Thousands of disposable gloves among rubbish collected from Alnwick roadside verges

The team of a dozen litter pickers carried out their clean up on the northbound side of the road next to the filling station on Saturday morning.

Organiser Bruce Hewison said: “As chairman of Alnwick Tourism Association and resident of Alnwick, I have been concerned over the amount of litter around Alnwick and indeed across the whole of Northumberland.

"Several months ago my wife and I started to pick up litter where we found it on our walks and recently organised two litter picks along the A1 together with the Alnwick and District Litter Picking Group who now have over 180 concerned members.

"Whilst the litter was diverse there was literally thousands of disposable gloves lying in the shrubbery and on the verge adjacent to the garage. This really isn’t acceptable.”

A number of larger items were also collected.

Mr Hewison has raised the issue with Northumberland County Council and called on it to take action.

Thanks go to MKM for supplying heavy duty plastic sacks to put the litter in, while support is also being provided by Sainsbury’s.

Volunteer Jeanette Gargan, posting on the Alnwick and District Litter Pickers Facebook page, added: “We didn’t get far geographically but we have certainly made a big impact.

"The litter on the public verge was disgusting, the hundred of disposable gloves lying in the shrubbery was unimaginable.”

Meanwhile, the litter pickers have also been busy cleaning up other parts of the town.

Areas tied up by volunteers over the past week include Peter’s Mill, the (old) cricket field near the allotments and Rec, Barresdale, the bus station, the old high school site, Greenwell Road and the woods next to Allerburn Lea opposite The Alnwick Garden.

Seven bags of litter were filled from the Denwick to Longhoughton road with a further bag at Hawkhill. Another volunteer picked up two bags of litter from the lay-by near the Callaly junction on the B6341 and some from around Bolton village.

Volunteers collected a further 25 sacks of rubbish from streets, hedgerows and roadside verges around Longhoughton, while another collected a car boot full from the railway bridge into Lesbury.

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