Spalding Wombles keep growing and cleaning

More than 3,000 volunteers are part of Spalding’s Wombles group which clean-up the streets.

Almost 3,400 people have signed-up to the Wombles and hundreds of tonnes of rubbish has been collected to help keep the town tidy.
“The volunteers who find the time to make our town sparkle are amazing,” said one of the founders Kieran Bowman.
“I wouldn’t like to say what a difference we have all made and what sort of tonnage we have removed from the streets of Spalding and the surrounding areas, but what a difference it has made.
“We are all amazing, so please keep on doing what we do best, being proud of our town,” he said.
The group started in 2021 and an initial membership of a handful rocketed to more than 1,100 in less than three weeks.
In that time alone the volunteers picked up 607 high-energy drink cans and 523 vodka bottles.
By March of the same year they had collected more than 1,000 black bags of rubbish from 128 locations.
The Wombles are now an integral part of life in Spalding and the group has continued to grow since it started life after one of the founders went for a New Year walk in 2021 and realised how much rubbish was laying about.
Sam Roberts, Simon Law, Bren Bowman and Kieran Bowman started the group and were stunned at how quickly it took off.
Bren had gone for a walk and mentioned the level of littering and his brother Kieran suggested getting a few friends together for a clean-up and it snowballed from there.
Aside from collecting litter, the group has also bought new bins which have been put in key locations.
South Holland District Council has been working with the group to help ensure the black bags with Womble stickers are collected regularly.
The group also works with schools and other organisations in the area to spread the word.
Regular members Peter and Sandra Bird along with Sam Dale, spoke to children at Spalding Parish Church of England Primary School earlier this summer about the work of the Wombles. The group even made national TV with the BBC Breakfast show in March.
More details about the group and how to help can be found on the Facebook page; The Wombles of Spalding Common.