A litter picking group came together with the help of the emergency services for a huge litter pick this weekend ­— collecting over 400 bags full of waste.

The Litter Pickers of North Bolton, along with other groups from across the borough, including the Horwich Clean Up Brigade, Friends of Longfellow, and litter pickers from Lever Edge and Great Lever, and more went out of Sunday around the heavily flytipped wooded area behind Pennington Road, off Lever Edge Lane.

The band of volunteers were also joined by members of the police and fire service who did their bit when they saw the litter pick going on and many local councillors pitched in too.

The litter pick attracted people of all ages and backgrounds, with some joining their first pick and others who have been volunteering with groups for many years.

Eileen Crowe, a co-founder of the Litter Pickers of North Bolton, said it was a great litter pick, with a very strong litter picking community going from strength to strength in the town.

She said: "We're trying to send out a really positive message to get more people involved in cleaning up their community, making the town something they can be really proud of.

"We don't want to blame anyone for littering we just want to make the volunteering a really positive thing for people to be involved with.

"There have been so many people joining in recently in our picks and really enjoying it, it's great to see people with a smile on their face helping to keep the town tidy.

"Sometimes it can get frustrating when you do a big litter pick but the area is littered on again, but it's still a really positive thing to have taken that litter away, that would have stayed there forever, in the first place.

"It does seem to be areas in and around the town centre that are littered the most so it's great to get many groups together and concentrate on these areas, everybody wants a clean town.

"It's great that people come to these big litter picks for the first time too and then are out on their own around their local area picking up bits.

"Every pick helps, even if it's just clearing the front of your house.

"We just want to keep things as positive as possible, the community we have across the borough is really strong and it would be great to see this continue post-lockdown. People have begun noticing how clean their local area is a lot more.

"It's absolute nonsense when you see comments on Facebook or elsewhere with people just saying the town's a mess nothing. There's is a really lovely community out there that can be seen at these litter picks who all want a green and cleaner town.

"From people bringing tea and biscuits from their house when they see us picking to people out on their own filling bags, it all makes a positive difference."

A litter pick across Bolton involving groups all going out in their local area at the same time is currently being planned for May, with Eileen hoping it can raise awareness across the borough of keeping the town tidy.

The year The Bolton News has been running an environmental campaign ­to make Bolton cleaner and greener.

We have been calling for three actions, including tougher penalties for the worst fly-tipping offenders, plans for green spaces and ‘pocket parks’ to progress encouraging all residents to join a local litter picking group or starting your own rubbish-busting team.

To ensure this we have been championing those groups already doing great work to keep our neighbourhoods clean, name and shame fly-tipping offenders fined by the courts and supporting town hall chiefs and local businesses as everyone does their best to recover in 2021.