‘Rubbish Ruth’ is aiming to Beautify Britain, one piece of rubbish at a time

A former teacher from Rochdale is aiming to clean up the country, one bit of rubbish at a time.

Back in 2017, Ruth Major, who now lives in Cornwall, set out on a mission to ‘beautify Britain’ by removing one piece of rubbish from the streets at a time.

Ruth, 79, who lived opposite Falinge Park for over 20 years, recently spent a month during the summer travelling the length of the country via bus and spread word of her tidying up mission.

Her ‘Beautify Britain’ campaign came about after reading an article about Edmund Platt, who moved to Marseilles and began a litter campaign when he was shocked at the amount of rubbish on the streets.

Adopting the idea of ‘one piece of rubbish’, Ruth began implementing the idea here in England.

She said: “I was fed up of seeing rubbish everywhere. I heard about Edmund Platt and his ‘one piece of rubbish’, and I thought, ‘I can do that.’

“When I started, I was embarrassed but lots of people do it.”

Ruth has also combined her campaign with her love and interest in family history, explaining how her some of her relatives toured around the country on theatre trips. Inspired, she began to visit the places they had and gradually combined her two loves.

After moving to Cornwall when Covid hit to be closer to family, Ruth carried on picking up rubbish, and thought “that would be the end.”

With more people asking her about it, she renamed her campaign ‘Beautify Britain’ – “Britain is beautiful and we should keep it tidy and clean. Rochdale is a beautiful place and we should make it more beautiful.”

During the summer, Ruth set about ticking off the last few places she wanted to visit, travelling from her home to Berwick-upon-Tweed using only her bus pass – with a 10-day stop-off in Rochdale.

She said: “I was 78; I might never do another trip. Once I set off, I got in touch with various radio stations to tell them what I was doing.

“I had a fab time. Berwick-upon-Tweed was as far as I could get from Cornwall using my bus pass, and I had a wonderful trip, catching up with ex-students.”

When visiting Rochdale Library, Ruth also discovered her relatives performed at the theatre in Rochdale – something she had never known when living here.

She added: “I have fond memories of Rochdale. My children were brought up there and my sons were in the Rochdale Youth Orchestra.

“The people are very kind and warm-hearted.”

By spreading awareness of what she does, Ruth hopes more people will be inspired to remove just one piece of litter from the streets, a small gesture which can go a long way.