More than 60 bags of litter fished from River Soar
Volunteers say they fished out more than 60 bags of litter from a mile-long section of the River Soar in the space of a week.Some of the items recovered included a mattress, a safe and a religious statue.The clean-up involved 100 people on kayaks, canoes and paddleboards removing the waste as part of a national effort to clear rivers of plastic and rubbish. The litter picks were carried out by people from local groups and businesses along one mile (1.6km) of the river either side of Leicester Outdoor Pursuits Centre in Belgrave.
The groups paddled along the river equipped with litter pickers, gloves and waste bags to remove the floating rubbish, as well as objects stuck in the banks.The Leicester Outdoor Pursuits Centre teamed up with Paddle UK - previously named British Canoeing - for the 2025 Big Paddle Cleanup from 24 May and through the half-term week as part of a national effort to clear litter from UK rivers.
Parents and children had been encouraged to take to the water during the school holidays as part of the clean-up effort.One of the volunteers was 10-year old Ada who says it is not difficult to find a bin rather than throw rubbish in the river."We even found whole bags full of rubbish in there. It was easier to pick them out, but it isn't nice because people should just put it in the bin, it's not that hard."Meanwhile, Arya, also aged 10, says she felt sad lifting a statue of The Virgin Mary from the river during her clear up."Someone just discarded it, it wasn't nice to see as it means a lot to people," she said.
Damaging to wildlife
Hayley Smitham Hopewell, education and development manager at the pursuits centre, says the volunteers have found some unsettling things in the river in their recent clean up."Unfortunately, we found a dog, which meant we had to call the RSPCA, which was very sad. We also find mattresses, safes filled with valuables, gold and even a motorbike."She also says more than 1,000 bags of rubbish have been recovered from the river since she joined the facility, indicating that despite their efforts, the problem still persists."I understand that people want to use the river as a sanctuary by throwing flowers in etc," she added."But some of the things we find are bits of jewellery, photo frames or ornaments, which is really damaging to the wildlife and to the children who come here." Sue Willis, engagement co-ordinator for the Canal and River Trust visited the site during the week to understand the scale of the problem."It's quite surprising how bad it is, what you see on the surface is the wrappers and crisp packets but beneath the surface is lots of plastic bags and even big pieces of iron - things that aren't visible to the eye unless you go out on the boats."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South Wales Guardian
20 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
England need 246 to claim ODI series clean sweep against West Indies
After arriving to the ground late for the third ODI at the Kia Oval because of heavy traffic in the area, the Windies fell to 28 for three and then 154 for seven, with Adil Rashid taking three wickets. Rutherford had missed the Windies' defeats at Edgbaston and Sophia Gardens after deciding to stay at the Indian Premier League but he provided some much-needed ballast following their top-order failure. After his dismissal for 70 off 71 balls, Motie (63) took the baton alongside Alzarri Joseph (41) in a blistering 91-run stand off 68 deliveries to lift the Windies to 251 for nine – with England needing five runs fewer on Duckworth-Lewis-Stern. A combination of a couple of broken down buses, a traffic lights failure and roadworks over a River Thames bridge contributed to the Windies' tardiness from their hotel three-and-a-half miles away, which – along with a 95-minute rain delay in their innings – led to a shortened 40-over game. The tourists' practice time was shortened as play got under way half-an-hour after the scheduled start and they were quickly three down in next to no time as Evin Lewis, who was back following a groin injury, and fellow opener Brandon King miscued to catchers in the ring. When captain Shai Hope was bounced out by Saqib Mahmood for the second time in the series, it seemed they could vanish without trace. Rutherford led the recovery well, finding some fluency through the off-side while he was strong off his hips and put on 62 with Keacy Carty, before the Cardiff centurion perished for 29 shortly after the rain break when chopping on off Rashid, who then claimed two in two balls. Justin Greaves was caught well low down by Ben Duckett, who put down two catches at Cardiff, while Roston Chase hung out his bat to his first ball and nicked to Joe Root, who also spilled a catch last time out. Number eight batter Motie smoked Rashid's hat-trick ball for six but Rutherford departed when pulling Brydon Carse to Harry Brook, who took an excellent chance diving to his right at mid-on. Hands, Harry 👏 — England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 3, 2025 England's hopes of a quick finish to the innings were dashed by Motie and Joseph, though, with the lower-order pair feasting on some wayward bowling, with the hosts guilty of overusing the short ball. Mahmood then Carse were both pulled into the stands by Motie, while Will Jacks was taken to task by number 10 Joseph, who top-edged to Matthew Potts at short third to end a buccaneering union. Motie was then castled from the final ball of the innings, through his shot as he was deceived by Potts' back-of-the-hand delivery.
