WOKING Litter Warriors celebrated their first anniversary with a litterpick in and around Byfleet village.

Founded by local resident Lauren Horncastle, the group was tackling its second litterpick of 2023.

Eighteen members met at the Byfleet Recreation Ground for a mid-morning start, including “Aunt” Elizabeth Bryan, Claire Oastler and the Golding family, Marion, Paul, Tim and Becky, all veterans of several warriors’ picks during the past 12 months.

In around two hours, the group collected 33 bin bags of litter, among other items including a rusty Flymo, enough discarded plumbing supplies to start a small shop and a pile of old footballs which would have equipped several teams, before retiring to The Plough pub on High Road for complimentary 
refreshments provided by manager Scott.

The haul of more than 30 bags was the second-largest collected since the warriors formed, behind only the 42 bags accumulated around Kestrel Way, the approach road to Goldsworth Park Trading Estate, last April.

Lauren said: “Byfleet is not the worst area we have visited by a long way and is, in fact, well supplied with waste bins – 13 along High Road in the village – but I still find it astonishing that some people can’t be bothered to walk a few yards to put their litter in one of the many bins and instead simply drop it in the gutter.”

Next on the rota is a litterpick along large sections of the route of the Surrey Half Marathon on Sunday 12 March, taking advantage of road closures to clear stretches which are usually impossible to access because of the dangers of operating on roads busy with fast traffic.

Woking Litter Warriors information and updates can be found on both Facebook and Instagram, and they be contacted via email on [email protected].