Please, can I draw your attention to a community-spirited company called Skin and Body Renewal. Once a year, they do charitable work to benefit the North Eastern Tribune community.
On 20 September, I was walking my dogs in James and Ethel Gray Park.
I found the above-named company had rallied a large number of volunteers and they were hard at work cleaning up the rubbish and litter which has accumulated at an alarming rate over recent months. They need to be acknowledged for their efforts. I understand that they have a number of beauty salons in the surrounding suburbs.
Both James and Ethel Gray Park and the adjoining bird sanctuary have continually been invaded by vagrants who litter, pollute the river and use the bushes for toilets.
There are hardly any birds left for they have either been eaten or poisoned. There used to be large flocks of guinea fowl and a heronry [breeding ground for herons] in the willow trees with countless egrets nesting.
There are very few water birds swimming on the water – it is a travesty! A local resident, Mark Lederman, was instrumental in getting City Parks and the police to evict the vagrants… He, too, should be thanked for his efforts which are greatly appreciated by those of us who regularly use our parks. However, the vagrants are moving back in again.
City Parks and the police should monitor the area on a regular basis.
