Following last Saturday’s triumphant Midsomer Norton Music and Arts Festival, the Midsomer Norton Wombles (a group of volunteers that have made it their mission to pick up litter that would otherwise spoil our little town) met to clean up any mess left from the night before.

Alun De Pughe, new to Midsomer Norton Town Council, told The Journal: “I'd met the group initially a few months ago because my daughter had taken an interest in litter picking through St John's Primary School initiatives (she'd even gone and bought herself her own litter picker stick for the purpose!) and we found the Wombles genuinely inspiring (as well as just truly lovely, fun people).

“I'm passionate about the environment and absolutely love our Town Park so got in touch with the group suggesting we organise a pick for the Sunday which they thought was a good idea.

“We then promoted it hoping to encourage new faces to come join us. We were delighted to discover that the festival organisers had done an amazing job of cleaning up throughout and following the festival so the park wasn't too bad.

“We agreed to split up to spend our time in other parts of the town, my daughter and I taking on the Skate Park (another spot very dear to my heart).

“Amélie and I spent almost two hours cleaning up the litter in the late morning sunshine and my heart warmed to discover that children and young adults utilising the park at the time were not just respectful, polite and grateful but many of them, when seeing us picking up the rubbish that can potentially make skating dangerous, actually got involved!”

The group was joined by Midsomer Norton Mayor, Gordon Mackay, and his son, as well as other parent and child teams.

Alun finished: “I'm genuinely delighted to have been involved with a group that makes such a simple positive difference for our little town.”