Help clear up after sledging

I cannot believe the amount of rubbish following the sledging - on Doverow Hill already a whole trailer-load has been removed - must get some photos as it really is unbelievable!

Photo: Pigeons in Bread Street

Many walkers are also doing their bit but it still looks like it has hardly been touched - vast quantities of rubbish remain - steel doors, metal road signs, sheets of plastic, glass, doors and more - worse some sharp white plastic has shattered into sharp shards - cattle were hoping to go on that field but clearly can't.

The landowner, Julia Currie has appealled in the letter below for help clearing up - Randwick Parish chair Richard Huxford is helping although it is not quite in our Parish. There is a date - Sunday 1st March - the hope is to have lines of litter pickers to work their way down the field - I hop[e folk reading this will be able to join the great litter-pick.

I have rung the District Council but it is outside their responsibilities - although hopefully they will be able to help provide pickers and bags and may remove collected rubbish....it is clear Julia is not alone - I have heard from other farmers about the amount of rubbish they have collected - Kings Stanley Primary School have already helped clear one field - we are hoping a school might also help locally here.

Julia's letter to press:

During the recent snowy weather, hundreds of people, maybe even some who live in Randwick, were able to toboggan down Doverow Hill, part of my farm. I am pleased that so much fun was had. However I, and no doubt many others, are counting the cost. And that cost will be very dear.

Doverow Hill is now covered in the debris and rubbish left behind, including plastic bags, hard plastic in small and large pieces, glass and plastic bottles, metal from improvised sledges, and other unidentifiable objects.

Randwick residents will know that this land is crossed by the Cotswold Way and is within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Not so beautiful now. Additionally, and soon when the grass begins to grow, cattle will be put out to graze there. If any sharp metal objects or plastic is eaten by them, they may well be harmed.

I, and others so affected, will have to personally clear large areas of land. This will be painstaking and time consuming work.

May I therefore request that anyone, particularly those who had such fun in the Doverow snow, please consider giving up an hour or so of time to help litter pick. Please call 764376 or 765013 to do so, or meet at the stile exiting Doverow Tump from the woods and on the Stroud side, at 11am on Sunday 1st March. Please wear suitable clothing and shoes, and if possible, protective gloves.

Thank you on behalf of those walking this beautiful area and the cattle that will soon be grazing there.