World Rotary Day 2019 23/02/19

Tue, Feb 26th 2019 at 12:06 pm - 12:06 pm

To mark this day our club joined the Rotary Club of Dover to collect litter in the Green Lane and Melbourne Road area


World Rotary Day – Saturday 23rd February 2019


To mark this day many community events took place all over the world. Locally the Rotary Club of South Foreland combined with The Rotary Club of Dover to carry out litter clearing along Melbourne Avenue and down Green Lane, a quarter mile footpath which runs from the bottom of Melbourne Estate up to the Christchurch Academy at Whitfield (See photo).


Tony Cook from the Dover Club organised the event with the backing of Dover District Council. In all, twenty Rotarians turned up to help with litter clearing on what was a spring like morning. By lunchtime around 60 sacks of litter as well as many larger objects, which included furniture, car and bicycle parts, a crash helmet, large glass vases and a clock, had been accumulated. We could have had a jumble sale. All the rubbish was collected by the Council and the Green Lane footpath became appropriately named, for now.


In discussion about dealing with the litter problem (a problem solved by the Daily Mail several weeks ago) one Rotarian suggested that the school students who recently went on strike in protest against global warming would have been better employed in collecting litter. This might sound a good idea but the practical implications, including health and safety, would be extensive as any teacher would tell you. Perhaps the Education Secretary, Damian Hinds, could introduce litter picking as an extracurricular activity or add it to Personal, Health and Social Education together with the upcoming proposals for mental heath and the revamp of sex education.


Those of a certain age who were born just before, during or soon after World War 2 were brought up at a time when food and clothing were in short supply and material possessions had to be valued. ‘Waste not want not’ and ‘Make do and mend’ are sayings that spring to mind. With increasing prosperity for most people from the 1960s onwards, the ‘consumer society’ developed with its concomitant ‘the throwaway society’ resulting in the increasing need for waste management.


In recent years there is certainly far more awareness of the negative influence of human activity on the environment, the effects of plastic waste on marine life being a specific example. Individuals may feel powerless to do much in the face of global environmental issues. However local initiatives by communities, families and schools to dispose of litter responsibly, to cut down on food waste and to recycle effectively would be steps in the right direction. Changing attitudes to and fostering social responsibility for the environment needs national direction as well as local if there is to be any significant progress.


Thanks to those from our club who helped collect litter and made a small difference: Ron, Rob, Terry, Chris, John D, Robin, Mike and Sue.








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