By Diane Wailes
When storms are blowing litter all around our town, it’s easy to tut and complain, but one man decided to do something about it!
Local man, David O’Toole, took it upon himself to clear up the litter that had blown up from the bins on the Fish Quay and accumulated in front of the new flats on Brewhouse Bank. He posted some ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos on Facebook and, within a few days, the pictures had received over 400 likes. Encouraged by the response, he decided to set up a community Facebook group for litter pick volunteers, and the rest, as they say, is history!
North Shields Litter Pickers believe that “North Shields is a lovely place, it just needs a bit of TLC”. As David says, “If you’re interested in making North Shields a cleaner place, drinking coffee, meeting people from Shields or are interested in people who are, you’re in the right place”.
The group now has over 50 members, with more people joining every week. One of the volunteers, Dave Shaw, describes himself as ‘The Meadow Well Womble’. He goes out litter picking a couple of times each week and has collected an amazing 100+ bags of rubbish from his local area since the start of the year!
If you’d like to get involved, you can either join the group – North Shields Litter Pickers – on Facebook, or leave your contact details at Reception at The Meadows Community Centre on Waterville Road, and they’ll pass them on to David O’Toole.
