Litter-picking groups smash the Captain Tom 100 Challenge by gathering more than one hundred bags of rubbish

The wonderful community effort was part of the UK-wide Captain Tom 100 Challenge which took place over the bank holiday weekend. The aim was to tackle any challenge as long as it involved the number 100.

The challenges were taken up to commemorate Captain Tom, who became famous after completing 100 laps of his garden for charity in 2020. The great man passed away in February aged 100.

Here in South Tyneside dozens of volunteers, from young children to more seasoned litter pickers, gathered at three different spots in Hebburn and Jarrow and between them they passed the 100-bag target.

Four different teams came together to form the South Tyneside Litter Pick Group for the challenge; they were the Riverside Litter Bugz plus the Hebburn, Jarrow and Carr-Ellison Park groups.

The weather held up and everyone involved had a fun time while performing a first class public service at sites including the River Don and St Bede’s Well.

Shirley Gardiner of the Carr-Ellison Park team said: “It was absolutely brilliant. Everybody who turned out was all for it and it was marvellous. In terms of how much litter we collected, we exceeded expectations. We achieved what we set out to do.

“The Riverside Litter Bugz involved children and it was great that they joined in. It was a really good team effort and everyone was raring to go.

“But it doesn’t end there. The Hebburn team are doing another litter pick this Saturday and hopefully in the future there’ll be another joint effort with the other groups.

“I’m looking forward to it because everybody was so happy.”

The litter pick took place over the bank holiday weekend, which would also have been Captain Tom’s birthday.

Anyone who would like to help out with future litter picks can find out more by looking at the Facebook pages of the four groups involved.

:: Jarrow Litter Pickers are holding an online fundraiser to fund more equipment to better keep the town tidy. You can donate here https://uk.gofundme.com/f/jarrow-litter-pickers

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