BBC News
22 minutes ago
- BBC News
MI5 lied 'deliberately and repeatedly' in neo-Nazi spy case, BBC tells High Court
MI5 lied "deliberately and repeatedly" as it tried to defend its handling of a neo-Nazi agent who abused women, the BBC has told a panel of High Court corporation argued the threshold for contempt of court proceedings against MI5 and three individual officers had been James Eadie KC, acting for MI5, issued an "unreserved apology" on behalf of the Security Service but said the "errors that had been made had not been deliberate".The three judges - England and Wales' most senior judge, Lady Chief Justice Baroness Sue Carr, President of the King's Bench Division Dame Victoria Sharp and Mr Justice Chamberlain - reserved judgement on the case until a later date. The case, which began in 2022 with an attempt to block the BBC from publishing a story about the neo-Nazi agent, has become a major test of how the courts view MI5 and the credibility of its gave evidence to three courts, saying that it had never breached its core secrecy policy of neither confirming nor denying (NCND) that a man known only as X was a state in February, the BBC was able to prove with notes and recordings of phone calls with MI5 that this was MI5 officer had confirmed the agent's status as he tried to persuade me to drop an investigation into X, a violent neo-Nazi misogynist who used his Security Service role to coerce and terrify his former girlfriend, known publicly as "Beth".At Tuesday's hearing MI5 acknowledged that the NCND policy could no longer be maintained in this policy has meant significant amounts of evidence has been confined to closed hearings which neither the BBC nor Beth - who has brought a separate case complaining about MI5 - are permitted to Kilroy KC, representing Beth, said her client agreed with the BBC that the threshold for contempt of court proceedings had been met. There had been "copious levels of dishonesty" which had not been acknowledged in MI5's investigations into how it came to give false BBC's barrister, Jude Bunting KC, submitted to the court that it should consider contempt of court proceedings against MI5 itself, and three individual Security Service officers - including one who confirmed X's status as an agent on the phone to me and a senior officer known as Witness A who gave the false evidence to accounts of how it came to give false evidence "lack candour" and there is a "real concern" that the court has not been given a full explanation of what went wrong, Mr Bunting said an external review by the government's former chief lawyer Sir Jonathan Jones KC did not speak to two crucial James Eadie KC, representing the Attorney General for the Security Service, offered an "unreserved apology on behalf of MI5"."Everyone from the director general downwards acknowledges the seriousness caused," he said. MI5 director general Sir Ken McCallum immediately informed Home Secretary Yvette Cooper as soon as the matter was drawn to his attention, Sir James has been "a full and comprehensive investigation" which came to the conclusion that "the errors that had been made had not been deliberate" and that "there had been no misleading or lying", MI5's barrister said that contempt of court proceedings "would not be appropriate".
The Guardian
27 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Major evacuation in Cologne after second world war bombs discovered
The biggest evacuation in Cologne since the second world war is under way after the discovery of three unexploded bombs dropped by allies 80 years ago, causing major disruption to the western German city. About 20,000 people are having to leave their homes and businesses, hotels, a care home for elderly people and a hospital are being forced to evacuate. Three bridges over the river Rhein have been closed and rail traffic has been halted or diverted. Numerous schools, kindergartens, museums and the tram network, as well as the home of the city's philharmonic orchestra, have had to close after the entire old town was brought to a halt. Major broadcaster RTL had to shift its news programmes to studios in Berlin, as its building sits inside the evacuated area of about 1,000 metres in radius. Several programmes that were due to be transmitted live had to be recorded instead, the broadcaster said. The bombs are due to be defused on Wednesday morning. They are US-produced bombs, two are 20 tons and one 10 tons, all of which were discovered on Monday on the right bank of the Rhein during building works near the Deutz ship works. All three are equipped with impact fuzes intended to cause detonation on contact with a hard surface. Volunteers, police and other city authorities will carry out a round of checks ringing on doorbells, calling through letter boxes, and gathering information from residents about their neighbours on Wednesday morning, before attempts to defuse the bombs can start. Police have said they have the authority to use force to remove anyone who refuses to leave voluntarily. Locals can call a hotline or refer to a website for advice. Tents and other facilities such as sport halls and churches outside the evacuated area will be open to provide people with food, refreshments and support, city authorities said. Eighty years after the end of the second world war, such finds are still not unusual in Cologne, which was among Germany's most heavily bombed cities during the conflict. It was hit in 262 air raids carried out by the RAF, sometimes using US-produced bombs, especially towards the end of the conflict. About 20,000 people were killed in the bombing raids. On the night of 30 May 1942, the city was the target of the Royal Air Force's first 'thousand-bomber raid' on a German city. More than 1,000 aircraft were dispatched, flying in a narrow 'bomber stream' formation, the density of which had the effect of overwhelming German radar and defences. On this single night, 868 bombers attacked the city with 1,455 tons of bombs in what was known as Operation Millennium. It is not yet known when the bombs currently awaiting defusing were dropped.
