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Sophie Neville taking part in Race for Reading in 2023

I’m raising funds for the UK charity Schoolreaders by litter picking as I walk along the South Coast of England this May. Tax efficient donations can be received on my Race for Reading page where I will keep a record of the distance covered. When going onto the event platform we recommend you set the fee for Enthuse as £0. My company will double any amount you can give and make a real difference to providing child literacy whilst fostering a love of reading in the UK.

As an author supporter of SchoolReaders I act as their legacy ambassador and have taken part in a couple of Race for Reading challenges. A £20 note once floated towards a member of my team, which was encouraging.

Sophie Neville in the Race for Reading — Raising funds for SchoolReaders

My aim is to walk 40 miles, collecting flotsam and keeping a diary to record anything weird I find along the way. When I took up the challenge in 2022, I came across all kinds of unexpected things.

The charity SchoolReaders are collecting donations online here. It’s easy! Any amount, however small, would be gratefully received and spur me on my way.

You too can join the campaign by registering online. It should be fun!

Sophie Neville - an author supporter of Schoolreaders

I’ve started my clearing rubbish along the estuary where I love, finding some pretty elderly items. This muddy tiger cheered me up.

There is so much litter that I progress slowly. Some items can be difficult to reach. My mileage is low but one supporter, Chris Holmes, reckons that one large bucket = a mile of litter picking, which is about right. They can weigh up to 4Kgs and I can’t carry much more.

I can add a buckets-worth of clear plastic bottles that went into a recyling bin enroute.

This bucketful was collected above the tideline but includes items brought down by floodwater that were languishing in out riverine nature reserve posing a threat to wildlife.

Once on the foreshore I find rope – short lengths of PVC including torn fishing nets and lengths of fishing line. There are so many tiny pieces of plastic flotsam that I begin to count. I filled this bucket with 105 items and tucked in another thirty on the way back. I only covered about 2 miles but was drained of energy.

The disposable cup had a pebble inside. If it’s owner had planned to sink it, they then replaced the lid and it landed on this all but forgotten shore.

Thanks to my kind donors, I have raised £630 in sponsorship for Schoolreaders, which has been matched by my company.

The charity have also been promised matched funding, so hopefully my grand total will be £2,520.

If you are able to add a little, it would be hugely appreciated. You £5 would be magnified into £20. The link to my Justgiving page can be found here.

The last weeks of SchoolReaders’ Race for Reading have been tough for me. Back from holiday and the fresh winds of west Wales, I came into contact with numerous people testing Covid + and went down with fatigue, possibly fending off the virus. I was persuaded to take things slowly and do a little at a time but I have walked a total of 92 miles, collecting sea plastic, flotsam and litter.

It’s an honour to be an author supporter of Schoolreaders who have organised this fantastic marathon. So many have taken part in it that the total number of miles covered is impressive.

Here is my progress since my last post:

Day 27 – May 14th 2022 – 1.8km – I collect Easter bunnies encased in plastic lying discarded along the Solent Way.

Day 28 – May 15th – 2.22km – I extract a cheerful orange case from the mudflats. It once held sunglasses.

Day 30 – May 16th – 1 km – cleaning up after a tramp who had been sniffing air freshner in the bluebell woods.

Day 31 – May 20th – I km – finding MacDonald’s packaging on Tanner’s Lane Beach.

Collecting broken glass from a beach where children paddle and dogs play

Day 32 – May 24th – 2.2km – finding builder’s gloves chucked into the ditch running alongside the river

Day 33 – May 26th – 1 km – no litter! as I take the footpath up the hill to the pub

Day 34 – May 27th – 0.8km – but spend ages excavating elderly bottles from newly dug drain that flows into the river

Day 35 – May 28th – 3km – along the coast with a friend collecting broken glass and plastic, a clothes peg and a slip-on shoe.

Day 36 – June 7th – 2km – along a lane by the river collecting driver’s litter.

Day 37 – June 12th – 1km – along country lanes and into a village.

Sophie Neville collecting litter from Solent Shores

A lovely email from SchoolReaders arrived saying: “You really have been a Race for Reading superstar.”

Day 38 – June 15th – 1.6km – along the Solent Way collecting a bucketful of fast food containers and empty packets of cigarettes.

Day 39 – June 16th – 2.2km walking along the Solent foreshore collecting old PVC rope and muddy plastic bags. I find a pot shard in a dyke that could be rubbish from long ago.

Day 40 – June 18th – 3.km found a huge PVC rope whilst walking along the Solent and lugged it home with a bucket of flotsam.

THANK YOU to the sponsors of Race for Reading; Maths Circle and Kindred who sponsored the campaign.

Schoolreaders now have the final total for this year’s Race for Reading! Collectively, we travelled 27,941.17 miles and raised more than £17,000!

Thank you so much to everyone who helped to achieve this! Your support means that Schoolreaders volunteers will be able to listen to many more children read, and make the world of difference to their lives!

As you can see, I use an old feed bucket to collect litter but these bags made out of old sails can take broken glass and cope well in the wind. I was kindly given one by Litter Pickers of the New Forest to keep me going.