Reading RESCUE - will you join in?

Once again Reading Rescue is swinging into action.  I was lucky enough to join a group this time last year (see here).  It's a great way to get involved with helping your local environment  Please see the below press release for more information:

'Business and Community groups Spring to Reading's RESCUE for Autumn clean-up.

18/09/2012
Reading Borough Council Press Release

The waterways and woodlands of Reading will be the focus for a dozen clean up teams during a major two-day clear up of Reading's rubbish hotspots.

The Rivers and Environmental Spaces Clean Up Event (RESCUE) will take place on Friday 12 and Saturday 13 October. Hundreds of volunteers from Reading businesses and voluntary groups will take part in the massive litter pick.

This follows a similar RESCUE event in March which saw 30 community and business teams giving up their time to remove unsightly and sometimes hazardous rubbish from some of Reading's most beautiful wild spots. They managed to clear up around four tonnes of rubbish. And last Autumn, 130 volunteers cleared 17 miles of towpaths during the RESCUE event.

Thames Water is keen to sponsor this new water focussed event and will be starting the clean up a day early on Thursday 11th with a team of 150 volunteers to pick up litter along the River Thames and surrounding areas. The Council is co-ordinating the clean up teams and lending litter pickers, bags and gloves to the volunteers. If you are keen to get involved, contact www.readingrescue.org.uk or check out the facebook group 'Reading RESCUE 2012'.

Paul Gittings, Reading's Lead Councillor for Environment and Climate Change, said: 'We're looking forward to another successful RESCUE event with the Council working in partnership with volunteers from the community and business giving up their time to do this vital work. Thank you all!

'Reading RESCUE is a valuable event for the borough   annually we have around 1,000 volunteers taking part to keep their local areas clear of rubbish for everyone to enjoy. And this popular event isn't just about litter, it brings communities together to make a positive difference to where they live,' he added.

Karen Rudkin, Thames Water's Community Investment Co-ordinator, said: 'We're now celebrating five years of sponsoring the bi-annual RESCUE clean up event. In March our employees worked at three separate locations - The Coal Wood, Island Road and Rose Kiln Lane areas - and accumulated an impressively large haul of rubbish in a little over three hours.''