Report from David Porter:

NINETEEN public-spirited citizens of Ickenham turned out for today’s litter picking event on Ickenham Green. Students Luke and Ben from Glebe School and Fearne, Leo, Indy and Pippa from Breakspear School came with their parents. Their schools should be proud of them.

In one place in the Ickenham Green culvert there was a disgusting collection of pink plastic bags. Volunteers suspected these were filled with dog mess. Responsible dog ownership? “That (action of disposal) is worse than just leaving it on the ground,” commented local allotmenteer and volunteer Stuart. “Those bags will never decompose.”

Collectively, the litter pickers speculated what the punishment should be for such irresponsibility.

Whoever you are, please stop it! Take the product of your dog’s bodily functions away with you and dispose of them where they are not a danger to wildlife or residents in our superb village.

A tent, a dumped load of asbestos, tins, bottles, plastic bags, a bus direction sign and other rubbish were collected and put into 29 bags for collection by the council’s disposal team.

Ickenham Village should thank Carol, Bob, Erica, Steve, Barbara, Simon, Justin, Stuart, Simon, Indy, Pippa, Jeff, Luke, Ben, Kirsty, Fearne, Kevin and Leo for their help in making Ickenham a litter free zone.

Look what a difference volunteer litter pickers can make. Here are “before” and “after” pictures of the culvert at Ickenham. The pink bags (in the “before” picture) may contain dog mess.

And here are some of the volunteers who took part in the litter picking exercise on Ickenham Green today alongside the full disposal bags.