School children from Cranmer Primary School, Mitcham, are all set to don their gardening gloves and take up their trowels next week to give the green opposite their school a spring clean in honour of the Queen.
Working with the council’s street cleaning team, pupils and teachers from Cranmer Primary School have said they would like to help look after the green in the future too. On 4 March, 29 nine and ten-year-olds will help clean up the area and will prepare the flower beds for planting red, white and blue flowers later this spring.
The council wants to hear from community groups, schools and businesses who are keen to organise clean-ups as part of its annual programme of community clean-up events. The council can help by providing rubbish sacks and litter picks and will also collect from a pre-arranged area, the rubbish collected on the day of the clean-up. Clean for The Queen is on the 4 March, but the council encourages community clean-ups throughout the year. People interested in organising a clean-up should call the council on 020 8545 3189 and leave their details.
Merton Council’s cabinet member for environmental cleanliness and parking Councillor Judy Saunders said: “It is great that pupils from Cranmer are so keen to get involved and help to spruce up their part of the borough. I’m looking forward to seeing the red, white and blue flowers they’ll be planting in April. Every year we spend over £5 million clearing up after people who drop rubbish on our streets. Good habits start young so it’s wonderful our primary aged children are being part of this.”
Head teacher at Cranmer Primary School, Wendy Hick, said: “When the council called us to ask if we wanted to be part of this, we were very keen to get involved. The children are looking forward to doing their bit for Merton. We regularly talk to them about taking responsibility for their own litter, and being part of Clean for the Queen will help reinforce this while doing something beneficial for our community.”
Information on being a street champion and organising a clean-up: www.merton.gov.uk/streetchampions
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Notes to editors
Clean for The Queen is a Keep Britain Tidy initiative which aims to give the UK a tidy up ahead of The Queen’s 90th birthday in April.