TYRES, glass bottles, and a teddy bear the size of a small child were among 40 sackfuls of rubbish volunteers collected at an Abingdon beauty spot.
Previously, residents had called on the Vale of White Horse District Council to clear up a field at Rye Farm. But at the weekend, 140 volunteers from the Abingdon Baptist Church, in Ock Street, decided to take matters into their own hands.
The area, along the banks of the River Thames, between the Abingdon Lock and Abingdon Bridge, had been inhabited for the past year by a homeless man. It is thought the man, known locally as Leslie, has now moved on.
The popular picnic site had also become a fly-tipping hot-spot, with mattresses and metal left dumped.
The litter pick was part of the national Hope 08 Million Hours of Kindness campaign, which churches across the country have taken part in.
But this week, neighbours said they were disappointed it was left to volunteers to clean up the eyesore site, and not workers from Vale of White Horse District Council.
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Dominic Matterson, of East St Helen Street, wrote to the district council more than two months ago.
The 43-year-old said: "It is fantastic that the Baptist church has done it, but it shouldn't take volunteers to do it.
"The council should be on top of things, especially as it has been like that for a couple of years.
"It should be a lovely spot for people to walk their dog along, but it's just messy.
"If you don't look after a place, people will think it doesn't matter, and that this is an area where we can dump our rubbish.
"It is definitely the council's responsibility, and they shouldn't let it get like that again."
Another Abingdon resident, Stephen Roberts, of Borough Walk, also appealed to the authorities to clean up the mess.
He complained that the site was left for a year with plastic bags, electric kettles, and buggies piling up.
Gavin Walton, spokesman for the district council, said the council had supplied the equipment for the group to collect the rubbish.
"It is fantastic that the Baptist church has done it, but it shouldn't take volunteers to do it."
Resident Dominic Matterson
He said: "Clearing the area does take a long time when we only have a small amount of resources to do it.
"We cleared up about 50 bags of rubbish in the past few weeks.
"We do carry out fairly regular clearing operations, it was just good that this weekend there was a large organisation to litter pick. Thanks to the church group."
He added: "A lot of it is up to the community to make sure they don't drop their litter there and use the litter bins."
Colin Pattenden, community missioner, based at Abingdon Baptist Church, who led the collection, was prompted to include Rye Farm in the litter pick following pleas from residents.
He was shocked at the amount of rubbish dumped, with one of the most unusual finds being a giant teddy bear fished out of a ditch.
Mr Pattenden believes that the giant bear could have been dumped by somebody after the Abingdon fair, which was held seven months ago.
Other items found included kitchen knives, a gas canister, a couple of blankets, and a wrought iron plinth.
Mr Pattenden said: "It's amazing how quickly you can fill a sack, and the amount of rubbish and plastics around.
"This is an ongoing problem, and we all need to take a bit more care about how we look after our environment, and make sure that we recycle, because otherwise we will destroy it."
The volunteers hope to do another litter pick in the coming months.
Mr Pattenden said: "The people who got involved said that they would help out at another time."
Volunteers collected a further 60 sacks of rubbish in other locations around Abingdon, including the Ock Valley path, Milton Heights, and Ferry Walk, off Wilsham Road.
The litter pick was in co-ordination with a handful of local organisations, such as the Green Gym and the Naturalist Society.
Posted by: ady, shabingdon on 12:13am Sat 17 May 08
while your all on a good clean up,can you pop into the council offices and clean up their act,as they seam to make a right mess of things in abingdon...
while your all on a good clean up,can you pop into the council offices and clean up their act,as they seam to make a right mess of things in abingdon...
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