Wombles Group of the Month – March 25 – Whitton & Whitehouse Wombles

This month our Womble on the ground, Jason, visited Christine and The Whitton & Whitehouse Wombles, in Ipswich.

Here’s what Jason found out…

Q. How long has your group been formed? 

A. 4 years! We were formed after a group of local residents started chatting about how fed up we were about seeing lots of litter building up quickly after lockdown. Rather than just moaning about it and expecting someone else to deal with it, we decided to create our own clean up crew and get out as often as we can to clean up the local neighbourhood.

Q. How many regular volunteers do you have taking part?

A. Around 10 to 15. There are usually volunteers out 2 to 3 times a week and we try to have a group litter-pick once a month.

Q. What is the biggest problem your group faces?

A. Dealing with the frustration of knowing that we will clean up an area and then go back the next day to find it littered again!

Q. How are you trying to tackle the problem?

A. We’ve found that getting out in our hi-vis vests and litter-pocking as regularly as we can helps to …

a) keep on top of the amount of litter

b) gives us the chance to have conversations with other locals to join us

c) regularly speak to local businesses about how they can help

We also try to link up with other local community groups too!

Q. What is your proudest achievement as a group?

A. The biggest thing we are proud of is the diversity and friendliness of our group. We have all age groups joining us and lots of unlikely friendships have built up! We have volunteers from a local youth group that goes out litter-picking and we are regularly joined by a fab bunch from the local rough sleepers hub. We are also proud of the relationship we have built up with the borough council.

Q. What is the strangest thing your group has found during a clean up?

A. A giant head from a carnival ride! Totally unexpected.

Q. If you could give only 1 piece of advice to anyone thinking of becoming a Womble or setting up their own group what would it be?

A.Simple… have fun and don’t overcomplicate things, especially when you are first starting out!

It’s a serious subject but if you can keep things simple and fun you’re more likely to keep organising events and volunteers are more likely to join you, and just as importantly, join you again and again!