People in Livingston have been proving community spirit is very much alive in lockdown by making sure everyone can enjoy getting outdoors.
The Deridge Community Litter Pickers have been cleaning up the area for everyone to enjoy.
Joyce Robertson, who has lived in Dedridge for 30 years, said she had noticed littering was getting worse and so started to clean up around the area with her two children using cheap litter pickers.
She explained: “I was aware of one or two people who regularly cleared around a local children’s play park and at that time there was little activity. I posted on our local Dedridge Facebook page and was contacted by Carol Salem from West Lothian Litter Pickers (WLLP) in September last year. I got my upmarket kit from her which made clearing much easier.
“I reached out to our community through our Facebook page and slowly got a handful of people involved then Karon Langan came on board, originally to get pickers for herself and husband and things really took off.
“Karon and I work in tandem with equipment and new volunteers and Karon organises group litter picks and calculates statistics required by the council of number of people, bags and hours.
“Karon organises group litter picks at weekends, with social distancing of course, some residents go out themselves regularly and some form smaller groups and meet up during the week.
“Everybody brings positivity and energy, people who have lived in this area are getting to know each other, sharing stories and giggles. If it wasn’t for litter picking it would be unlikely that this community spirit would exist.
“Karon named the group which gave the group an identity. The part I always think is a huge positive is inclusion and the community spirit. Mental health is a huge issue just now and I know the group has helped people pull together.
“The moral of the story is just that, people pulling together and doing good, as opposed to complaining and waiting on someone else to do something.”
Karon continued: “We currently have 40 Dedridge volunteers in our group plus five regular volunteers from WLLP.
“We are working together to make Dedridge cleaner and it is already looking amazing.
“Since November, or so since we started recording stats, we have had 116 people out across 40 litter picks, some bigger groups, some single people, but all with the community pulling together and spreading the word.
“We have collected 218 bags of rubbish, along with some interesting items including an ironing board, hoovers, TVs, traffic cones, scooters, bikes and many single boots and shoes.
“It works out on average with each person doing 65.5 hours of litter picking and totalling 233 hours so far.
“With each litter pick and Facebook post, more and more people keep coming on board, which is amazing.
“It has been a joy to go out with everyone.
“I find every session is full of energy and positivity. We have had adults and kids joining in. I even remember one boy saying: ‘I thought this was going to be dead boring, but it’s been fun’.
“He even managed to take a football home that he found. We have a few streets that still don’t have any volunteer litter pickers in them, but hopefully that will change.”
Anyone who lives in Herald, Kenilworth, Nigel, Palmer, Peveril or Talisman Rise and Alexander Drive can get in touch with Joyce by emailing joycerobertson6@hotmail.com.
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