Leicestershire: Guns and toilet among unusual items found by litter pickers

Some of the more unusual finds include three guns

Three guns, a bayonet, a mannequin's arm and a toilet are among items retrieved by a group of litter pickers.

The South Leicestershire Litter Wombles (SLLW) is a volunteer group which strives to keep their area clean.

In 2022, the group also discovered a bread bag which was priced in shillings, dating it back to at least the early 70s.

In December the same year they hit a milestone of collecting their 100,000th bag of rubbish.

A ceramic toilet was found dumped during one litter pick

In common with a number of other litter groups, the South Leicestershire Wombles have named themselves after the popular children's characters who were famous for collecting and recycling rubbish.

Other notable finds include a sword, a brass musical instrument and more than 40 gas canisters, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

This bottle could be dated by the fact the halfpenny was phased out in 1984

Near Wigston, a volunteer found a washing up liquid bottle priced at 42-and-a-half pence - and therefore dating to at least 1984 when the halfpenny was phased out.

While many people pick litter individually, the group does organise larger events, with a recent gathering in Fleckney attracting 20 "wombles" who collected 56 bags of "grot".

This find may have initially startled the finder, but turned out to be plastic

It has a Facebook page with more than 4,000 members where they regularly post about their picks and tally up the number of bags of rubbish they have removed from our streets and countryside.

A recent initiative is an education group which goes out to talk to students about the environmental harm of littering.

A stained and dusty iPad is also among the findings

A brass instrument, complete with box, was among the more unusual finds

More than 40 gas cylinders were found in one location