Forty-five years ago Keep Bermuda Beautiful was born and today the group is urging people to get involved all over again. This weekend KBB will be holding its first Island-wide clean up in five years.

They will be targeting the Old Bridge in St. David’s today and hope to target Great Bay Dock on Sunday.

Executive Director, Susan Harvey, said the group had a brief period of inactivity but has re-emerged and is ready for action.

She said: “We’re looking forward to getting the community out and people involved in taking care of Bermuda. I see the environment as our outdoor living room and we need to make sure it is clean and beautiful.

“When KBB was inactive it seemed people forgot the message, there was more litter on the streets. I also think that has to do with the way things are packaged these days and the fact that there are more people living in Bermuda.

“But now that we are back we hope people will be proud of our Island and help clean it up.

“I think KBB acts as a catalyst, it’s almost and ankle biter that reminds people not to litter and pick up after others who have littered.

“The Island wide clean up is also a great way to bring the community together and do something positive so we hope people will participate this weekend.”

The origins of KBB can be traced back to 1962 when it was a committee in the Bermuda Garden Club. Janette R. Zuill was the Keep Bermuda Beautiful Committee chairwoman that year. Speaking to The Royal Gazette in 1999 Mrs. Zuill said: I had a lot of help and many members rendered assistance. There was no one individual or association solely responsible for Keep Bermuda Beautiful.

“Many people were and still are concerned in preserving Bermuda’s natural beauty and environment. The Garden Club encouraged such thinking. Mrs. Harry Richardson, the first past president of the Garden Club, created a path to |0xb4|weed out litter and sow beauty Island wide.”

The group became an independent entity in 1964 and was headed by Lady Joyce Gascoigne. It started with just 49 people but by the year’s end over 700 people were active members.

Some of their aims were better garbage collection, more attractive bus stops, cleaner harbour waters and enforcement of the litter laws.

Today Mrs. Harvey said they have many of the same aims, in particular she would like to see better litter laws that can be enforced.

She said: “It’s unbelievable the things people are dumping around the Island. We have an excellent garbage collection system yet people are going out of their way to find places to leave bulky items.

“The stuff that is thrown over the Old Bridge is unbelievable. There are refrigerators, stoves, TVs, I guess for those people it is out of site out of mind.

“But it shouldn’t be that way. The Government runs a very good service so there is no need to stash bulky goods elsewhere or leave bags of trash in bushes.

“We would like to see more enforceable legislation to deal with people doing this, so we can put a sting in the tail.”

KBB has joined forces with the City of Hamilton’s City in Bloom campaign this month. Already groups from Dellwood Middle School, Young Life and the Salvation Army have cleaned up areas in Hamilton. For more information about the initiative go to www.cityinbloom.bm.

They also placed 40 special KBB trash receptacles along the End to End path to reduce the amount of litter left by the hundreds of charity walkers.

Mrs. Harvey said she hoped the community would pitch in this weekend and clean up around their neighbourhoods, at the Old Bridge, or Grape Bay Dock.

She also has a list of areas around the Island which could do with spring clean and suggested people contact KBB at 295 5142 for more information. The website is expected to be launched soon and can be found at www.kbb.bm