For the fourth successive year the Woking Litter Warriors volunteers were out on the course of the Surrey Half Marathon while the roads were closed to traffic.

However, a late change to the race route due to the emergency road closure of Saunders Lane meant that some of the most-littered roads identified in an earlier scouting mission were outside the “protected” area of the route, meaning the logistics of the exercise had to be slightly reworked and volunteers sought from the group for the more “risky” parts.

The Warriors crew of 16 set out at 8am on Sunday, 22 March for the western side of the course and found several roads and verges to be almost as badly littered as on previous visits – despite a group litter pick along Burdenshott Road a mere two months ago.

Along with items such as a car headlamp unit, a couple of microwave ovens, no fewer than 34 vapes and 17 nitrous oxide (NOS) canisters, the total number of large bin bags collected this year was not far short of last year’s haul – 54 as opposed to 64 – but that does not take account of the 30 bags collected on the January litterpick.

“It’s quite astonishing how quickly rubbish mounts up when people simply don’t take any pride in their locality or care about the environment,” said Warriors founder Lauren Horncastle.

Following another successful venture – and coincidentally the fourth anniversary of their first group litter pick – the Warriors were treated to a complimentary and welcome hot drink at the Sportsbox on Egley Road.

If you’re interested in joining the Litter Warriors, they meet as a group roughly once or twice a month in the Woking area, rain or shine, and can be found on Facebook at Woking Litter Warriors (WLW), on Instagram at wokinglitterwarriors or alternatively email them at [email protected].