Poly and posh team up to clean up

A far cry from whinging about washing their housemates’ dishes, fresh faced volunteers from Northumbria and Newcastle came together to tidy up the streets of Jesmond.

Setting aside their notorious differences for the greater good of the community (aren’t they cute?), both sets of big-hearted uni-goers tackled untamed hedges, smartened up defaced street signs and cleaned up a lot of mess made by other people.

The aim of the street cleaning programme is to bridge the divide between Newcastle and Northumbria novices and already existing residents in the student hotspot that is Jesmond.

Golden oldie Tony Waterson, 71, and the chairman of Jesmond Residents Association said: “I’ve just been in a garden and filled this whole bin bag full of rubbish. And we discovered some beautiful snowdrops that had been covered up underneath it all.

“It’s a fantastic idea and I am so impressed with the number of students who pitched up.”

Claire Boothman, president of Newcastle Student Union said: “Today’s really important because students get given a very negative stereotype here.

“We all live in the same area – litter is an issue for the whole of Jesmond to deal with.”

No more offensive gardens

The area improvement quickly rallied support from Jesmond’s DIY convenience store, Acorn Hardware, who donated dozens of litter pickers to the university do-gooders. And, as the clean up was a true gift to Newcastle, local food saviours Greggs and Tesco naturally donated sausage rolls and refreshments throughout the day.

South Jesmond Councillor, David Hardman has organised several more community clean ups for the upcoming months.

He told the Chronicle: “Events like today get students and residents to connect with each other – to break down the line between “us” and “them”. We are all residents of Jesmond and all have the same concerns.”

Upcoming street tidies are planned for Sandyford, Jesmond Vale and Brandling village starting next month.

These days will be long gone

Izzy-Kenney Herbert calls Jesmond her home. She said: “I was very surprised to wake up and see young people litter picking outside: “It’s good to keep the streets clean – there’s nothing worse than waking up to beer cans thrown across your garden.”