next - T3Tea, this coming Saturday, be there at 10 am, Highbury Hall!

Oh, and in case I haven't mentioned it enough, vote for us on the NatWest Community Force website - http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/836  . All you need to do is register and vote away! You may vote three times.