STAFF from Gateshead’s intu Metrocentre have swapped their shopping bags for rubbish bags – in aid of a right royal cause.
Members of the centre’s management team, customer services, technical and cleaning departments, armed with high-visibility vests and litter pickers, set off from the centre to clear rubbish from a nearby riverbank as part of a national initiative to Clean for the Queen.
The scheme is calling on individuals, volunteer groups, local councils, businesses and schools to clear up Britain in time for HM The Queen’s 90th birthday, which will be officially celebrated in June.
And intu Metrocentre marketing manager, Helen Atkinson, who took part in the clean-up, said: “It’s amazing just how much packaging and rubbish finds its way onto the roadsides and riverbanks.
“We thought that spending a little time tidying up was the least we could do, for the Queen and for the thousands of shoppers who drive past here on their way to intu Metrocentre every day.”
To find out more about the Clean for the Queen campaign, visit www.cleanforthequeen.co.uk.