Knightswood Secondary pupils battle rain for annual community litter clean-up

The fourth annual event was held last week in Knightswood, resulting in mountains of rubbish being taken off the streets.

Every year a group of children take on the task, joined by members of the police and Glasgow City Council.

Along with the massive community event in summer time, S2 pupils also take it in turns to do clean ups on a smaller scale every Monday.

The initiative was started by Constable Colette Farron, who is Knightswood Secondary’s campus officer, as she wanted to tackle the litter problem in the area and teach students not to drop waste.

She said the scheme has made a huge difference to the community, and has received feedback from local residents about the work.

PC Farron told our sister paper, the Evening Times: “I was out a few weeks ago doing a bogus caller campaign and some of the residents commented that since we started doing this they have seen a huge difference in the amount of litter around the area.

“It has really helped the kids as well to stop dropping litter on campus.

“Community Safety Glasgow did an area check and apparently Knightwood is no longer on their target list as it is much cleaner, which is something the kids should be really proud of.

“You can now see the older students encouraging their younger peers to pick up litter around the campus.”

Along with school kids, 10 employees from the local McDonald’s on Great Western Road took part, as well as provided water and fruit for participants.

Mounted police officers joined the group, along with members of Glasgow City Council’s land and environmental services team, community safety police officers and Drumchapel campus officer PC Chris Bell.

Councillor Kenny McLean, city convener for neighbourhoods, housing and public realm, said: “Events such as these are fantastic as not only do they improve the environment of the neighbourhood, they underline the commitment local people have for their community.”