A new litter picking group have sprung into action in Harold Wood following a social media trend.

Groups of "Wombles'" have popped up all over the UK as thousands of public-spirited citizens have enrolled in an unofficial army of litter pickers.

Named after the famous tidy Wombles from the 1960s children's novels, the groups have become a collective force crisscrossing the county battling with the tide of rubbish and fly-tippers.

Bunny Eagling heads up the dozen-strong Harold Wood Wombles, which launched six weeks ago to clean up the Harold Wood Park and Painesbrook Open Space along with Harold Wood councillors Brian Eagling, Martin Goode and Darren Wise.

Aside from the main group, there are also five smaller groups which separate off into smaller streets.

Bunny said: "So far we have collected over nearly 100 bags of rubbish which consists mainly of cans, bottles, crisp bags and sweet wrappers."

She would like to see a national campaign "which could go into every school to educate children from a very young age about the huge litter problem".

The council has provided equipment and McDonald's is sponsoring the project.

Bunny says the team are looking for suggestions about which areas or roads need attention and ask residents to refer Harold Wood suggestions to the Facebook group.