Monday 20th March 2023
Report written by Pete
"I heard the residents of the Kingsgate Estate were planning a litter pick on their flower bed planters. I guess you could say they're really digging deep to clean up their act!" or 'Five on a secret trail '.
Lizzie, Becka, Pete, Josh and Lee met up outside Willesden Green tube station on a drizzly monday evening, did a warm- up then jogged 2 km to the Kingsgate Estate off Kilburn High Road, with Pete leading and Becka backmarking. There they met up with Diana and Ajay from the Kingsgate Community Centre (and from One Kilburn community groups). Ajay provided litter pickers, gloves and refuse sack holders and Pete provided some refuse sacks then we proceeded to go to various raised planter beds around the estate and do litter picking on them to make them clean for the local residents on the estate. Quite a lot of refuse was collected including recycled waste, all manner of things were encountered including general waste paper, bottle tops, cans, plastic, someone's valuable house keys and even a large pressurised canister. Ajay is a major part of One Kilburn an online shared space that has been created alongside local community groups in Kilburn. It brings together different projects, ideas and activities of the past, present and future in one online space to share learnings and support conversations on how together local residents and the council can turn their ideas into action. You can learn more about them here https://onekilburn.commonplace.is/ It is a starter project and if successful might expand across the country. Having cleared 8 or 9 planters we then took direction from Diana regarding our refuse sacks, handed back litter pickers etc to Ajay, had a group photo, wished them well then jogged up to Brondes Age, a nice sports bar in Kilburn for a quick drink to celebrate Lee's 50th completed task and Becka's recent birthday - many congratulations Lee and many happy returns Becka.
Well done team for a constructive and fulfilling evening!