Paddle volunteers sink oars into river cleanup
Tees Valley DragonsVolunteers at a watersports club have been clearing rubbish from their local river as part of a national push to clean up waterways and beaches.
Tees Valley Dragons, which hosts rowing and paddleboarding events in Stockton, took their boats to the River Tees to take on a new challenge - filling bags with litter.
Paddle UK, the national governing body for watersports, launched its two-week Big Paddle Clean Up this weekend - an annual campaign to reduce water pollution.
Volunteer Colin Smith, 49, said: "It's very rewarding - we enjoy our environment and look after it where we can."
He said the club had been hosting its own clean ups for a few years, but joined the national event last year to "try to bring things together".
"We're on the river three times a week and want it to be as special as possible for our new visitors as well as ourselves," he said.
He said the condition of the river "can get pretty bad", with litter being either deliberately dumped or accidentally blowing into it.
Colin SmithLast year they collected 15 to 20 bags of rubbish, as well as a fridge that had been fly-tipped.
"It's not good, it's an abuse of people's local area and I'd rather they didn't do it," Smith said.
"It doesn't paint a good light of the area if your river is full of rubbish and the banks are a stream of the stuff - it actually shortens the course of the river that we use."
The club also donates any tennis balls retrieved from the river to Maxi's Mates, a dog rescue charity based in Teesside.
