Our seasonal reminder: We're all in this together

Words by Sarah-Jane Brown. Photos by Pete Scullion.

3 months ago we put a poll onto our A-TEAM group chat. It said ‘can you host a trail clean in your community on the weekend of October 25/26th?’

The response; beyond inspiring.

As our community members expressed interest over the months leading up to the weekend itself, a beautiful thing happened. The snowball effect took shape in the best way possible of more people wanted to get involved. It sounds so obvious, but it’s these little reminders that keep us going, that keeps the buzz alive. 

And just like that, yet another WhatsApp group was created, event pages were made, invites were rolled out faster than you could pedal downhill, and the leaves were lining a red carpet for us on our trails. 

A mini autumn ‘spring clean’ energy was created that began radiating around our community, both online and offline. The weekend was fast approaching and the only thing left to do was the thing we set out to do... big deep breath in... Host a trail clean. big deep breath out...

No matter what happened on that day, you could remain rooted in the fact that on the same day you were out on your trails, somewhere else across the country, another A-TEAMer was out on their trails too. Nine of them in fact, and a few Community Hubs too. It signifies the ultimate unifier that to this day, no one has been able to sum up better than Troy Bolton: ‘We’re all in this together.’

Over the weekend the group chat was overflowing with heartwarming photos and videos of the action unfolding on the ground. Everything from marvelling at the dog-to-people-ratio at some cleans, to the friendly competition of how much SUP was found at each clean.

A dynamic-duo to a pack of 33, we had it all. A beautiful reminder of the importance of  celebrating the people that did show, rather than missing the people that didn’t. It’s because of the people that showed up, we got to see special moments like this:

 ‘a family who had never heard of TFT or been here before, come back with a bag full of trash and a complete SoOT Report having been out for hours having a great time.’ 

And that’s pretty darn amazing.

Time and time again we are blown away by our A-TEAMers ability to adapt to situations, remain committed, no matter what the weather has planned. With their invaluable donation of time, they’re able to continually give back to their communities, spread our mission, and bring people together in the darker days.

This weekend wouldn’t have been possible without our Clean Trails Programme Partners. A huge thank you is needed to Lyon Equipment for kitting those wonderful folk who hosted a trail clean, making the weekend what it was, and for keeping our feet warm. HKT for being on hand for any top-notch distribution needed. Beco for making sure every dog owner has their pockets full of 100% recycled dog poop bags. As well as Velosolutions and Ben Turner for their continued support.