A PASSIONATE group of residents are aiming to clean up every bit of rubbish accumulated in recent years.

The Coggeshall Literatti, formerly known as the Coggeshall Litter Pickers, has expanded to set up groups in Earls Colne and Feering.

The group, made of 13 residents, has made a significant impact on Coggeshall and surrounding areas and now aims to clean up all rubbish that has been allowed to accumulate over recent years, anywhere inside the parish boundaries.

Group members have been busy clearing one of the back streams which connects St Peter’s Road to the A120 crossing.

Braintree and Witham Times:

Brian Mooney, who brought the group together, said: “The stream runs by the back of houses and it had become a veritable rubbish dump right in the heart of the town.

“We cleared a major heap of garbage and another mountain of brambles and branches.

“Our objective is to clean up every bit of rubbish that has been allowed to accumulate over recent years anywhere inside the parish boundaries.

“All our sections of the Essex Way have been cleared of every last can and plastic bottle.

“All our members are equally important. Dave Bowen brought new energy to the group and he started clearing the ditches and embankments that hadn’t been touched in a generation, often armed with a machete!

“Tina Sivyer came up with the name and you will have correctly noted that we use a double ‘tt’ so as not to confuse ourselves with the more bookish people – not that we are anti books, as long as they are not thrown on to the wayside.

“I think it is fair to say that we have really given Coggeshall a spring clean and we have shown what local groups can do.”