Keep Britain Tidy: Great British Spring Clean is coming to a place near you

Stand by your brooms, bins and bags – the Great British Spring Clean is coming to a place near you.

Early next month, the campaign – backed by the Keep Britain Tidy Group and a host of commercial household names including Lidl, Costa, McDonalds and Coca Cola – aims to recruit a half million strong army of volunteers nationwide. Their mission – get outdoors,  get active and help clear up the rubbish all around us.

Community groups in and around Manchester have signed up to tackle local clean-up projects over the weekend of March 3th – 5th and organisers of the Great British Spring Clean are inviting more groups to register during the next three weeks leading up to the big event and grab a spring clean kit via the website.

The campaign has one simple ambition – to bring together like-minded people from all walks of life to clear up the litter that blights our cities, towns, villages, countryside and coastline.

“But it’s not just about picking up litter,” said a spokesman. “It’s also about sending a clear signal to those who drop the litter that there is a growing movement of people who find their behaviour unacceptable.

“We’re calling on individuals, community groups, charities, sports clubs, business, local authorities and many more to sign up and take part.”

Manchester projects registered so far include:

• A clean up of the Shiredale Estate in Harpurhey organised by the Shout Tenant Management Organisation. Shout – Shiredale Housing Outraged Tenants – having stopped the city council demolishing the estate in 1999, maintain a keen sense of local pride.
• Pupils from Broad Oak Primary School, East Didsbury, will join forces with local community church volunteers to spring clean nearby Fletcher Moss Park.
• The Southway Housing Trust is organising a “Love Your Neighbourhood” team to cover the Welsh Estate and Ladybarn, picking up litter and reporting defects in the area. All materials and equipment will be provided on the day.
• Feel the Rhythm Clean Up will see pupils of Heald Place Primary School, Rusholme, tackling problems caused by fly tipping en excessive littering on a piece of nearby neglected land. They’ll also weed out raised beds and plant bulbs.
• In Moss Side, a community group will come together to collect litter, sweep and tidy Roberts Avenue and Playfair Street, including the green between Roberts Avenue and Flamborough Walk.
• The Henderson Street Neighbourhood Ginnel Clean Up will involve local residents collecting litter ahead of a planned Ginnel Festival in May.
• The Ancoats Canal Project will see volunteers engaged in maintenance and a clean-up aimed at raising awareness of the city’s canals and encouraging more people to use them.

And don’t forget that I Love MCR is organising its own Spring Clean on Sunday, 2nd April to tackle a litter blackspot nominated by you.