Tonight the litterpicker got metaphorically and literally passed on!

Natasha and I took a jog around the waterfront which was brooding and threatening to rain - but held off- before meeting Paul to get stuck in to familiar grot spots near the skate park. Suffice to say these public areas had been 'well used' over the Bank Holiday with a lot of rubbish to be disposed of. A whole bin's worth in fact!

A man thanking us for our graft and enquiring how he could get involved got more than he bargained for: given we were carrying a surplus of litter pickers,it seemed only right to pass it on so off I went chasing him - in a non- threatening way, of course - with it in my hand! Let's hope he puts it to use and can also inspire others too.

And it was a bittersweet task tonight as we goodbye to Pippaand David, who are off on a new adventure. Alongside Paul, we treated them to a last litterpick and Pippa was determined to leave no stone unturned! Sadly there was more rubbish to collect this time but more positively, 2 passers-by cheered us on whilst another came to give us some litter he had collected.

Wishing Pippa and David well on their next chapter and hoping we will cross litter pickers in the future!

Thanks and well done everyone

A great turn out tonight to litter pick along the river tonight and contribute to Keep Britain Tidy and the Big Spring Clean.

With a hardy crew of six we hit the river litter pickers in hand and were in for a shock ..the well known 'grot spot' near the skate park was what can only be described as clean and tidy! Perhaps word has finally got out that littering is NOT cool or more people have gotten involved with the spring clean .. either way, it's a great outcome!

Not to be deterred, we divided and conquered. Natasha, Leanne and Pippa hit the central reservation (promise no jaywalking and full Highway Code) whilst Paul, Richard and I checked the planters along the river removing all detritus. Mission accomplished!

1 GoodGymer headed down to the River path to litter pick.

Plastic, glass, paper, clothes: it was all there , sadly, but the area by the skate park was left cleaner and safer for those who use that are and walk that section of the river path... A few raised eyebrows from the young people practicing their 'ollies' so next time packing extra litter pickers to get them involved!

The litter pick successfully returned to Ipswich on Monday night following it's pandemic enforced absence. Although numbers were smaller than recent missions, the attendees may have anticipated a tougher evening.

To our surprise the Riverside Walk was cleaner than expected and we may have had a recent Ipswich Wombles visit taking away the worst of the litter.

Needless to say we still managed to find enough litter and rubbish hidden away in the undergrowth and river banks to make our evening worthwhile.

And congratulation to Nicola Stevenson for winning the 'find a sock' competition (we made that up - it wasn't really a competition).

A warm up game of tag set us up nicely for a run through Holywells Park to Cliff Lane where we collected the litter picking kit and headed into the Landseer Park woods.

The paths were pretty clear and litter free but we did come across a dumped supermarket trolley, which the black shirted Goodgym ninjas (Robin & Steve) retrieved from a bank just off the footpath. The plan was to leave the trolley where it could be collect by the IBC waste team, but also to use it to carry the bags of rubbish collected.

This came in really useful when we found several discarded bags we thought had been collected from a previous visit. We abandoned any further picking through the woods in favour of getting the trolley - now loaded with bags to a suitable collection place. This involved pushing the trolley out of the woods and along residential streets before we found an appropriate place to leave it inside Holywells Park near a bin compound!

We then had scenic run around Holywells park to drop off the litter picking kit before setting up a hill interval session, with everyone putting in great effort. Steve stunned us with his explosive turn of speed when he found himself at the front of the group as the "rabbit" being chased up the hill....I don't think anyone was even close by the time he reached the top .....Obviously hiding his talents by taking up the back marker position most weeks!

Next week we are helping out at the Ipswich Soup Kitchen - all the details and how to sign up are here