Volunteers in clean-up challenge

SWEEPING up . . . Mayfield Primary School pupils Jordan Hodgkinson, Reece Hawley and Kelly Martin get involved in keeping Oldham tidy

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A PROJECT to clean up Oldham’s streets is sweeping through the borough with more than 100 volunteers involved.

Groundwork Oldham and Rochdale was commissioned by Oldham Council’s Street Scene to run the 20 Ward Challenge, which involves organising a clean-up in each ward each week.

The aim was to encourage local residents to help tidy up the town and take pride in its appearance — and the project has been successfully cleaning up ever since.

It began in November when staff and volunteers from the environmental charity worked with pupils and staff from Mayfield School, Derker, to clear litter and plant bulbs for the spring.

The team has since worked with three schools and 10 groups in four wards of Oldham. More than 110 volunteers have been involved in helping to clear the streets, with over 100 bags of litter collected.

The next clean-up event will be in Werneth on Wednesday.

A wider aim of the initiative is to recognise community members and groups who make an ongoing contribution to improving the environmental quality of their area.

Groundwork project officer Jo Fullman said: “Our aim is to get local residents involved in cleaning up the town. We’ve had a really good response from the residents and community groups so far and hope to continue this as we move through each ward of Oldham.”

Anna Balderstone, of Manchester Methodist Housing, said: “The clean-up event we organised was a good opportunity for our young residents group to show that they can be part of the solution to the litter problem in this area and not part of the problem as they are often perceived to be.”

For more information on the 20 Ward Challenge contact Jo Fullman at Groundwork on 0161-624 1444.