A PROGRAMME of events has been drawn up stretching from Rainham to Tilbury as members of the local communities along the Thames are invited to help clean up their areas.

Steve Catchpole is a River Action Clean-Up Facilitator and co-ordinator with the Thames21 River Action Group and he has become synonymous with environmental action in the area, particularly through the Grays Beachcombers group which has gathered tens of thousands of items, including plastic, from the shoreline of the Thames.

But one of the first events he is involved in this year takes place away from the river.

It is an alleyway cleanup – part of the 'Love Where You Live' campaign in Grays and is supported by the Orchards Community Forum.

Dates for your diary - community clean-ups in January and February.

Compiled by Steve Catchpole Saturday, 22 January – Love Where You Live - Grays Alley Way Clean - meeting beside Farm Pizza in Derby Road Grays RM17 6QD - 09:00 to 12:00. If you have your own equipment, picker, hoop or gloves, please bring them, if not we can supply anything you will need. On this occasion we will be working with Thurrock Council to clear the local alleyway. Sunday, 6 February - Friends of Grays Beachcombers - meeting at Thurrock Yacht Club, Grays RM17 6JF at 10:30 until 12:00. Foreshore tidy. If you have your own equipment, picker, hoop or gloves please bring along with sanitising hand wash - facilities available. Thursday, 10 February - Friends of North Thames Estuary - meeting at the small carpark beyond Veolia Landfill, Coldharbour Lane, RM13 9YB - 10:30 to 13:00. If you have your own equipment, picker, hoop, gloves and sturdy walking shoes, please bring them. We will be collecting river rubbish from beyond the RSPB centre – limited facilities available. Saturday, 19 February - Friends of North Thames Estuary - meeting at Wharf Hotel, Wharf Road South, Grays, RM17 6SZ - 13:30 to 15:30. If you have your own equipment, picker, hoop, gloves, face mask and sturdy walking shoes, please bring them. We will be walking at least 1 mile collecting river rubbish along the Thames foreshore - facilities available. Saturday, 26 February – Love Where You Live - Grays Alley Way Clean - meeting behind Inclusion in Milton Road Grays RM17 5HJ - 09:00 to 12:00. If you have your own equipment, picker, hoop or gloves, please bring them, if not we can supply anything you will need. On this occasion we will be working with Thurrock Council to clear the local alleyway. Saturday, 5 March - Friends of North Thames Estuary - meeting at Riverside Carpark, Coldharbour Lane, Rainham, RM13 9YB (before landfill security building) - 10:30 to 13:30. If you have your own equipment, picker, hoop, gloves and wellingtons, please bring them. We will be collecting river rubbish on the reed beds the Thames foreshore – no facilities available. Sunday, 6 March - Friends of Grays Beachcombers - meeting at Thurrock Yacht Club, Grays RM17 6JF at 10:30 until 12:00. Foreshore tidy. If you have your own equipment, picker, hoop or gloves please bring along with sanitising hand wash - facilities available. Thursday, 10 March Friends of North Thames Estuary - meeting at Tilbury Fort, Tilbury RM18 7NR - 10:30 to 13:30. If you have your own equipment, picker, hoop, gloves, face mask and sturdy walking shoes, please bring them. We will be walking at least 1 mile collecting river rubbish along the foreshore - limited facilities available. Tuesday, 22 March - Friends of North Thames Estuary - meeting at the old St Clements Church, West Thurrock RM20 4AL - 10:30 to 13:30. If you have your own equipment, picker, hoop, gloves and sturdy walking shoes, please bring them. We will be walking to the first pill box at least which is over 1 mile from the carpark picking river rubbish from along the Graffiti Wall - no facilities available. Sunday, 3 April - Friends of Grays Beachcombers - meeting at Thurrock Yacht Club, Grays RM17 6JF at 10:30 until 12:00. Foreshore tidy. If you have your own equipment, picker, hoop or gloves please bring along with sanitising hand wash - facilities available.