Volunteer call for next big river clean

Tom Rawson (pictured), a teacher at St Mary’s School in Melrose ran the last event in May in which three tonnes of rubbish was pulled from the river, and hopes the next clean-up on the weekend of Friday to Sunday, November 5-7, will inspire as many volunteers to take part this time .

Tom, who was awarded the Tweed Forum’s River Champion title in 2019 for his own war against plastic litter polluting the river, and his work in leading the drive for St Mary’s to become Scotland’s first plastic-free school, said: “It would be lovely if as many communities take part as did last time.

"Amazingly, we had nearly 500 volunteers attending more than 30 separate river cleans across the river system – an amazing result.

“I think that that makes the Great Borders River Clean one of the biggest (if not the biggest) river cleans in Britain. As ever, I am extremely grateful for everyone’s support of this event. It could not and would not be able to happen without you.”

He added: “I really hope that you and your community can join in on the Friday, Saturday of Sunday of that weekend.

"Don’t worry too much if it’s a week either side – the key thing is to have as many people involved as possible.

“Let me know if you can be involved this time and we can arrange accordingly.”

If you can take part in the clean-up, contact Tom at [email protected]