by Rebecca Hannant
Members of the community joined forces with a local bike hire firm to clean up Hornsea.
On Saturday, March 25, Shark eBikes held a litter pick to coincide with Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean.
On the day, a number of people got involved, including children as young as seven. The project was also joined by members from the voluntary litter picking group CLiPS.
Throughout the three-hour litter pick, the team picked up rubbish from areas that needed the most attention. They collected 11 bags of waste totalling about 42kg. All items collected were disposed of in the correct manner.
A Shark eBikes spokesman said: “We wanted to work together with our local community in Hornsea to back a better environment for both locals and visitors, but we also wanted to create an opportunity for people to get together, chat and meet new friends.”
Jane Denton, of CLiPS, said: “I spent a wonderful three hours joining in with a fantastic community litter pick around Hornsea.
“This was organised by the very community- centred Shark eBikes, based on the industrial estate in between Woods and the solicitors. About a dozen of us went to various locations around the town and this long walk just made me think about what a super place this is to live and bring up a family.
“Hornsea has many regular litter pickers. Some are affiliated to voluntary groups, some work for the local councils, some are groups of children and others are people who just do it anyway because they love to.
“All these people are of equal value – there are no league tables in litter picking because there is nothing remotely competitive about it.”
In recent years, numerous groups of all ages have developed an enthusiasm for keeping the town tidy.
Jane said this could in part be traced back to the opening of the Plastic Free Hornsea voluntary group which runs its operation from a seafront Eco Hub. She added: “Its origins began with a young man bringing his family to live here and doing beach cleaning every Sunday morning. This soon attracted interest from others.
“A group was formed and in 2018 they went on to gain the Surfers Against Sewage Plastic Free Community accreditation for the town because of the huge support from local businesses wanting to be part of the change.”
Jane said that businesses in the town had also joined the Water Refill scheme to reduce the number of plastic bottles. According to Jane, Hornsea has the highest number of water refill stations per capita of population than any other East Yorkshire town.
She added: “Our public gardens are lovely. The hard-working Hornsea Town Council gardening team are out in all weathers 12 months of the year keeping us shipshape, and their work is ably supplemented by a volunteer gardening group that spruces up neglected corners and by individual residents under planting their own road signs to brighten their habitat.
“East Riding Council always has something in the pipeline in the way of improvements and repairs as there is always planning for these things going on quietly behind the scenes.
“Time and time again, Hornsea is named as a ‘destination’ town and resort, and it isn’t hard to see why. We have the wonderful sea front with many facilities and a clean beach, the Hornsea Hub, the Floral Hall, a wealth of fine pubs, cafés and eateries, treasured independent shops, B&Bs, the vast Hall Garth Park, the Memorial Gardens, the Hornsea Rail Trail and more activities to choose from than anyone has time for.
“There is a wealth of voluntary groups here that anyone can join, all working together equally for the common good. All of this supports good mental health and wellbeing.”
Following the success of the litter pick, Shark eBikes is looking to run similar events in the future.
For more information on CLiPS, visit its Facebook page CLiPS – Community and Litter Picking Services.
