Second time success for Paddington Pick & Paddle
Tube strikes and storms meant our planned multi-company pick and paddle event at the start of September had to be postponed. On Wednesday 24 September our rescheduled clean-up took place and we were delighted to be joined on the water by employees from eight Grand Union BID members and supporters.
Held in partnership with Paddleboarding London, the floating litter pick was the third SUP-based event the BID has organised. Two popular SUP socials were held earlier in the summer, introducing 20 colleagues from Microsoft, Derwent London, Vodafone and Tapestry to the sport. Many were completely new to SUP but by the end of their session were standing upright on their boards and even showing off their SUP yoga moves.
The pick and paddle event required participants to stay low on their knees, enabling the best access to rubbish which was collected using litter pickers and fishing nets. Teams were focused on collecting microplastics - which are often missed by our GoBoat collections and Estate teams, as they are so hard to reach. Our haul also included carrier bags, shoes, cushions and an abandoned plastic toy turtle.
The cooler temperatures mean we’ll be putting our boards away for the winter now, but watch this space for details of opportunities to join us again in the spring. In the meantime, we still have capacity on our last few GoBoat canal cleans of the season, so do get in touch with the Community Team if you’d like a space on a boat.