Last month we were doing some canvassing in Broadfield and noticed a lot of abandoned shopping trolleys in the housing estate behind the shops.

Today we went out with Labour party colleagues from all over the town and collected them all up, which was quite fun.

Just in case we needed more manpower we took the kids along. The older two were worried that someone they knew would see them, but Charlie was a lot less reluctant: at the moment he is very keen to do anything which helps the community (his words) which seems like an attitude to be encouraged.

Some of the trolleys we picked up were in exactly the same place as we saw them on September 24th when we were out knocking on doors. (I was sad enough to have photos of them from September to prove it)

In the past the council used to collect stray trolleys and keep them in a depot somewhere. Obviously that is not happening any more. All together we collected about 30 trolleys. There were probably more but we made the mistake of not printing out maps and planning a route to take in every little nook and cranny of the estate.

Some of our colleagues were from outside Broadfield, so that would have helped.

One of our group, Councillor Patel from Broadfield North, used to be in the retail trade and reckons the trolleys cost £50 to £60 each. If that is the case we collected at least £1500 worth in just under an hour today.

Jayne took them all to the trolley park outside Somerfields, which caused some amusement to the staff. A lady who I assume to be the person in charge for today came out and spoke to Jayne. She actually seemed quite pleased, rather than pissed-off.

We were told that the supermarket do actually pay someone to go around collecting abandoned trolleys from the neighbourhood, who is obviously not doing the job very well. I suspect he will be getting an appraisal sometime soon, and we may see this problem being dealt with. Perhaps they might find it cheaper to stop them all being removed in the first place?

Full marks for dedication have to go to Bert Crane. I’m not sure exactly how old he is now, but he has been a councillor in Crawley for 51 years. I had heard that he had a bereavement in the family just the other day so did not expect him to turn up, but he did.