Litter-picking Womble kickstarts events for National Thank You Day

The Wombles have kickstarted events to mark National Thank You Day, held to recognise people for their work during the coronavirus pandemic.

The day of appreciation, organised by the Together coalition, is taking place on Sunday, but proceedings were already getting under way on Saturday.

The Wombles, the eco-friendly stars of children’s TV who scaled the charts in the mid-70s, returned to their home turf Wimbledon Common for a favourite activity – litter-picking.

Orinoco was joined by volunteers for a litter-pick organised by The Outdoor Guide (TOG), an online resource for people who love the outdoors.

The Wombles – Orinoco, Bungo, Great Uncle Bulgaria, Wellington and Madame Cholet – had four top 10 hits with songs such as Remember You’re A Womble.

Events taking place on Sunday include Mr Motivator leading a nationwide warm-up, an interfaith gathering at Coventry Cathedral, free tennis activity on the public tennis courts in Wimbledon Park, and a street party is taking place in Northampton.

Ross Kemp will be hosting a pub quiz ahead of introducing “Cheers for Volunteers” to thank all the volunteers for their over the past 18 months.

At 5pm on Sunday, the public are being urged to join in raising a drink of their choice for volunteers.