Following the success of Civic Day in June, we once again joined forces with Cheltenham BID; this time to tackle Albion Street, Pittville Street and Winchcombe Street on Saturday 23rd September.
For those who notice and care about the state of our town centre, the results were astounding. There were no more weeds; the graffiti problem was much reduced; and the whole area looked much cleaner, fresher and more welcoming.
We filled lots of large black bags with litter, weeds and other detritus. Our efforts made a significant difference to these streets, underlining once again how much more could be done, both by UBICO and by individual shops to make the town centre much more appealing. Why so many shops take no interest in the area immediately outside their doors is a mystery.
On the Saturday morning, 25 volunteers gathered at Parmoor – CCS’s HQ in Cambray Place – to be briefed and equipped with hi-vis vests, tools and cleaning materials. As we did on Civic Day in June, we launched an all-out 3-hour set-to on the streets – scraping weeds and dog-ends out of paving cracks, peeling stickers off street furniture and cleaning a mass of sprayed-on graffiti off walls, posters, street signs, utility boxes and just about every other surface.
Now, we just need Gloucestershire County Council to commit to doing something about the dire state of the paving in The Strand!
We wish to acknowledge the volunteers from several of our Corporate members and it was good to see Cheltenham MP and Lord Chancellor, Alex Chalk, working alongside us and expressing his gratitude for the work we carried out.
We’d also like to thank Papa John’s, who provided us with the excellent pizzas that everyone enjoyed at the end of our shift! That was a generous and much-appreciated gesture.
