Thornhill Tidy Team
In three years the appearance of the Thornhill area has been turned around. With up to ten Tidy Team members working every day, its cleanliness index has been improved from one of the worst to the best in Southampton ! Martin Willcox who co-ordinates the team says, ‘We are very committed to improving the quality of Thornhill's environment but we need help from everyone because we can't maintain our high standards and invest more time in improvements.'
The Tidy Team work on maintaining and developing the council-owned green areas of grassland, shrub / flower beds and woodland, as well as street cleanliness, involving a compact sweeping machine and litter picking.
Bob Reeve as Tidy Together Co-ordinator is the community liaison link between the Tidy Team, the local community and partner organisations. He sees working together as the key to sustaining a ‘cleaner, greener' Thornhill.
“The Tidy Team is expending around 60% of resources on litter. If people would simply use bins, take their litter home and keep the area around their home clean, we could invest much more time improving the green open spaces and making them more leisure and wildlife friendly – that way everyone would feel happier!”
It is the residents that play the biggest part in sustaining Thornhill’s improvements to its open spaces. Bob Reeve, Tidy Together Co-ordinator, who acts as the community liaison link between the Tidy Team and Southampton City Council, is encouraged by the locals who interact with his team.
“There’s a false perception that the City Council are here forever. People of Thornhill are now taking more responsibility for their environment. We’ve had excellent feedback from locals informing us about specific areas that need attention.”
The Tidy Team work on street cleanliness, involving a sweeping machine and litter picking, as well as maintaining the council-owned green areas, such as grassland, shrub beds and some woodland.
Bob believes that Thornhill's young people as future citizens are the key to longer term improvements, so he spends a lot of time in schools and youth centres. He is currently running a ‘U-Tidy' competition for youngsters and setting up biodiversity projects so the wider community can be part of creating a cleaner Thornhill with a lot more colour and wildlife.
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