Community organisations have joined together in a bid to rid public walkways of litter and provide free activities to people in Stoke-on-Trent.

Nature in Town is a project by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, which was launched in January, with the aim of revitalising Stoke Town by improving the nature of local spaces in the high street, surrounding green spaces and parklets.

So far volunteers from Staffordshire YMCA, and the Canal & River Trust have come together to carry out group litter picks in and around Stoke Town and in January 12 bags of rubbish were collected in a mile-long walk.

Sue Kneill-Boxley, Wilder Communities Officer at Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, said: "Nature in Town has been a great project for Stoke Town and we have been delighted with the number of people who have come out and joined us - whether on a litter pick or at one of our nature events.

"Having members of the Staffordshire YMCA and Canals & River Trust join us on litter picking walks has also been a big help and we are now planning more."

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust's Nature in Town project received funding from the Stoke High Street Accelerator Fund pilot which is part of the £500,000 Greenspace Funding awarded to Stoke-on-Trent City Council to enable Accelerator partnerships to deliver projects to improve green spaces and parklets around Stoke Town Centres high street.

This was awarded by MHCLG and to date 14 projects have been approved through the Greenspace funding in Stoke Town.

Sue added: "Our project aims to help transform local spaces into little havens for pollinators and people. It also aims to highlight the amazing wildlife we have In Stoke.

"It may have been chilly in January, but we had 30 visitors attend our bug house building event at Spode Rose Garden and recently our nature walks have been well received with those who attended also making their own bird feeders to keep.

"What has been really good, is to see people of all ages coming together as well as learning about nature and helping to tidy up public spaces - new friends have been made."

------

READ: Man jailed for supplying cocaine and cannabis in Stoke-on-Trent

Free from clickbait, pop-up ads and unwanted surveys, Stoke Nub News is a quality online newspaper for our city.

Subscribe to our FREE weekly newsletter email HERE - just click the 'SIGN UP' button.

Please consider following Stoke Nub News on Facebook, X or Instagram.