I was doing my grit for common sense

Reporter: Karen Doherty
Date online: 29 December 2011

Derek revealed as a Good Samaritan
A WHITE van man who was pictured taking grit from a bin in Grains Bar has been unmasked as a Good Samaritan.

Derek Hawkins was returning from church when he loaded grit from the bin in Oldham Road into his van and used it to treat an icy corner on Hillside Avenue, Shaw.

There is no grit bin at that location and he has contacted the council to try and get one installed — even offering to deliver it himself.

He often grits icy roads he comes across and contacted the Chronicle after a concerned resident photographed him taking grit from the bin.

Mr Hawkins (47), a stonemason, made sure that he left grit in the bin at Grains Bar and denied that he left the the lid open, explaining: “I was just doing my ‘grit’ for common sense.

“I am a born-again-Christian so I like doing good work. I went to church in the morning and thought ‘I have got to go and grit that bit of road’.”

Mr Hawkins, of George, Street, Shaw, attends New Life Church, Failsworth, and is involved in several church projects. These include the Eden in Limeside, Street Link, Street Pastors and the Street Angels who have been helping town-centre clubbers to stay safe

He previously lived in Bingley, West Yorkshire, and featured in the local paper when he did up the garden of a family who had suffered a race-hate campaign.

Mr Hawkins, who is married, vowed to continue doing his bit, but also praised Oldham’s team of street gritters.

He stayed at the isolated Waterman’s Cottage, Castleshaw, on a holiday let last winter and added: “When we lived at the cottage we saw first hand the great job the gritters did to get the roads open.”