PAT & HUWI – Guardians of our clean and pleasant land

Photo: FRANCES LEADER 

(Courtesy of the Sunday Telegraph)
A Sunday Telegraph reader, Paul Penfold, has nominated Pat English and her beautiful westie HUWI, from Westie ReHoming. “We live opposite the beautiful Hughenden Park on the outskirts of High Wycombe,” writes Mr Penfold. “For the past 14 years, Pat has tirelessly devoted herself to the task of keeping this park tidy for the benefit of those who use it”

Ms English, 65, accompanied by her West Highland terrier, Huwi, can be found every day in the park. “The council don’t go into the park and collect litter, they just empty the bins,” she says. “The rubbish I find is mainly bottles and paper – we get a lot of young people here having parties and drinking.”

Her direct action approach doesn’t stop with collecting, though. “I once found a bag of rubbish containing an envelope with an address from the North. I wrote to them, saying if they were going to visit the park, they should take their rubbish with them. I didn’t hear back,” she says.

Hughenden Park is spectacular: 25 hectares of parkland leading to Hughenden Manor, once the home of Benjamin Disraeli. Not that the sweeping vistas stop visitors from littering. “My bugbear right now is wipes,” Ms English says. “People use them on their kids and then throw them away, often yards from a bin. You find them in hedges and in trees – and they’re not biodegradable.”

“People have got to get involved with their local area and care about their local environment.

“Everyone wants to live in a nice place. To do that we must start taking responsibility for where we live.”

Love Where You Live is an anti-litter campaign, led by Keep Britain Tidy. To get involved, visit www.lovewhereyoulive.org