A determined group of litter pickers have made it their mission to clean up the streets of Swaffham - and are aiming to fill their 1,000th bin bag by Christmas.

Swaffham Clean-up was formed in late February by like-minded individuals who had become frustrated by the amount of rubbish building up in their community.

Watton & Swaffham Times: The Swaffham Clean-up group has filled more than 800 bin bags in less than eight monthsThe Swaffham Clean-up group has filled more than 800 bin bags in less than eight months (Image: Graham Edwards)

They began gathering in the Market Place at 10.30am every Sunday, and set about tidying up their town one road at a time.

The results have been startling, with around 820 bags of litter collected - including another 22 a few days ago.

Now, members are dead set on reaching four figures by the end of the year.

Graham Edwards, one of the group's founders, said: "None of this is about self-aggrandisement. It is quite simply a group of us meeting every Sunday and spending a couple of hours litter picking around town.

Watton & Swaffham Times: A huge pile of cans and bottles encountered by the Swaffham Clean-up groupA huge pile of cans and bottles encountered by the Swaffham Clean-up group (Image: Graham Edwards)

"I didn't know most of the group before we started doing this. But we all felt we had to do our bit to take rubbish out of our community.

"We have done more than 800 bags of rubbish so far, which is actually very frustrating. Just think about the amount of litter that would still be sitting there if we didn't do this."

After eight months, Swaffham Clean-up consists of around 10 regulars and a number of others who help out from time to time.

Watton & Swaffham Times: The Swaffham Clean-up group is aiming to fill 1,000 bin bags with rubbish by the end of 2022The Swaffham Clean-up group is aiming to fill 1,000 bin bags with rubbish by the end of 2022 (Image: Graham Edwards)

Their routine is to meet at the Greyhound Inn and discuss the morning's plan of action, before splitting up and targeting areas which are particularly problematic for littering.

They have certainly found their fair share of weird and wonderful, including a leg brace, a strimmer, television screens, games consoles, kids bikes and countless tyres.

"We honestly thought when we first started that we would go round and get it all picked up, and then we'd be redundant within a few weeks," added Mr Edwards.

Watton & Swaffham Times: Some of the rubbish found by the Swaffham Clean-up groupSome of the rubbish found by the Swaffham Clean-up group (Image: Graham Edwards)

"But we are going to the same places and still finding stuff which is dozens of years old. It is absolutely horrendous.

"Our way of thinking is that we are not going to wait for somebody else to do it."

Weekly clean-up finish back in the Market Place with a cup of tea and slice of cake provided by Al at Pedlars Hall Cafe.