THE Romsey and District Society Autumn Stream Clean and Litter Pick took place on Saturday, October 5.

This biannual event takes place every year in April and October to pick up rubbish from the town centre, the Rapids and the Barge Canal and remove the overgrown vegetation from the Holbrook Stream in Middlebridge Street.

A group of 32 volunteers from the society and friends met at the Crosfield Hall car park at 9am, where they took advantage of the good weather to pick up rubbish and clean up the town.

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The Middlebridge Street gang, led by Kate Allen, were already at work on the Holbrook Stream, clearing the overgrown vegetation.

This time, the volunteers concentrated on the footpaths and car park by the Rapids leading to the sports field and tennis club. They noted a large number of cans, particularly beside the road, and the overgrown brambles around the car park which trap so much litter.

The prize item of rubbish was an old child’s car seat.

Meanwhile, another group of volunteers followed around the flats leading from Broadwater Road to Banning Street and the car parks, where they again found lots of squashed drink cans and bottles. Near the Crosfield hall the volunteers found a mattress and shopping trolleys.

As each group completed its allotted area, they slowly worked their way back through town to cover the streets leading back to the Parisienne, covering the bus station and Bell Street, Latimer Street and even the middle of town amongst the Saturday shoppers. These areas were mostly small items such as the never-ending issues with cigarette butts, vaping tubes and torn-off foil packets.

Roz Fresson said: “Last spring I commented on the reduction of dog-poo bags as an improvement – sadly I have to say this time that there are some areas where the number left lying around filled and smelly was awful, particularly nasty were a pile of them stuffed behind a meter box on the side a building.

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“We got some positive comments from passers-by, thanking us for our work. One kind young woman offered to make us a cup of tea as she felt we deserved it.

“The town continues to look quite reasonable due to the continued efforts of local people who regularly go out to pick up other peoples discarded rubbish.

“We will be holding the Spring Litter pick next April– there will be a notice on Facebook on the Romsey News and Information page and of course on the Romsey and District Society web site.”