Keeping Mansfield beautiful: the biggest and best Clean-Up day yet

The annual Mansfield District Council project aims to bring the 40 Mansfields from across the globe together to make them the cleanest towns in the world. Communities in Mansfield, Texas; Mansfield, Pennsylvania; Mansfield, Minnesota; Mansfield,Massachusetts; and Mansfield in Victoria, Australia, joined in with this year's event.

Chad reporter Kevin Rogers helped volunteers at the Oak Tree Conservation Group to fill sacks with litter this morning (Friday June 8) at a local beauty spot.

Chairman of the group Margaret Hardy welcomed volunteers from Veolia, Mansfield District Council Housing Department and Tesco as well as members of the conservation group to the mass litter pick around the Oak Tree Heath and parts of the estate.

Caring for Oak Tree Heath and the surrounding green space, the volunteers work tirelessly to engage with the community.

The group work in partnership with the Sherwood Forest Trust and in 2017 they picked up 498 bags of litter and 810 bottles as well as hundreds of large items of rubbish from the Oak Tree area.

Margaret said: "Today is all about joining in the Big Clean Up Day which we do every year. all the Mansfield from across the world take part and we are part of it. The idea is to keep Mansfield as clean as possible."

Volunteer Freda Jackson said: "It is heart breaking when you see rubbish that has been dumped. The heath is a site of special scientific interest.

"People just dump stuff like this cardboard box and refuse sacks they could easily put in their dustbin."

Volunteer Dave Thompson works for Veolia. He said: "I always volunteer for this - I live on the estate so it is very important to me that the area is kept clean.

Housing officer Hayley Jackson added: "I definitely feel I want to show support to the conservation team. They do a lot of work to keep this place clean.

"I wanted to show we care about the estate and show residents that people in my sort of role care enough to muck in."