VOLUNTEERS for Melksham’s parkrun are appealing to users of King George V playing field to pick their litter up after them.
Melksham parkrun is the free weekly 5k run held every Saturday at 9am in the park.
Volunteers have highlighted that before each run takes place, they are having to spend time clearing litter from the park.
The litter problem reached a peak over the Easter weekend with a number of glass bottles smashed outside the cricket pavilion.
One parkrun volunteer reported, “We had a great turnout for our Easter parkrun in the sunshine last Saturday (20th April) with many of the 300-plus parkrunners and volunteers sporting at least bunny ears and even a full costume!
“Everything about parkrun events is incredibly positive which makes it particularly hard to understand how a small number of other park users can be so mindless and oblivious to the safety of other users, especially young children, to leave it in the state we found it early Saturday morning.
“Apart from rubbish and glass bottles spread out over the grass by the pavilion, several smashed bottles were just left on the ground. It’s so disappointing for volunteers turning up early to have to clear up mess like this before they can even start to do what they really came for.
“We often have to pick up litter and dog mess first thing on a Saturday but our volunteers generally just get on and do it without a fuss because we all have a ‘can do’ approach to everything parkrun.”
