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South Leicestershire Litter Wombles receive much needed funding

On Sunday 8th August, member of the Everards team Kia Ryan went to spend the morning with the South Leicestershire Litter Wombles – a group of local litter pickers that were recently successful in their application to the Everards Community Excellence Fund.

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The Everards Community Excellence Fund opened for applications throughout April with £40,000 available to support community projects within a 20-mile radius of an Everards pub, thanks to funds donated by the Everard Family Foundation and Carling.

All entries went through a vigorous judging process with the successful projects going through due diligence in June.

One of these successful projects was the South Leicestershire Litter Wombles, a litter picking group formed in 2019, who pick weekly near several Everards pubs.

“I was really looking forward to joining Bob, Geoff and all the volunteers and seeing what they had spent the money on and how that would have a positive effect on their local community,” said Kia,

"After being involved in the judging process it was lovely to continue the story and meet such a great group of people! Every week founder Bob Lee and his team of volunteers, pick a location suggested by a fellow member and meet up and ‘womble’ around picking up litter for a couple of hours. I was really surprised at the feeling of goodness I got, being up and out early on a Sunday and being part of such a welcoming, happy group - despite the rain showing its face - I must say it’s something I will be returning to do."

The money awarded to this group was relatively small at £350, but this has enabled the group to invest in quality equipment that they lend out to volunteers and helps them to keep their local areas clean and tidy and nicer for all.

“I asked Geoff and Tom why” said Kia, “why we would possibly need groups like this to go out and litter pick and didn’t it upset them that we had to do this? They were ready with a response, so I assume they get asked this a lot. There are 2,700 roads in South Leicestershire alone, and with two sides to every road, it’s a big job that the council on their own can’t keep up with. On a 2-hour pick of a Sunday they can fill up to 320 bags of rubbish if they get a large group of volunteers show up! They will soon have collected enough rubbish this year to fill the King Power Stadium!

Whilst I was there, we found masks, gloves, cans, food wrappers and used syringes and just as we were wrapping up a couple of volunteers came along with a shopping trolley they’d fished out of a hedge!

As sad as it is that people litter, it has given way to a great group of people coming together weekly, getting out in the fresh air, and doing something good for their community. Every volunteer I chatted with said it was quite addictive and that it boosted their mental health – it even got some of them through the pandemic - and made them feel good!"

If you would like to join the group, you don’t have to sign up and you don’t have to commit to going every week, just follow their Facebook page and get in touch with Bob and the team.

You will be welcomed and provided with everything you need to become a womble and make a difference in your community.

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