ON March 10, Aconbury Centre staff took students out to clean up the neighbourhood.

The clean-up crew were armed with litter pickers and dressed in high-viz jackets and carried bin bags, all provided by Hereford Council as part of their Great British Spring Clean - a national event that supports their Stop the Drop litter campaign.

The response of members of the public was hugely supportive; people called encouragement from their cars at the traffic lights and many gave a big smile or a wave.

In groups of up to six people, the team managed to fill five bin bags with rubbish, everything from thermos flasks to rubber gloves. However, the majority of the items collected were empty alcohol bottles and cans.

At points where excessive amounts of rubbish were found e.g. the bus stop on Ross Road, students discussed whether or not providing a bin would help.

However, in the small play area off Holme Lacy Road, there are two bins and one dog waste bin. The bins were not full and the litter was all over the park.

"The students were great, even fishing out the dog poo bags which had been stuffed into hedges." said one of the organisers "Our students' feel that people should put their rubbish into the bin then their valuable lesson time would not be spent going round cleaning up the streets after others".