Hucknall Wombles always on a mission to keep the town green and pleasant

The Hucknall Wombles started with founder Matt Williams going out on his own to pick up litter and generally make the town a cleaner and better place to be.

Three years on and the Wombles have grown in size as group with Matt joined by a series of like-minded souls, also all determined to keep Hucknall tidy.

Their latest litter-picking session came on February 24 when they went to an area near Mill Lakes and collected 22 bags of litter and several larger items.

And their efforts continue to be greatly appreciated by the town’s residents.

Matt said: “It was January 2021 when I first started and its turning into a real community thing, slowly but surely.

"We’ve now got more people joining the Wombles group on Facebook, although the numbers actually coming on picks can ebb and wane sometimes, often depending on the weather.

"There’s a core group of around 12 of us who are always there and I’d say on average, we’re picking up 25 bags of litter at a time.”

Matt is also now involved with promoting the green message at local schools and last year helped launch the eco council at Holgate Primary School.

He said: “We try to get the kids involved so we can get the green message and making them aware of the importance of not littering as soon as possible.”

Matt’s efforts were acknowledged by Discover Ashfield last month when he was highly commended in the Volunteer of the Yesr category at the Discover Ashfield Awards.

He continued: “I was nominated last year for the same award last year, and didn’t get anything, so I was proud to get highly commended this year.”

The Discover Ashfield award to him being highly commended in the BBC Radio Nottingham Make A Difference Awards last year as well.

And for Matt, the aim is to keep the Wombles going and keep putting out the green and environmental message.

He said: “We’re always just trying improve what we do and we might, not saying we’re going to, but we might look at doing some weekday evening picks in the summer time when the weather improves and the evenings are a bit lighter.”