In addition to the walking volunteers, an armada of canoes appeared and sub aqua divers dredged the depths of the river to remove bicycles and other larger items. Volunteers also came from other local organisations and litter pickers were rewarded with free tea and coffee, 25% off lunch at the Longholme Cafe or a free lunch at McDonalds. With glorious sunshine and plenty of high calibre rowing on the river to amuse litter pickers, all agreed it was not only worthwhile but great fun too.
Katie Lewis, Events & Community Engagement Officer at Bedford Borough Council said: “The number of volunteers on site was overwhelming (in a great way) and although our equipment was stretched, everyone really did their part to help to clean up the river, Embankment and surrounding areas.
“This was BY FAR the biggest River Care event we have ever run, with 202 volunteers and over 200 bags of litter collected. Our previous highest turnout was 80!! I honestly cannot thank you enough for supporting the event and I hope that your volunteers enjoyed themselves.”
Thank you Star! You did us proud.
The squad volunteer leaderboard will appear on the website when the membership sections goes live. Thank you to squads for supporting the club iniative.