Islamic centre inspires residents to pick up litter in Blackburn

The Beardwood 'Musallah' invited local families to clean up the Beardwood area. The litter-picking day proved to be a huge success and there are plans to continue the initiative in the coming months.

Pixeleyed Pictures were on hand to capture the clean up. They are working with the local authority and academic institutes to help bridge the technical skills gap between the film industry and academia, collaborated with the organisers of this event to support UCLan graduates to develop their creative and practical skills by capturing the event.

Mubarak Darbar from the Beardwood prayer room said: “We see ourselves as assets of the community, and this is a beginning of a long journey that we want to see flourish, and great initiatives like today, further progress our aspirations. 

“Some people have given a couple of hours, others half an hour and that's fine, as its about getting involved. We have people with huge assets in our community which we need to harness their full potential.

He felt in days gone by people 'did things without anybody asking them'.

 “They felt it was their responsibility, so if a hedge was, sort of impeding on a road or a footpath, they would cut it and would think twice and not think It's someone else's responsibility."

Abid Saleh who lives in the area said: “With spring on its way, we thought it's the perfect opportunity for everyone to get together, young and old, and do something positive together.   

“The Beardwood Musallah is used locally by the Muslim community for a variety of activities and events.  

“Picking litter and harmful items is a teaching in Islam and gives a good impression of who we are as a community.  It is also nice to live somewhere that is clean and tidy, with nice surroundings for everyone to enjoy and be proud of.

“In the coming months we are hoping to organise walks for groups in the community, for families, young people and the elderly.  

“Lancashire is a truly beautiful place to live and we hope to bring people together to enjoy and appreciate our surroundings a lot more.”

Cllr Jackie Floyd was among those at the clean up and spoke to volunteers about the 'Keep Blackburn Tid'y group

She said: “I think it's absolutely brilliant that the Beardwood community has got together for the community clean up.  

“As well as the local councillor, I am also a member of Keep Blackburn Tidy, from which there are other folk here. It's really great to see that this big community clean up going on and we look forward to this patch being sustained like many others.”

“The Keep Blackburn Tidy group has been running for five years now.  There were 266 bags collected throughout the town just this week.  

“I'm really pleased that the Beardwood Musallah community has got together and has got involved in keeping Blackburn tidy.  It's more than just litter picking as well.  It's the camaraderie that's going on among the community."

Shamim Abbas works for Blackburn and Darwen Borough Council as an environmental education officer. She said: “I would like more people to get involved and get themselves onto the volunteer list and be passionate and proud about the area that they live in.

Families were encouraged to clean up the streets (Pictures by Pixeleyed)

Cllr Tasleem Fazal (Billinge and Beardwood) added: “When we thrive as a community, we come together, we cross boundaries, we start talking to our neighbours and we get to know them, whether they are of the same faith or not.

"We have a great community and all we need to do is come together and this is the kind of event that will allow us to do that. 

“We all know that half our faith is cleanliness. We have to send this message to say it's not about Islam, it's not about religion, it's about community.”

Aaliya Motorwala who attends the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School and the Abu Hanifah Foundation madrasah and lives with her family in Beardwood. 

She said: “We've just come together this morning and we've taken part in litter picking. At the end of the litter picking, everyone shared tea and coffee.  It's been really enjoyable.  

“It's our religious duty to keep the environment clean and to remove harmful objects and to take care of where we live and that is what we have been doing today.

Seven-year-old Sarah Wadan said: “We picked up plastic bags and cans. We did this because cleanliness is part of out faith and we don't like it being dirty because we might not be looking and we might trip over some litter.” 

(Pictures by Pixeleyed)