A GROUP of Kelso youngsters showed the way this week, with a litter pick around part of their home town that netted a bin bag full of rubbish.
The litter pick was organised by local childminder Gwen Bennet, and involved six of the children she cares for. Gwen, who does a similar event each year, received support from the Keep Scotland Tidy campaign, which furnished high visibility tabards for the kids and other items as part of one of their special ‘clean-up’ packs. Gwen and her young charges, who ranged in age from just under two to eight, started at 3.30pm on Tuesday at Abbotseat and worked their way up to the park adjacent to the Co-op in the town’s High Croft area.
“The kids absolutely loved doing this – so much so, in fact, that they all went home with their Keep Scotland Tidy tabards in the hope they could do some more litter picking at the weekend,” Gwen told us.
A childminder for 20 years, Gwen says she was inspired to organise this year’s litter pick in the wake of a number of negative letters from a Kelso resident which were printed in TheSouthern, giving his opinion on youth of today.
“I thought it would be nice to show the positive steps our children take to keep their community litter free and that not all children drop litter.
“Perhaps the story and picture in TheSouthern will inspire some of the older kids to follow this example.”