When local people decided they wanted to clear-up and clear-out Coston’s alleyway in Greenford they did not hold back.

Working with the Community Champions Co-ordinator, pupils and staff from Coston’s Primary school took a place littered with beer cans, broken bottles and fly tipped rubbish and turned it into a brighter, cleaner alley way for local people to enjoy using.  The local ward forum gave the school an extra £2,000 to help with tools and materials they needed to make the project a success.

The area was given a new look with a colourful mural decorating the school fence reminding passers-by to look after the alley and lots of new flowers planted along the alleyway’s edge. Since the clear-up, the space has been remained litter free and given pupils a sense of pride.

Susan Wyatt, the community champion, said: “The project was a big success; it has made the children think about looking after their area, gardening and the environment. The children also planted hundreds of poppies and cornflowers to remember the WW1 soldiers, alongside flowers to remember a local lady, Mrs Castle, who sadly lost her life. The alley way is not just a walk through now, it’s an extension of the school and we plan to keep it that way.”