The OWLs give a hoot (about offensive and unnecessary litter), and we were back to work today on our third litterpick since lockdown restrictions were eased.
It’s good to be recognised and feedback from our August litterpick was that we had excelled ourselves and what we had done had made a huge difference. Nice!!
Another fine day. Another fine group of volunteers. And after the Covid-19 briefing, the rest of the Health and Safety briefing, and a healthy bit of banter, we set off in our various directions.
A key task was replacing some of the black sacks we have installed in many of the ‘hot spots’. We reckon it’s not unreasonable to expect guys, when their fun is over, to put their litter in the black sack. It’s probably easier than throwing it on the ground!
Funny what we find as we make our way through the woods emptying the rubbish sacks. Someone must have been proud that they managed to split these two cock rings (or were they just too small in the first place?!)
There’s a ‘hot spot’ we call The Gymn. So called because it has a range of facilities to allow a number of positions to be used, and from the amount of litter there it gets well-used for work-outs!
Not sure what someone used their savings for, but the money bags were empty (or was it their own savings….?).
With the sack-count increasing, due to the amount of work that was being done, it was time to take the sacks of rubbish collected so far back to the car park and enjoy a break for refreshments and a bit of a catch-up. And receive some thanks from passers-by.
Then back for more of the same with our OWLs heading off again in all directions. Strange as it might seem we like it when we’ve emptied a rubbish sack and it’s there ready for the next hot spot users to use!
Some of our group went in deep! It’s amazing, judging from the number of used condom foils, how much of the woods is used by guys to have sex. (we’re certainly not complaining).
And it’s clear that lots of guys like to have a good play in the woods – but Lego?! That’s one strange fetish isn’t it?!
Finally, time to return to the car park, staple the tops of the rubbish sacks, and put them on display at the side of the road, ready for collection by our colleagues from the City of London Corporation (which manages Epping Forest of which Snaresbrook Woods are part). And when they arrived, very nice of them to congratulate us on our efforts which they say makes a real difference.
Another impressive haul – 50 sacks of litter in total, 24 of recycling and 26 general litter (including a lot of sexual debris).
We hope our super volunteers will be back next month – along with others who would like to join in and are always welcome.
Our next OWL litterpick is on Tuesday, 6th October.
(Please note, we respect everyone’s right to anonymity and only show pics of those willing to have them posted. No inferences should be drawn from anyone’s participation in an OWL litterpicking session)