“Remember you’re a Womble” and CITO!

If you were a child of the 70s and early 80s like me, you may remember Children’s TV was largely populated by programmes featuring puppets and models made from clay. 

Whilst the youngsters of today, view them as archaic and hilarious and are probably unable to comprehend how any child could possibly have been entertained by them, we loved them! And what’s more we learnt a lot from them.

From cult classics like The Thunderbirds to the heart warming Bagpuss and the amusing Chorlton and the Wheelies, I couldn’t wait to tune into one of our four TV channels and watch them. But one in particular resonated with me far more than any other...The Wombles. 

Uncle Bulgaria and his clan of furry family and friends, who looked a bit like a cross between a baby yeti and a large mouse, lived under Wimbledon Common and as the song goes, were known for, “Making the most of the things that we find....looking for litter to trundle away”.

Incredibly over 40 years on the ethos of the Wombles, to keep the planet clean and tidy and recycle rubbish, is more relevant today than ever before. And has stuck with me over the years. 

Many years before Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ shocked the world...for a few weeks anyway...I won a secondary school competition for a project on the destruction of the Ozone layer due to rising Greenhouse gas emissions. 

Upon leaving school i pursued my environmental interests at university and whilst I probably lost my way in my twenties...preferring to spend my time clubbing and partying with my friends...my passion for protecting the world in which we live has never left me.  

Today I’m a huge supporter of conservation campaigns and charities like WWF. And thanks to Geocaching, I spend a lot more time getting outdoors, appreciating the beautiful world in which we live.

It’s perhaps slightly shameful therefore, that it’s taken me four years from discovering geocaching to take part  in my first ever CITO - Cash In Trash Out event for those unfamiliar with geocaching terminology. But this week I finally got myself along to one, and boy did it feel good to physically do something to clean up the planet, albeit it a tiny corner of it. 

Suffolk cachers the Geotourers had organised a CITO at the New Green Conservation area in Thurston, Suffolk.

As I pulled into the car park a number of cachers were scattered about donning wellies, walking boots and waders! I was momentarily concerned about what I’d let myself in for and whether my old trainers and jeans were appropriate attire for a CITO, but my concerns were short lived. 

The little conservation area was not a mini Everest, or knee high in mud, but a pretty, flat grassed garden, with a pond and was surrounded by trees and a vast recreation ground. 

Obviously I didn’t venture into the pond, for that part of the clean up, but there were loads of other jobs to do. I opted for litter picking, like the Wombles, and armed with gloves, a litter picker and a bin bag I spent the next hour or so wandering about grabbing as much as I could. 

An hour and a half in, litter bags were bulging, the burly men in their waders had pulled all manner of objects from the pond, including a bicycle seat, and the gardeners had set several packs of wild flower seeds.  

Sadly, just as everyone was enjoying a quick drink the heavens opened and cachers were dashing for cover, grabbing as much equipment as they could on their way.

Despite the abrupt end, it was a job well done. The conservation area looked so much better, and I had not only completed my first CITO and added a new cache type icon to my profile, but had also earned a new souvenir as it’s CITO Season One.

As the New Green Pond cache was close by I grabbed it as quickly as I could as the rain poured down. It was a brilliant giant log, with a whole section carved out to house the Tupperware box. 

By this point I was soaked, so I decided to escape the rain and try and dry off a little by taking refuge in my car. 

Once the rain had stopped, I went off to collect the new Sidetracked mystery cache. It had been a fairly quick solve, as I recognised the COs interpretation of a popular code and with a bit of help from geocaching toolbox, I had the final co-ordinates. 

After a quick find of a great homemade rock cache at GZ, I was soon collecting the other recently published caches in Thurston.

The Village Sign Multi proved to be straightforward and strangely GZ was at a handy parking spot I’d stopped at earlier that day when I got a little lost heading to the CITO.

I was soon on my way to collect a couple of caches in Rougham Park - Toad in the Hole and The Twin Gates. I enjoyed the walk along the fairly dry path through the trees, and both were quick to find and good sized containers.

The last stop of the day was in Pakenham to collect another good size cache at the church and the cache and dash, GPO. 

I finished the week, picking up a mid week grid filler, Risby Sidetracked. Published just a few days earlier, I’d resisted the temptation to go for the FTF, as it was a nice easy one close to home. 

That’s it for this week, but until next time ‘Remember you’re a Womble’...and try and do something this week to reduce your impact on your local environment.