Mother and son anti-litter crusaders have been honoured with a community award.
Dedicated Nolan McIntosh and his mum Pauline, of Keep Hudz Tidy, have won the title of volunteer organisation of the year for their non-stop clean up work of beauty spots in Deighton .
It was given to them at an annual awards ceremony organised by Ashbrow Partners Together, who recognised the value of their daily rubbish collections to the community.
The pair began their good work in summer 2014, after becoming disgusted with the amount of litter left behind after a fundraising event and have become self-confessed tidying 'obsessives' to prevent harm to the environment.
“It started after my mum came across lots of empty water bottles that had been left after a fun run that went down Peace Pitt Lane, in between Leeds Road and the Huddersfield Broad Canal.
“It looked terrible and mum started complaining about it.
“But we decided that rather than moan we should do something instead.
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“We only had marigold gloves and plastic bags but within three weeks we managed to remove litter from the whole lane and our project just went from there.”
They set up a Facebook page and since then, the pair have targeted dozens of other off-road spots in the community.
“We don’t do anywhere that the council refuse collectors can get to, such as on roads.
“We’ve removed litter from up the broad canal and the greenway which runs from Deighton to Fartown .
“My mum goes out every day for a walk and collects rubbish as she goes and I do what I can.
“We’ve got a little bit obsessive with it and it’s actually very therapeutic.”
The pair hope their campaign will inspire others to keep their own communities clean.
“We’ve had volunteers in the past which has been great and we’d welcome anyone who would like to get involved with what we do.
“We don’t get any funding either, so would always welcome that too so that we can tidy places we can’t at the moment.
“But we want everyone, wherever they live, to get involved with something like we do in their own community.
“I hope that we will be able to expand Keep Hudz Tidy into a Keep West Yorkshire tidy network, just like the old Keep Britain Tidy campaign.
“I think it’s important that people take pride in where they live.”
More rubbish dumped in country lane in Flockton
