Green Party Councillor Gill Thomas, Stroud District Council’s Litter and Clean Environment Champion, will take part in the Stroud Half Marathon on Sunday, October 26, combining fitness with environmental action — by litter picking the entire 13-mile route as she runs.
This will be Gill’s second year taking on the challenge. In 2023, she completed the course in three and a half hours, collecting 1,306 items of litter — around 100 pieces every mile.
Gill, who represents Minchinhampton, hopes to complete the route faster this time, not just because of her training but because she’s hoping there will be less litter to collect.
“It will be interesting to see how this year compares in terms of the amount of litter I collect,” said Gill. “I’ve been working with fantastic partners and volunteers across the district and there’s been a lot of interest from local communities, so I hope there might be less rubbish lying about this year.”
The event is also raising funds for Gill’s ‘Litter Pickers for Little Pickers’ project, which aims to raise £10,000 to provide litter pickers, books, and reading sessions for over 7,000 primary-aged children.
Donations can be made at justgiving.com/crowdfunding/litterpickersforlittlepickers.
This will be Gill’s second major litter-picking event this month. On October 12, she joined a team that cleared litter from 22 local laybys, drawing attention to the scale of roadside littering across the Stroud district.
