Pupils go litter picking while street is shut for repairs

PUPILS at an independent school in Henley carried out a litter-pick while their street was closed for emergency sewer repairs.

Thames Water shut Bell Street on Wednesday morning last week so contractors could repair an underground pipe.

Drivers could not turn right from Hart Street and were forced to drive into Market Place, around the town hall and along King’s Road to get round the blockage. Long queues of traffic formed at peak times with some drivers coming down White Hill and over Henley Bridge experiencing 40-minute delays.

Children in years 3 to 6 at Rupert House School collect rubbish every Tuesday as part of their outdoor learning lessons and usually patrol the riverside and the pedestrianised area in the town centre.

But, with their road closed, they did an impromptu tidy-up in Bell Street with class teacher Sam Dwinell and managed to fill a big black bin bag in an hour.

They mostly collected food wrappers, coffee cups and lids and paper receipts. The group also visited Falaise Square.

Mr Dwinell said: “When I first joined the school, I was surprised at how keen the children were to go litter picking, which we do as part of the school’s outdoor learning programme. Litter picking enables the children to give back to the community and highlights to them society’s over-reliance on single-use plastics. They enjoy talking to members of the Henley community and love to see what interesting things they can find.

“They have been most excited to find a single shoe, a glove and some paint pots, which were all discovered in bushes by the river.”

Pupil Thomas Dickens said: “I enjoy litter picking because it can be fun to see what we find and it helps the environment too.

“We play a game where we all try to spot litter first. When we were in Bell Street we found lots of cigarette butts and food packaging, especially sweet wrappers outside the sweet shop. The place we find the most litter when we go out is in the car parks.”

In January, Thames Water was criticised by the town council for causing disruption with its regular repair work, which often involved closing roads.

Town clerk Sheridan Jacklin-Edward wrote to the company requesting greater care was taken of communities affected by work.

He said: “These road closures have led to increased congestion, pollution and disruption to local businesses, residents and pedestrians. The town council would like to understand what measures there are in place to inform communities of repairs and whether there are plans to improve these in the future.”

Thames Water apologised, saying it aimed to carry out repairs and emergency work as safely and quickly as possible while minimising disruption.