Roadside litter-picker unearths pieces of history

A litter-picker has amassed a collection of historical finds including a magazine from 1950 and a political campaign poster from the turn of the century.

Chris "Chip" Thorogood, 63, spends his evenings and weekends filling up to 20 bin bags of rubbish from the embankments of busy roads in and around Braintree, Essex.

He said the amount of litter beside busy roads such as the A120 was "absolutely ridiculous".

But while Braintree District Council said Mr Thorogood's actions were "commendable", it did not endorse unregulated litter-picking on major highways.

The council has asked him to join its litter-picking group, Green Heart Champions, on several occasions, but he said he refused to be "limited" by their health and safety rules.

As a result, the authority stopped providing him with plastic bags.

"I love what [Green Heart Champions] are doing, but the rubbish I see is on the sides of the roads and the embankments," Mr Thorogood told BBC Essex.

"They're dangerous areas, I know they are, but they're just not getting done."

Among the rubbish he has made some interesting finds.

A Save the Pound poster – from former Conservative leader William Hague's doomed general election campaign in 2001 – was unearthed next to Coggeshall Road, and a Meccano magazine from 1950 was found on the A120 bypass.

He has also found a 1990s cassette tape and an old group photograph.

Mr Thorogood used to collect rubbish several years ago and has been inspired to litter-pick again in the past year since the birth of his granddaughter.

"I don't want her growing up in a world with all this litter," he said.

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