A steering wheel, a carpet gripper and a suitcase were among the strangest items collected in a litter pick around Glascote Heath on Wednesday.

Residents living on the Glascote Heath estate were urged to join in the litter pick, organised by Tamworth Borough Council’s tenant participation and caretaking teams to tie in with the national Big Tidy-Up.

More than 50 people – including mums, dads and children – went along to do their bit to pick up the rubbish littering the estate.

The fun started at the Caledonian caretaking office, with free face painting, balloon modelling, candyfloss and refreshments.

The volunteers were then divided into teams and sent out to see who could collect the most rubbish. Prizes were on offer to the team which could collect the most waste and to the team which found the most unusual object.

More than 46 bags of rubbish were collected, as well as an old sofa, a suitcase, and armchair, mattresses and – taking the prize for the oddest item found – a steering wheel.

Tenant Participation Manager Leanne Allwood said: “It was great to see so many young people and parents getting involved in making a real difference to their community and getting into the spirit of collecting as much litter as possible.

“Everyone who attended worked extremely hard and their efforts were invaluable. We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who attended and supported the events. We will continue to do our bit and look forward to repeating the event in another area of the borough next year.”