A COMMUNITY group which clears mountains of rubbish off the streets has passed an amazing milestone.

Keep Blackburn Tidy was set up in May 2018 by friends Heidi Pugh, Michelle Baker and Tracey Padia. Blackburn with Darwen Council recently celebrated the group’s contribution in the area after it passed the 20,000 bags of rubbish mark.

And the group, which has more than 2,000 followers on Facebook and more than 300 people regularly helping with their litter picks, said it was holding a special celebration on November 24 between 2-4pm at Little Harwood Community Centre and the figure was now up to 21,500 bags.

Heidi has been delighted with the success over the past 18 months.

She said: “I personally had been litter picking for four years before the group and Tracey and I said why don’t we try to put up a Facebook page to encourage everybody and other people to do the same.

“It has really taken off and we did not expect it. It's also great because we are getting the community joining together to create cohesion.

“It is giving people health and mental health benefits of getting them out and meeting people and keeping them active.

“It is just really positive.

“We have 21,500 bags collected but that does not include the bulky items which are collected differently.”

She said the group was a modern twist on the old-fashioned notion of looking after your neighbours.

She said: “We're going back to the basics of our grandparents when everybody took care of their area."

Cllr Jim Smith, Blackburn with Darwen environment boss, said: “They are fantastic citizens and if everyone could do a little bit of what they are doing then we would not have rubbish in our streets and alleyways.

“There is a lot of pride in the area in Blackburn and this is shown here."

“There are lots of older people who are taking part and it has benefits for them but it can help younger people too.”