Ten years ago, a motivated group of local Pembroke residents, appalled by the amount of litter and rubbish blighting their historic town, decided to take action and carry out monthly litter picks, focussing on areas connected to watercourses and wildlife habitats.

Nikki Anderson, well-known for instigating many successful community, environment and heritage projects in Pembroke, organised the first litter pick on March 8, 2008. Nikki continued to lead the monthly litter picks until her illness at the end of 2016.

The Pembroke litter pickers celebrated the work she started by holding a public engagement exercise in Pembroke Town Hall on St. David’s Day, speaking to country market visitors about their work. In addition, on March 10, they celebrated the 10th anniversary of their formation, with a group photo before tackling a regular litter pick on The Commons. They finished with well-earned refreshments at Foundry House, whilst also commemorating the first anniversary of Nikki’s death.

Irena Kruszona, an original member, commented: “It’s upsetting what people throw away and dump in public spaces. As well as the usual drinks cans, bottles, polystyrene food boxes and cups, crisp packets, sweet wrappers, empty bread bags and balls, we’ve found a wheel barrow, bicycles, scooters, road signs, traffic cones, beer barrels, gas canisters and a car battery chucked into the Commons Stream and the Mill Ponds.”

Another long-serving volunteer, David Holmes, added: “It’s unbelievable that people can carry food and drink containers for hundreds of yards from the shop and then just drop them, even when a litter bin is within a few yards. Another real disappointment is the number of dog-poo bags thrown onto the verges and hung on bushes.”

The Saturday anniversary litter pick on The Commons resulted in 11 bags of litter being collected in an hour. During the 10 years of its existence, the group have collected more than 1,000 bags!

Keep Wales Tidy and Pembrokeshire County Council have supported the group from the start by providing some equipment and rubbish bags. Bags are collected and disposed of by the council environmental team.

At the start of 2018, the litter pick group renamed itself as Pembroke Environment Volunteers (PEV). They operate under the umbrella of Pembroke 21C Community Association, based at Foundry House. They meet on the second Saturday of each month to tackle the Commons, Pembroke Millpond and Castle Pond and, more recently, has included basic maintenance work in Holyland Wood. Newcomers are welcome and equipment is provided. Volunteers just need some enthusiasm, a couple of hours of their time and sensible clothing. Posters with event details are on display outside Pembroke Town Hall, the Foundry and Holyland Wood noticeboard.

In the long-term, the volunteers hope that their efforts will not be required; and future plans include working with local businesses to reduce the amount of unnecessary packaging that often ends up as litter.