A rusting motorbike, old McDonald’s packaging and even underwear were among just some of the finds made by the South Leicestershire Litter Wombles in 2024. This year saw the group take on the task of cleaning the entire outer ring road, in Leicester.
The 15-pick project saw 929 bags of rubbish cleared over the summer. Starting near Glenfield Hospital, volunteers worked their way week by week, section by section through Rushey Mead, Evington through Oadby, Soar Valley way and back round to the Glenfield area.
The local Wombles also celebrated their fifth anniversary with a huge group pick in the city’s Western Park area. The event saw 59 volunteers come out and 126 bags of litter cleared.
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The group is now a recognised fixture in Leicester and Leicestershire, with their work even attracting the attention of Syston’s Knitting Banksy, who made a post box topper celebrating their achievements. This, the group told LeicestershireLive, has now done a tour of the county with the volunteers.
In all, the Wombles have picked 40,000 bags of rubbish this year alone, and expect their all-time total to hit 200,000 next year. One volunteer, Sam Laywood, also raised £2,135 for the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust during a 16-hour, 26.7 mile sponsored pick between Belton, in Lincolnshire, and Broughton Astley, in Harborough district.
Among all their efforts have been a number of surprise finds, including one newbie Womble spotting a disgusting addition stuck onto a local road sign – a sanitary pad.
Here are some of the weirdest finds of 2024