Founded in February 2019 by Ashbourne resident Janet Keyne who got fed up with the amount of litter on roadsides and pathways and and roped in her neighbour to start clearing up.  Not satisfied with their own initial efforts they wrote letters and articles for the Ashbourne News Telegraph to raise awareness of the problems in the town and they were soon joined by other like minded individuals some of whom had already been litter picking independently. 

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The group grew in number and gained support from the local council, local politicians, the national keep Britain tidy association as well as local businesses.  By April 2019 they had collected well over 100 sacks of rubbish but also raised the profile and began approaching local businesses, persuading many to sign a pledge to keep their own frontages clean and tidy.  

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The group has frequently highlighted issue areas to the council and in letters and articles in the Ashbourne News Telegraph.  Initially called Pride in Ashbourne, the group later changed its name to Proud of Ashbourne so as not to be confused with the Gay Pride movement. 

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After the first lockdown the group expanded its efforts to cover weeding, sweeping and hedgecutting, to help keep the town centre and local paths clear. This is much harder work than litter picking and outings are less frequent. 

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The backlog of ancient litter has now mostly been cleared and now its hard to remember how shabby the town was.   But we do still occasionally find a large stash - see the blog for recent outings.