Litter Picking Group

Friends of Thringstone

4226 bags collected so far!

Who are we?
We are an environmental group undertaking planting in our village, litter picks, promoting reduction in Co2 and smart driving, and working with the local community to make our village a litter free area.
We deliver over 1700 newsletters around our village promoting our message and work with Thringstone Primary School and the local brownie group various events, including a scarecrow festival in June 2011 which brought together all sectors of the community . We held another scarecrow event, in conjunction with Thringstone Methodists, on Saturday 6th July 2013.
Our chairman litter picks daily, and is helped by others who litter pick regularly. We try, where possible, to recycle items which can be recycled.
We petitioned for extra recycling bins in our village and now have two tin and plastic bottle recycling points and a glass recycling point, and are currently asking for the council to consider ways of recycling acceptable items put in roadside litter bins.
Between February 2013 and the end of February 2014, we removed 1,958 bags of litter from the village and woodlands, which we feel is a staggering amount. We have also worked with other groups on environmental issues in the village, and were part of the steering group that saw Thringstone Youth Club win the Children and Young People's Green Footprints Award in 2011 for their mural project.
We have taken over several flowerbeds and previously untidy and unused areas in the village for planting and offer historical and environmental walks around the village.
Please see our website which is www.friends-of-thringstone.org.uk for further details on our group, plus details on our constitution, health and safety policy, equal opportunities policy, parental consent statements and volunteer expenses statement. You can also see on that site details of all our publications.
What have we done?
In 2009 we won the NW Leicestershire Green Footprints Awards, were awarded an outstanding achievement certificate by East Midlands In Bloom in 2009, and won a gold and silver in the village achievement awards run by the Rural Community Council. In 2010 and were finalists in the Community and Partnerships category of the NWLDC's Green Footprints Awards and again in 2013. In 2011 we won The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, something of which we are very proud, especially since 2011 was the European Year of Volunteering,. In 2015 we won the Big Tidy Award at the Keep Britain Tidy Jubilee Awards 2015. In 2021 we won the Leicestershire Live Environmental Heroes Award and also won the Community Organisation Award 2021 with Leicestershire Community Champions.
We have a facebook page, and we are also on twitter - address is @Thringstone2. In 2019, our chairman was awarded a British Empire Medal for service to Thringstone and in September 2019, her late dog, who accompanied her on all her litter picks, was awarded a commendation from the PDSA.

Contact this group

Latest Achievements

21 April 2024

  • 22 bags collected
  • 3 pickers

14 April 2024

  • 25 bags collected
  • 2 pickers

07 April 2024

Very windy so picked up numerous items of recycling and the bins in which these had been placed.

  • 20 bags collected
  • 3 pickers

31 March 2024

  • 63 bags collected
  • 8 pickers

24 March 2024

Did a community litter pick with Thringstone Primary, hence the new litter pickers. Found half a computer keyboard in a field, a polymer tunnel in woodland and a pair of men's underpants in the middle of a public car park.

  • 43 bags collected
  • 22 pickers

17 March 2024

  • 19 bags collected
  • 2 pickers

10 March 2024

  • 24 bags collected
  • 1 picker

03 March 2024

Also collected up 5 shopping baskets which had been used for shoplifting, and reported various fly tipping, including of an armchair on a country road.

  • 56 bags collected
  • 7 pickers

25 February 2024

  • 20 bags collected
  • 2 pickers

18 February 2024

  • 23 bags collected
  • 2 pickers

11 February 2024

Found a chair seat and a paint pot in the middle of a field

  • 17 bags collected
  • 2 pickers

04 February 2024

Found a large lump hammer in the middle of a path.....

  • 60 bags collected
  • 5 pickers

28 January 2024

Someone had dumped a broken Henry Hoover on a pub car park. It went into the skip at the back of the pub.

  • 49 bags collected
  • 4 pickers

21 January 2024

3 dining chair seats left in the entrance to the church by people unable to think about taking these to the tip

  • 25 bags collected
  • 4 pickers

14 January 2024

A milk carton bag was left on the grass verge after a spate of thefts of milk from doorsteps

  • 24 bags collected
  • 2 pickers

07 January 2024

  • 37 bags collected
  • 2 pickers

31 December 2023

  • 5 bags collected
  • 2 pickers

31 December 2023

Pizza box with pizza less one slice thrown into a flower bed within a yard of a street bin. Various broken umbrellas, a settee and mattress all reported to council for removal as flytipping. Other flytipping reported which was broken bedside tables left on grass verge.

  • 49 bags collected
  • 5 pickers

24 December 2023

Flytipping of mattresses, settees and black bags full of rubbish left on a country lane reported to council.

  • 32 bags collected
  • 3 pickers

17 December 2023

Hood from a pram, wheel from a pram - both dumped near to the rear of our church.

  • 23 bags collected
  • 2 pickers

Litter picking groups

Litter Picking Groups are people who join forces to work towards a cleaner and greener community.

Find out more about Litter Picking Groups.