It will have been hard for you to miss the coverage of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll’s funeral on Monday, since it was beamed all over the world and according to the figures, most of those with access to a TV or other viewing device will have watched at least some of it. Something you may have missed though, was a tweeted video from Parliamentary worker Sarah Jane Sewell which brought a beam of delight to my face - and no doubt, to the faces of those from our industry who’ve seen it too. 

 

In case you haven’t seen it, hundreds of people lining the streets around Whitehall were filmed breaking into hearty cheers and applause for a group of Westminster Council cleaners who, wearing high-vis clothing, were walking along the funeral route during a final check and picking up any litter and removing any other obstructions prior to the Queen's coffin procession between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Hall. How wonderful! Others on social media thought so too and praised the crowds – lined up several deep - for recognising the cleaners’ hard work, with one tweeting: “Absolutely amazing work they’re doing! Unsung heroes!” with others voicing such sentiments as: “Behind every successful event there’s a team of hard workers. Glad to see them getting the recognition they deserve,” and: “That’s lovely. People doing jobs like this rarely get any credit but people soon notice if they aren't there.” 

 

I couldn’t agree more! 

 

In last week’s Leader I mentioned how clean our streets appeared to be and asked whether this could be down to the cleaning crews working overtime to ensure everything was perfect or whether the locals were being more respectful, because of the sad turn of events. I’ve been asked not to share his name but I received a call from one of Cleanzine’s readers who quipped that perhaps people were afraid to drop litter in case they were caught on one of the many cameras and shamed either on social or mainstream media or even fined by the local authority for littering!

 

We watched the day’s events in a large group and there was much talk about whether straws would have been drawn to see who’d have the unenviable task of cleaning up the mess left by the horses and those who’d had to march through the mess and thus spread it, or whether anyone would have volunteered to clean it all up. I do hope whoever was involved, also received cheers and applause from the watching crowds.