Cumbrian resident and internationally renowned climber and adventurer, Leo Houlding, has thrown his weight behind our annual 'Great Cumbrian Litter Pick' as the event’s Ambassador for 2020.

Our mass-volunteering clean-up event takes place on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st March. We're asking every parish, school and organisation in Cumbria to get involved and to show the rest of the UK how proud we are of our glorious county.

Leo, who has travelled to the remotest corners of the world on his expeditions, said,

“I was born in Penrith and one of my pet hates is when you’re out in the wilderness and you see rubbish blowing in the wind or sitting in a hedge. You see it all over the world and I’m sad to say, you see it right here on our own doorstep in the Lakes.

“Something I try to teach my kids is that every time we go out we try to pick up the rubbish that we see and come home with more rubbish than we set out with. Please do get involved in The Great Cumbrian Litter Pick. Come out, let’s get all that rubbish out of our countryside and leave the Lakes cleaner than we found it.”

Pictured: Cumbrian resident and internationally renowned climber and adventurer, Leo Houlding

Ruth Kirk, our Landscape Engagement Officer said,

“It’s a truly sad fact of life that carelessly chucked-away rubbish is still blighting our beautiful Cumbrian landscapes, clogging and polluting our waterways, affecting our soils, causing harm to creatures that unwittingly ingest it, or become tangled in our discarded debris.

“And recent storms Ciara and Dennis will have, unwittingly, spread our mess far and wide. So let’s do something about it. Last year, over 1,000 people joined in with nearly 50 litter picks right across Cumbria - from Whitehaven to Sedbergh, Carlisle to Millom – collecting nearly 300 bags of rubbish.”

We will be running a draw with a prize of £500 for one community or school who takes part, to be spent on environmental improvement or enhancement in that community or school as well as free environmental books for each school or college that signs up.

Full details of our Great Cumbrian Litter Pick and how to get involved can be found at www.thegreatcumbrianlitterpick.org.uk where Leo has also recorded a video message. For more information contact [email protected]

This project is supported by players of People's Postcode Lottery and Postcode Local Trust