Local Children Take The Lead In Chiswick Clean Up

Another successful initiative by volunteers and councillors

Luca (Belmont Primary School - front row check shirt) and and Giovanni (St Mary’s Primary School) on his right, take the lead during April’s 2019 edition of the Chiswick Clean Up Initiative.

It was another gorgeous Sunday afternoon in Chiswick that welcomed the now seasoned group of volunteers who gather each month to take to take on the issues of littering and fly tipping that if left untreated may encourage more littering and other extreme cases of antisocial behaviour. The group moved their focus this month to Chiswick Lane, Homefield Park and the the tunnels forming the under passes at Hogarth roundabout.

The clean-up has had the support of Hounslow Highways from the start and has prompted Council to responded urgently to some the issues that are being encountered by residents who are giving up their Sunday afternoon to litter pick in the community. The positive response from passers-by has also been a notable feature of the initiative. On Sunday a number of motorists, pedestrians and cyclist slowed and even stopped to thank members of the group for their altruistic act and concern for the local environment.

8-year-old Luca (Belmont Primary) and 6-year-old Giovanni (St Mary’s Primary, pictured above ) arrived on the scene to received their brand-new supply of custom sized litter pickers, gloves and high visibility jacket provided for the occasion by Hounslow Highways. Cllr Mushiso who was in attendance alongside Cllr Biddolph commented ‘Luca and Giovanni seemed as though they had been attained special powers with their new crocodile themed litter pickers and high visibility’ jacket. In no time, they were at Hogarth roundabout with their parents and their orange bags full of litter!’

Luca was asked to write about his experience and thoughts as young community champion for Chiswick he wrote; ‘ I enjoy helping every month but I think that people need to stop littering as it's ruining our planet and injuring animals. He added ‘I love my new alligator litter picker!’

eLuca with the volunteers on Chiswick Lane

Andrea Carnevali, Giovanni’s father and founder of chiswickoasis.com was moved by the actions of his 6 year old son. Writing later, ‘I knew this would be a useful experience for Giovanni, but I had no idea he would take it so much at heart. As we were picking up rubbish along the way, he was as committed as I’ve hardly ever seen him and visibly taken aback by the amount of rubbish he came across. He kept on asking me “Why are there so many cigarettes daddy?”. I must say, it wasn’t always easy to give him a truthful and reasonable answer: most of the time I blamed the wind, though I think he saw right through that one.

"Once we finished, on our way back home, even though officially “off duty”, he kept wanting to pick up more things along the way. He just couldn’t conceive an option where we would walk past rubbish on the ground. And so once again when dealing with children, what should have been a learning experience for him turned into a bit of a lesson for me too.

"But even more rewarding were the reactions by his friends and parents later that day, after learning what he had done. They all thought this was such a great initiative and they will certainly join us for the next one.’

Cllr Mushiso added ‘ Luca and Giovanni are excellent ambassadors of Belmont Primary school and St Mary’s Primary respectful. They led the way on Sunday with their enthusiasm and asked some serious question of us as adults and community representatives about the damage that we are sometimes inadvertently causing to the environment by careless littering and fly tipping.

Mitra Alam, one of the founding members of the Chiswick Clean Up action group thanked every volunteer that was able to attend. She added, ‘Each time we have done this, a local business or organisation has come on board to support us by offering us a meeting a point with coffee, tea and snacks. This month Susan and Ian Moss at the George and Devonshire pub were kind enough to host us, we deeply thankful for their hospitality.’

Mitra is already in talks with the Chiswick Councillors about the next project towards the back of May 2019. It promises to slightly different but very special. Stay tuned.

May 4, 2019