More volunteers wanted

We are keen for others in our community to offer a hand in our litter picking endeavours, please drop us an email if you have any questions or comments.

The Keep Britian Tidy website offers lots of subject relevent information: www.keepbritaintidy.org

Previous litter pick events

11 November 2023

Six SRA members cleared seven bags of litter.

9 September 2023

Seven volunteers cleared ten bags of litter and removed many weeds cluttering the central isle of the Shaw Village Centre.

13 May 2023

A few SRA members cleared one bag of litter.

26 November 2022

Six SRA members plus another volunteer cleared ten bags of litter and removed weeds from the plant beds.

29 October 2022

Six SRA members plus one new volunteer cleared seven bags of litter and removed weeds from the plant beds.

17 September 2022

Seven SRA members cleared eight bags of litter and removed weeds from the Shaw Village Centre plant beds. We remain hopeful that the Parish Council will introduce an improved garden maintenance schedule for the Centre once they take on ownership in the coming months.

2 July 2022

Seven SRA members cleared 11 bags of litter and removed many weeds from the Shaw Village Centre plant beds.

9 April 2022

Four SRA members cleared four bags of litter.

2 March 2022

Five SRA members cleared five bags of litter.

6 November 2021

Five SRA members and one supporter cleared six bags of litter from around the Shaw / Ramleaze area and continued with some weeding of the Shaw Village Centre.

11 September 2021

Four SRA members collected four bags of litter from around the Shaw / Ramleaze area and weeded part of the Shaw Village center

14 August 2021

Six SRA members collected six bags of litter from around the Shaw / Ramleaze area and weeded part of the Shaw Village center.

10 October 2020

The team of eight people worked in a non-group related way and cleared 11 bags of litter from the area.

14 September 2019

Just four of use worked hard litter picking and weeding the village Center

28 October 2017

Nine people collected 20 bags of litter in the autumn sunshine. A special thanks to Liz from Toothill who responded to the West Swindon Facebook posting and came along to help out.

23 September 2017

The usual suspects turned out again in the early Autumn sunshine. Between the twelve of us we collected about 20 bags of litter and 10 bags of weeds. Sadly, posting on Facebook does not seem to be inspiring any new people to come along and help.

8 July 2017

Another good turnout on a hot sunny day. About 14 volunteers collected an estimates 25 bags of litter and 5 bags of weeds. That said, the challenge to get the Village centre weeds under control is simply not possible unless we get many more volunteers for that task. Three people cleared some of the weeds, but it needs at least ten people to make a real impact!

29 May 2017

Good turnout with seven non-SRA volunteers coming along to help out. Another 15 bags of litter collected. However, not enough people willing to help tidy the shrubs and weeds in the Village Centre. This was left to just one individual. We really need more help for this task or we will have to drop the concept.

25 March 2017

Excellent turnout on a nice sunny day. Several new volunteers which is always great to see. We collected well over 30 bags of rubbish which, considering it has only been a few weeks since the ‘spring tidy up’, really goes to show how selfish and disrespectful so many people have become with their litter dropping.

Anyhow, the photo does not include all those that helped and the pile of rubbish is not all the bags as some volunteers continued with their efforts well past the noon wrap up time.

Whilst some were litter picking several others continued with our efforts to keep the weeds at bay within the Shaw Village Centre.

Our thanks to everyone that came along and lent a hand!

5 November 2016

A nice crisp autumn day saw eight of us work hard to collect a huge pile of litter, about 20 bags, in just over one hour. We also managed to weed the central corridor through the village centre.

See this article on Swindon Advertiser website

10 September

Despite heavy rain a small diehard group of four amazing individuals worked hard to rid the Village Centre of some of its weeds. Postings on social media did receive some attention, but the rain will certainly have deterred many from turning out to help.

14 May 2016

No shortage of litter to be found as usual. With seven of the team off litter picking and three of us sorting the plant beds in the Village Centre, we made a huge difference. Just imaging how much could be done if we had more volunteers. If you are reading this, please come along to our next event!

5 March 2016

Despite a litter pick taking place the day before (which collected over 20 bags of litter) as part of the ‘clean for the Queen’ initiative, we still managed to collect another 25 bags just from the area around the Shaw Village Centre. Many thanks to the SRA members that came along and also to Robert Buckland MP and his assistant Andrew Timlett who gave up 1.5 hours of their time to help with our efforts.

14 November 2015

Another good turnout by SRA members who were joined by two others, despite the poor weather conditions. The central avenue through the centre was tidied and another 20 sacks of litter collected.

10 October 2015

Eleven people (all but one from the SRA) showed up to help – 28 sacks of rubbish collected and lots of weeding completed. Still so much to do and not enough volunteers to make a substantial difference.

23 May 2015

A warm sunny day that had been preceded by some wet weather made weeding a little easier. However, we were unable to complete all weeding due to the prolific growth that happens this time of the year and simply because there are just not enough of us to make a big enough impact. If you are reading this and have a mind to help out, please do come along on the 4 July – you will be very welcome!

25 April 2015

A pleasantly dry day at the end of a period which saw several weeks of no rain. Consequently the ground was rock hard which presented quite a challenge for weeding. Seven members of the SRA plus one new volunteer from Grange Park worked hard to both clear litter and keep the Shaw Village Centre plant beds looking tidy. If only we had more volunteers we could do so much more – it is just a couple of hours of effort that we are asking for.

14 March 2015

Cold but dry weather prevailed and yet more litter was cleared from the area by the SRA team. In addition our efforts in maintaining the plant beds in the Village Centre are really starting to pay dividends with masses of colour on display from the bulbs we planted over a year ago.

21 February 2015

Excellent weather helped moral as we cleared many bags of litter from the area and worked on the Village centre garden which is now starting to look good – spring is coming and so many of the bulbs we planted over a year ago are starting to show themselves.

8 November 2014

Eight members of the SRA together with councillor Nick Martin and Tesco manager Alan Isles worked hard despite the miserable wet conditions – more weeding of the central corridor and planting of spring bulbs took place and we also collected eight bags of litter from the surrounding area.

13 September 2014

Nine members of the SRA worked hard on litter picking and gardening in and around the Shaw Village centre. We managed to weed and tidy the whole of the central walkway and planted more bulbs and a few shrubs. The areas looks much better for our efforts. Unfortunately despite good coverage in the Swindon Advertiser for the event and prior engagement with all the business owners in the centre, no additional volunteers came to help. We will continue to do our best to manage the area, but unless more help is forthcoming, we may well have to reluctantly recommend to our local councillors to cobblestone the whole area.

10 May 2014

Thanks to the fifteen volunteers we were able to clear about 20 bags of rubbish and make a good dent in the weeds along the central corridor of the Village Centre. The gardening part is proving long and slow work. More willing volunteers to help with this task are needed.

8 March 2014

More litter cleared and gardening completed. The bulbs are starting to look good, but weeds are becoming very apparent. It is clear we will need more help as spring approaches to keep the weeds at bay.

1 February 2014

We had an excellent turnout of volunteers despite the weather. Plenty of litter cleared and plant beds weeded. The hundreds of bulbs we planted in 2013 are showing signs of life and should give a great display in a few weeks time. The Swindon Advertiser ran an article on our efforts – click here to read it.

23 November 2013

With help from fifteen cubs and scouts and five helpers of the 1st Toothill Scouts group, the SRA cleared over 30 bags of litter from in and around the Shaw Village Centre. This together with our 13 April 2013 clear up amounts to about 70 bags of litter cleared in just two events.