We were invited by Tesco to get involved with a litter picking day in the local community around the Tesco store in Westwood..

The day started at 9am on a sunny Wednesday morning and the team consisting of Humayun, Kayleigh, Daniel, Mubaarak, Maria, Charlotte and three Tesco employees got their high vis jackets and gloves on ready to work – safety first!

Christian, the services manager, gave us all a safety briefing before we got started and told us we needed to use litter picking sticks to pick up the rubbish and if we found any sharp items or any glass, we needed to let the staff know – we were not to touch it but let staff dispose of it safely. We also needed to stay together as a group.

Our first area to clean was around the back of Tesco and we found lots of rubbish! All the students got stuck in and the area looked much better once we had finished..

We stopped for a quick break in the shade, a few packets of crisps and some water did the trick and we were back to work in no time..

We had a bit more to do around the back of Tesco before we moved onto the estate and the areas around Tesco..

We had lots of ‘thank yous’ from the locals, telling us we were doing a good job and someone even came out and offered us bottles of cold drinks!

By 12pm we were all ready for lunch so it was back to Tesco for sandwiches, crisps, biscuits and drinks – thank you very much, Tesco! The students chatted with Christian about their work placements this year and asked him about his job at Tesco..

After lunch we moved on to a different area on the other side of Tesco and cleaned around the Central Mosque..

At 1.30pm with everywhere tidied, it was time to pack up and call it a day and head back. Christian told us we had cleared 20 bags of rubbish between us today, well done team!!

At the end of the day, Christian thanked us for helping to make the local area much tidier for the residents and he gave the students some great advice – that hard work and perseverance will help get them noticed in the world of work and help them to get a job..

Thank you once again to Tesco for this fantastic opportunity – we know that the students gained a lot from the day.