A mother and her eight-year-old son have set up a new litter-picking group in the Chantry area of Ipswich after becoming “fed up” with seeing rubbish on the street.

Caroline Schug and her son Ryan - who has a Green Blue Peter Badge for his own litter-picking efforts - have lived in the area for nearly two years, with Mrs Schug saying: "I had been thinking for a while about doing something about the litter around the area, as I was getting fed up of it but wasn't sure where to start."

Inspired by the new Whitton Wombles group set up by green-living couple James and Sarah De-Vaux Balbirnie, she has set up the Chantry Wombles - with the aim of fortnightly meet-ups on Saturday afternoons to keep the area clean.

Rubbish Walks founder Jason Alexander is supporting the new Chantry group, helping to provide Mrs Schug with litter-picking supplies just as he did with the Whitton group.

"The group's aim is to clean up different parts of Chantry each time we meet, to look after and respect the area we live in for - not only for us residents but the wildlife too, as well as encouraging the residents to meet new people and socialise at the same time," said Mrs Schug, who has placed posters promoting the group around the area.

"You cannot walk far before finding more litter discarded, even when there is a bin just a few feet away.

"It's particularly bad in the more communal areas like around the schools, library, car parks and the shops."

The first event takes place at 2pm on Saturday, February 8 outside Chantry Academy.

For more information, visit the Chantry Wombles Facebook page.