| Maidenhead Rotarians supported a River Thames clean-up in Sonning on Sunday, October 17, organised by Winnersh and Binfield Rotary and Henley Rotary. Members from a total of eight clubs took part, along with volunteers from the village and environmental groups. Teams picked litter along the towpaths while others fished litter out of the river from boats from the Thames River Rescue Service. Organiser Rotarian Kate Hodges said: “The event was part of the Rotary clubs’ commitment to the End Plastic Soup campaign, which seeks to stop plastic from polluting our canals and rivers and being washed out to sea. We did prevent some plastic from becoming micro-plastics! “Cleaning up locally is just a start. Rotary clubs and the End Plastic Soup initiative are committed to ending plastic waste by 2050. Several Rotary clubs from the Thames Valley came to show their pledge to the environment.” Another event is planned for the Spring which will see Rotary clubs along the Thames litter-picking their stretches of the river and its tributaries. Maidenhead Rotary Club president Martin Trepte, who joined in the effort with wife Amel and fellow club member, Sue Dutton, said: “It was a great event which really highlighted how effective Rotary is when working together to tackle a problem. “A huge amount of litter was collected from the River and its banks. Amel and I even found a shopping trolley, which was actually pretty handy as by then our bags were filled with rubbish and getting quite heavy.” |    If you would like to learn more about Rotary and its environmental projects please email [email protected] |
