IT was a case of skip, skip hurray' at the weekend when residents in Radcliffe joined forces with BurySafe volunteers to give their neighbourhood a welcome spring clean.

A hefy 18 tons of unwanted household items and rubbish, dumped in six large skips, were collected by homeowners in the Wellington Street area of the town who were only to keen to take advantage of the free Clean Up Day'.

Representatives from Bury Council, the anti-social behaviour team, youth services, police, the fire service and Irwell Valley Housing Association also helped to clear graffiti, remove rubbish and give residents in the area the opportunity to talk about ideas for the future and get tips on fire safety and crime prevention.

Lorraine Chamberlin, public health manager who took part in the clean up, said: "The clean-up day was a great opportunity to speak with the residents as they carried out their spring clean. Residents and local youngsters also came up with some great ideas for further improvements in the area and hopefully we will be able to carry out similar clean-ups in other parts of the borough."

The clean-up day was organised by the Radcliffe Area Tasking Team working as part of the overall Bury Safe initiative. Funding was secured from the Radcliffe Area Board's cleaner safer and greener funding initiative.

Councillor Tony Cummins, who was also part of the clean-up team, added: "We had an overwhelming response to the day and the community spirit throughout the day reflected the success of the event.

"We hope this opportunity will help the people of Radcliffe maintain pride in their neighbourhood."