Friends of the Figgate Park met for the first time on Sunday 13th April 2008 for a clearance of rubbish from the park, the burn and the pond. Around 30 volunteers, supplied with gloves and pickers cleared an enormous amount of rubbish. Five kiddies bikes, 2 wooden pallets, a scooter and many large branches were retrieved from the water. The majority of the litter was, of course, plastic bags, crisp packets, bottles and cans. Some fly-tipping from the Northfield Drive flats gave us an armchair and 4 dining chairs. This clean-up has been registered with National Spring Clean month.

Unfortunately the cage which we were expecting to fill as we worked failed to arrive. The plan had been to use the 2 wheelbarrows and the brown wheelie bin to transport all the rubbish to one central point and fill the cage. Instead we had to leave the collected rubbish in piles to be picked up later by a tractor and trailer. The driver was very helpful and did a great job but his trailer was too small for the amount of rubbish and he had to make several trips.

The weather stayed fine for the whole exercise and everyone seemed to enjoy this community work and many said they are looking forward to the next time. I would like to thank everyone who took part including our park ranger Russel Linton who, along with myself did the wading.

Tom Forsyth, Chairman, Friends of the Figgate Park

(The photographs shown below can be removed on request)