Volunteers' Week 2022: Meet Paul who helps young people to take care of their park

A volunteer who helps vulnerable young adults to look after their park and community garden has been thanked by Keep Britain Tidy as the charity highlights his important work to mark Volunteers’ Week.

For more than six years, Paul Mason, 58, from Dudley, has been helping people with additional needs to do litter picks in their local small park, Swannies Field, which backs onto the Wyrley and Essington canal.

The young people also grow vegetables in the nearby community garden at Goscote Greenacres near Walsall.

He says: “We have a group here who go out every six weeks made up of local residents as well as adults with learning disabilities.

“Our greatest accomplishment is to that over the years we seem to be collecting less litter than we did when we started 

“Litter picking is a great way for all from the community can help contribute from young to old.

“The litter group encourages people to get out into their local green spaces and helps not only with physical health but also their mental health.”

Volunteering Week takes place from 1 to 7 June every year, and is a chance to recognise the fantastic contribution volunteers like Tom make to our communities and thank them.

Volunteers’ Week is supported and celebrated by small grassroots organisations as well as larger, household-name charities, who together run hundreds of activities across the UK. These activities showcase and celebrate volunteers and the contribution volunteering makes in our communities.