A LOCAL Guide group has done its part ahead of the Queen’s 90th Birthday celebrations this month.

The First Odiham Guides, made up of members dotted around Odiham and North Warnborough joined forces with the Odiham Society to help spread the word ahead of the upcoming ‘Clean for the Queen’ week in the village.

Armed with leaflets and flyers with the slogan ‘Spic and Span Ma’am’, the group of 18, 10-14 year olds went about delivering over 100 leaflets to every business and house on Odiham High Street and The Bury.

The big village clean up started on Saturday, June 4, ahead of the Odiham High Street party on Sunday, June 12, which will be celebrating Her Majesty’s milestone birthday.

The local society and Guide group have the aim of getting local villagers out and about and doing their bit to make the village look as good as possible ahead of the big day.

For those who didn’t receive a flyer, the Odiham Society sent out an e-mail detailing its plans and ways they can get involved.

The big leaflet drop was part of the Guide’s commitment to community service, which is part of their promise when they join the group.

Group leader Kirsty Bennett said the girls enjoyed the challenge and there was a surprising lack of complaining, with many of the group also taking part in the birthday festivities with cake designing at school.

Odiham is the last of the local villages to get involved with the nationwide initiative with Hook, Winchfield, Hartley Wintney holding theirs in the months of spring this year.

Statistics have shown that 2.25 million pieces of litter are dropped every day in the UK, with 30 million tonnes of rubbish collected from England’s streets each year.

It is estimated that the cost of careless litterers around the country is costing councils across the UK close to £1billion each year to clean up, process and dispose of.

In Odiham specifically, some of the issues residents have highlighted is the amount of dog mess left on footpaths, and Barbara Igra, who organised the event for the society and lives on the High Street, pointed out how there is a problem with cigarette butts not being disposed of properly.

For more information on how to get involved with the initiative, visit www.odiham-society.org.