Litter Pick Cleans Saintfield

Saintfield Development Association, with the support of Tidy Northern Ireland and Down District Council, organised a Litter Pick in Saintfield on Saturday 27th April.  An appeal for volunteers to help with the Litter Pick was made through their website (discoversaintfield.com), their recently published newsletter (Saintfield News) and in the local media.

Several days before the event all five Rowallane councillors visited Saintfield to help publicise and show their support for the Litter Pick.

All five councillors from Rowallane District met in The Square to support the Litter Pick in Saintfield: (from L to R)
Robert Burgess, Terry Andrews, Maria McCarthy (Vice-Chairman DDC), William Walker and William Dick.

Launch of the Litter Pick in Saintfield: (from L to R)  Cllr Robert Burgess, Ron Chandler (SDA),
Kathy Owen (SDA), Cllr Maria McCarthy (Vice-Chairman DDC), Paul McGeown (SDA),
Lucinda White (DDC), Lily Henderson (SDA), Simon Hamilton MLA, Dr Ian Mack (SDA Secretary),
Brian Gamble (SDA), Cllr William Walker, John Branch (SDA), Cllr William Dick, Cllr Terry Andrews.

On the morning of the Litter Pick the volunteers gather in front of the Guildhall at 1st Presbyterian Church.
Councillors William Walker and Terry Andrews have come along to help clean up Saintfield’s roads.

Councillor Terry Andrews talks to SDA member Kathy Owen.

SDA member Norma Mack hands out high visibility jackets and protective gloves.

The volunteers gather round with their litter pick tools in hand.

The organiser of the Litter Pick, Lawrence Murphy, makes a safety announcement.

The Litter Pick volunteers are assigned to one of eight zones.

Lawrence and Norma check that everybody is signed in and allocated a cleaning zone.
The litter pick teams then disperse and start cleaning their allocated areas.

John Branch and Brian Gamble with a number plate and traffic cone.  These were  just
two of the larger discarded items they found at the side of Crossgar Road, Saintfield.

When the litter pickers have finished gathering the litter in their areas they meet in the
hall of 2nd Presbyterian Church, where refreshments have kindly been provided.

Two of the volunteers, Victoria and Vivien Lovell, taking their time to decide what to eat and drink!

A group of young people from 1st Presbyterian Church chill out after the Litter Pick.

Relaxing with fellow volunteers at the end of the Litter Pick.

Was it all worth it?  You decide.  The yellow bags contain
non-recyclable waste, and the clear bags recyclable waste.

Saintfield is a lot cleaner after the Litter Pick!

Down District Council has recently put up these signs to discourage littering and dog fouling.

Please help keep Saintfield clean for everybody!

However, what we really need is a road sweeper lorry and a road sweeper man!