A MAN who set himself the challenge of walking 1,000 miles while litter picking and collecting 1,000 bags of litter for the Steve Prescott Foundation, is being joined by hundreds of people this weekend to collect rubbish to mark Captain Sir Tom Moore's 101st birthday.

Ian Roberts documents his litter picking antics via the Facebook page St Helens #Litter Heroes where people regularly inform him of hot spots for littering and he attempts to clean up the area.

He does this for his own mental health and to give back to the community.

In 2021, Ian set himself the mission to join in the Steve Prescott Foundation's #SPF1000Mile Walk Challenge, with his own twist by adding that he will walk 1,000 miles while collecting litter in more than 1,000 litter bags throughout the year.

So far this year, Ian has walked more than 300 miles, filled 700 bags of rubbish and raised £2,095.

His antics have inspired others also taking part in the SPF challenge to join him this weekend to mark Captain Tom Moore's 101st Birthday.

There will be teams of litter pickers in St Helens who will be getting together in a socially distanced manner; details will be announced next week.

Great SPF supporters Stapleton Derby have already nominated a team of their workforce to clean up the around their Rainhill branch. It would be fantastic if other companies could follow their lead.

Primarily this challenge is to clean up our local areas anywhere in the country.

However, in true Captain Tom Moore style it would be great if supporters who cannot take part in the litter pick if they could donate a few pounds to the Steve Prescott Foundation #CaptainTomMoores100 JustGiving page here captaintom100.justgiving.com/get-involved?charityId=184370

Ian said: "I didn't get into litter picking for the attention, but I'm really happy that what I've done has inspired others to do the same and this Bank Holiday weekend we are having liter picking events at Victoria Park on Friday, Carr Mill Dam on Saturday and Sherdley Park on Sunday.

"Since lockdown restrictions have eased I've seen an explosion of litter in St Helens, which is a real shame because people really connected with our green spaces and parks during lockdown, so it's good to have this event to help to clear it up so we can all enjoy it together, all in memory of Captain Tom."