What a load of rubbish! A morning on the Broadway litter pick with PALS...

Every so often it is worth stopping to look at what volunteers are quietly doing for this area.

On Sunday, 27 members of Ponteland Anti-Litter Squad (PALS) spent an hour combing the Broadway area of Darras Hall and came away with more than 13kg of rubbish between them, three new faces joining the group along the way.

The Darras Index went along to find out who they are, what they found and why a group like this still needs to exist.

"You can't change things all by yourself"

PALS was founded by Jane Hodson-Hamilton, who lives in Darras Hall and has litter-picked, in her words, "probably most of my life".

"As a solo litter picker, a couple of years ago I realised that you can't change things all by yourself," she said. "You need a team of people around you, and you need to encourage other people to join."

That team now runs the group formally; Alan as secretary, Norbert as treasurer and Richard as first aider. Together, about three years ago, they set up PALS. Jane is also a local ambassador for Keep Britain Tidy, which supplies the group with branded bags each April for the Great British Spring Clean.

"We now have a very active, enthusiastic, brilliant group of people that come out once a month on a litter pick with us," Jane said. "And in between, when we find grot spots, we have SWAT teams."

Sunday's session followed one of those SWATs at the Broadway shops, which she said drew around 20 to 25 people.

"It's been a brilliant day out and we have made a difference to our area. We love where we live, and sad though it is, there is litter dropped. It shouldn't be necessary that we have to pick it up. But we live here, we want to make it nice, and we therefore come out and pick up the rubbish. That's PALS in a nutshell."

Kitted out, and who's behind it

Alan explained how the group built up its equipment. PALS' branded hi-vis vests, the ones members wear on their monthly Sunday picks and solo outings, were bought with a grant from Northumberland County Council's Community Chest.

Other kit has been donated by Ponteland Town Council and the Darras Hall Estate Committee, with further support from the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) and the Keep Britain Tidy Network.

Richard, who joined a couple of years ago after seeing an advert on a local noticeboard, said the group draws people "from all walks of life", which he thinks is what makes it work. PALS has built links with local schools, including a group of young pupils who joined a recent pick with, as Richard put it, "great enthusiasm".

Members are heading to Newcastle Airport this week to work alongside staff there, and the group also signs off Duke of Edinburgh Award participants with a certificate for their portfolio.

"I'm not sure how old that little girl was, maybe six, who was desperately wanting to come back next time," Richard said. "I think we'll go on for as long as we can. But if we can get some more younger people involved, we've got a chance to reduce the amount of litter."

The numbers

Formally two years old, PALS has collected just over two metric tonnes of litter in that time, along with more than 700 vapes and upwards of 5,000 cans and bottles, according to Alan.

The group's most recently published annual report puts a finer point on the 2025/26 year alone: 1,418kg of litter collected across monthly picks, solo adopted routes and SWAT events, made up of 3,742 cans, 1,017 glass bottles, 2,958 plastic bottles and 469 vapes, more than double the previous year's weight.

The group estimates that adds up to over 800 hours of voluntary work across litter picking, school outreach and environmental projects such as tidying around Broadway and Memorial Hall.

Odder finds logged over the year include footballs, tyres, an office chair "in bits" a wireless speaker, a credit card, two bicycles and a fridge.

By the time Sunday's session wrapped up, membership had grown again - 51 at the start of this financial year, with three more signing up on the day.

Not just crisp packets

Broadway threw up something a little different this time. Alongside the usual packaging and drinks litter, volunteers pulled out several metres of electrical cable and loose screws, left behind after recent broadband infrastructure upgrades in the area. Residents are not the only source of the mess PALS deals with.

What struck the group most was that this happened somewhere with plenty of bins already in place. "Counting just around Broadway, there are 10 bins within spitting distance from where we're standing," Jane said. "It's perfectly easy to find a bin to put your litter in, or just take it home. That's what pockets are for."

The harder finds

Not everything volunteers pick up is harmless. Asked directly whether they had ever come across drug paraphernalia, the answer was yes, though thankfully not often. Volunteers recalled a suspicious bag containing something green found near Merton Way, and syringes discovered on the bridle way and close to the gym. These finds are rare rather than routine, but they are part of what a litter-picking session can turn up.

An award from the Duchess

PALS was recently presented with an award by the Duchess of Northumberland at Alnwick Castle for the LOVE Northumberland Awards, part of £100 in prize money the group hopes to put towards an educational scheme with local schools.

It is a cause close to the group's stated aim, in Alan's words, "to be redundant, so that there is no litter for us to pick up, because everybody puts their litter in a bin." That sits alongside recognition already logged in the annual report: a nomination at the Places for People Community Awards and a letter of appreciation from Northumberland County Council.

Doing the council's work for free?

There is a striking way to look at Sunday's turnout: 27 volunteers giving an hour of their time is the equivalent of 27 hours of work the town and county councils did not have to carry out or pay for.

So does PALS' existence let the councils off the hook, by giving it a reliable volunteer workforce to lean on? Opinions among members were mixed rather than unanimous. Some pointed to funding pressures and budget cuts, others to a broader lack of resource, and some more bluntly to the laziness of people dropping litter in the first place. But there was a shared thread running through the answers: yes, the councils could be doing more.

How to get involved

PALS holds its main group pick on the third Sunday of each month, alongside members' own "adopted" laybys, roads and pathways across the area, and a programme of SWAT events targets specific hotspots such as Broadway, Rotary Way and the Callerton Bypass.

Anyone wanting to pick up a litter picker and a hi-vis vest of their own can find out more about joining a future pick through PALS' channels:

Email pals.enquiry@gmail.com

Phone 07732 639820

Facebook page

The Darras Index will continue to follow PALS' work across Darras Hall and Ponteland.