A young man with disabilities has received bags of praise after taking it upon himself to pick up litter on Biggleswade streets.
A young man with disabilities has received bags of praise after taking it upon himself to pick up litter on Biggleswade streets.
Christopher McDaid, who lives with long-term carers Sally and John Rowling in Stratton Way, began picking up litter at the weekend and has been out morning and night every day since to rid his road and Hitchmead Road of rubbish.
Sally, who has cared for Christopher since he was two, said: “Christopher is a young man with autism and learning disabilities, and he knows how wrong it is to throw litter in the street.
“He got the bug for picking up litter where he is doing a work placement and wanted to carry it on. He’s been out twice a day since Sunday.”
Sally posted pictures of former Ivel Valley School pupil Christopher’s efforts on the We Love Biggleswade Facebook page, and was amazed at the support the 22-year-old has received.
She said: “He is quite well known around here, but when I posted about what he was doing on Facebook, We didn’t expect the level of response – people were thanking him, saying well done, and fab job and said they appreciated how hard he was working.
“I read the comments to him and he was so pleased.
“We had a lady come up to Christopher while he was out and said she knew who he was because saw him on the Facebook group.
“The amount of rubbish on the streets round here is horrendous – he got four black bags full. We are thinking of going to the council and getting some bags from them so at least they can be recycled.
“I’m constantly proud of Christopher and what he achieves. He is a lovable chap who has autism, and he knows the litter shouldn’t be there. He needs constant supervision to keep him safe, but he doesn’t let his disabilities stop him from doing what’s right. We hope others will be encouraged by him.
“There are people out there who don’t have the conditions Christopher has, yet he is the one who knows littering is wrong.
“I’m sure Christopher will continue to go out and pick litter, someone has even donated a high-vis jacket and litter-picker to him.
“We hope one day he will be ‘made redundant’ – because that would mean there’s no more litter to pick and those responsible have learned their lesson!”
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