Spelthorne Litter Pickers Volunteer Neil Maitland Walker was honored with the award Environmental Champion 2023, at the Spelthorne and Runnymede Volunteer Awards ceremony, held at Royal Holloway on Monday 5th June. The mayors of Spelthorne and Runnymede presented him with a trophy and certificate. He has been described as “a true legendwho deserves recognition for the difference he is making to the district.”
Cheryl Wright, one of the trustees of Spelthorne Litter Pickers, said: “Neil has been a life picker of litter and made headlines when he ran a hotel in Saudi Arabia. He became something of a local celebrity there by cleaning up trash from a nearby beach, and that too.” Recognized by the Mayor and the Environment Agency and even featured in the national press.
Neil goes out in all weathers and is generally one of the first to arrive at group selections. We often end up having to drag him out of the bushes because we all want to go home. He’s a true womble who recycles items he finds whenever he can. He then trudges off with his picker and carrier bag to pluck all the way home, emptying his carrier bag into every trash can he passes.
Spelthorne Litter Pickers, a county-wide volunteer group set up during lockdown, has just celebrated its 3rd anniversary and welcomed its 1,000th member. The group, whose mission is to make Spelthorne a cleaner and greener place, was also nominated for the team category at the 2023 Spelthorne and Runnymede Volunteer Awards.
SLP Chair and Co-Founder Shirley Lunn said: “We have been overwhelmed by the response from the local community to the group. When we started we thought we could manage to recruit 20 volunteers, so reaching 1,000 is just amazing! Most of them.” Our members take on an area near home, clean up while they walk the dog, run the school run, or get the morning paper, and also participate in group outreaches to improve local parks, reservoirs, and rivers clean. We lend equipment to the community We support groups and businesses who want to get involved and support Duke of Edinburgh Award students to complete their volunteer work by picking up rubbish. One of the reasons for our success is that we work closely with our local neighborhood service team and councilors at Spelthorne Borough Council who provide important financial and practical support and we are extremely grateful to them.”
If you want to learn more about the group, you can find them on Facebook or email spelthornelitterpickers@gmail.com.
