COMMUNITY spirit is strong in Blackburn as a group of residents have cleaned up the back alley behind Azalea Road, Woodbine Road and St Silas’ Road.

The alley has suffered from littering, fly tipping and lack of care over the past few years and locals were becoming angered by the state it was in.

Volunteers from Keep Blackburn tidy, residents from the area and Councillor Jackie Floyd banned together to clean up the alley for good.

Resident Cath Ford who organised the clean up said: "I said something to the effect of ‘Let’s get started, Saturday looks dry, who’s in?’

"We designed and printed a flyer that went out to each house backing on to the alley and on that Saturday afternoon a small group of us, with support from Jackie and another member of Keep Blackburn Tidy, had our first big clean up.

"Considering it wasn’t too much of a mess at the time, we created a huge pile of red bags.

"Crown Paints donated some masonry paint which meant we have been able to freshen up the walls with very little expense and donations of plants kept appearing from people who were inspired and enthused by what we were doing."

Cath was inspired for the clean up after volunteers from Keep Blackburn Tidy started to clean the alley which slowly started to improve the rubbish issue.

She saw on social media that Councillor Jackie Floyd has shared a photo from Liverpool where the neighbours had spent time together cleaning and improving their alley during lockdown and creating a space where neighbours could meet, connect and build their community, inspiring her to do this for her community.

“Two months on, we have a community WhatsApp group where we share updates and ideas and just keep in touch with each other," she added. "We have recently held our third monthly alley afternoon where we get as many people out as possible doing some weeding, cleaning, painting and planting, but most of the work happens in between those events when people do things at their own pace.

“I would encourage everyone to do this. By taking positive action together as a community we are changing our lives whilst improving our environment.”

Cath has a completely different view about where she lives now and the clean up has also helper her make more friends in her neighbourhood.

In the two months since the first meeting, Cath has noticed there has been no fly-tipping and that the whole community is being more considerate of the alley.

Local councillor and Keep Blackburn Tidy volunteer, Cllr Jackie Floyd, added: “A big well done to all of the residents involved – what a brilliant idea!

"Wherever anyone shows a glimmer of wanting to do something like this themselves, we will give them support to get their project off the ground. This is much wider than just paint and plants, it goes a lot deeper than that. It’s about connecting people and building up community resilience.

"Every single alley in Blackburn with Darwen could achieve something like this, using their own resources and with help from their own communities and without spending much money.

"If there are people in your community who need help to understand their bins give them a hand. We all need to work together to get it right.”

The community has plans for winter lights and are planting bulbs for spring, with the ambition of having community events in the alley in the future.