Roaming around England by free Bus Pass, picking up at least one piece of rubbish every day.
Photo from Janet Davenport in Belgium!
“Internationally supporting Rubbish Ruth’s Rambles 1 piece at a time”
#beautifybritain
(Everyone! Please tag me with your photos and I’ll share them in my posts!)
Every little (tree!) helps! 🤣
1st February 2024
Internationally supporting Rubbish Ruth’s Rambles 1 piece at a time #beautifybritain
Every little (tree!) helps! 🤣
30 January 2024
Steve Hill’s brilliant, best-selling book, ‘What’s Next Sir?’ has reached the library of Redruth School in Cornwall. Apparently the staff, as well as the students, are queuing up to read it! 🙌🙌🙌
28th January 2024
In memory of Manchester’s beautiful 22, this week’s 22 pieces of rubbish were REmoved from near REdruth’s kREson Kernow. To the miscREants, please show more REspect for your REgion and REfrain from your REvolting habits! #beautifybritain #1pieceofrubbish #pickitup #everyday #redruth #cornwall #uk
26th January 2024
📚✨ Dive into the latest on our blog with ‘Meet Your Councillor – Vol.1’ featuring the incredible Ruth Major!
Get to know her story, insights, and the inspiring Beautify Britain campaign she’s championing. It’s a captivating, fun read that will bring us together as a community. Don’t miss out – click the link and discover the vibrant personality behind the initiatives! 🌈🌟
👉 https://discoverredruth.co.uk/meet-your-councillor-vol-1/ 👈
Ruth Major is a local Redruth Councillor for the North Ward, and the founder of the Beautify Britain campaign, committed to keeping our country tidy, not only now and then but all the time.
Ruth’s favourite quotation:
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world” (Mahatma Gandhi)
Ruth was born in Manchester and has lived in various places in the country and abroad before coming to find a home in Cornwall. Drawn by family, and bound by the Covid restrictions, Ruth quickly spent her time wandering the mining trails in and around Redruth where she met many members of the community on their daily walks. When asked, Ruth described how she loved the wide-open spaces of Redruth, with so much on her doorstep, and enjoyed walking through the seasons as they changed.
She observed the friendly Redruth community, where residents contribute their time and energy back into the town—whether by organising events, preserving its history, or passing on skills and knowledge to the younger generations. One such place, Kresen Kernow, is home to the world’s largest collection of documents, books, maps, and photographs related to Cornwall’s history. Here, Ruth has researched her family history, spending time with their amazing artefacts.
Having gotten to know Redruth and its people, Ruth saw areas that required some tender love and care, especially regarding the amount of litter on some of our streets. She attended our Town Council Meetings, asking questions and requesting to know what obstacles we all faced in developing Redruth; she quickly made herself known and loved. After receiving interest and positive feedback on her thoughts, Ruth applied to be our Councillor and succeeded!
Back in 2016, while Ruth lived in Oldham, she felt no one was promoting waste disposal, greener initiatives, or keeping the UK rubbish-free. Then, in stepped an article by Edmund Platt, a British expatriate who single-handedly took on the scourge in Marseille. On social media he launched his campaign ‘1 Dechet par Jour / 1 Piece of Rubbish’, a simple idea to encourage everyone to pick up a piece of rubbish every day and Ruth thought:
Ruth eventually founded her Beautify Britain campaign and as time rolled on she combined her family history research with travelling up and down the country, using her free bus pass, picking up rubbish, promoting the campaign and earning herself the beloved name ‘Rubbish Ruth’. At first, Ruth admits, she got a lot of strange looks, but the longer she partook in her cause, the bolder she became and now you can often see Ruth wandering the town of Redruth, sporting a flyer on her back promoting ‘Beautify Britain’
With everything on the up and up, we wanted to know what Ruth did in her downtime. When she isn’t spending time with her family, walking, researching her ancestry or listening to podcasts, Ruth occasionally finds joy in reading. Currently, she’s immersed in “The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists” by Robert Tressell—a novel about a group of working men led by a journeyman-prophet striving to persuade his peers that capitalism is the root cause of their surrounding poverty. When asked what meals she likes to cook, she laughed, stating she doesn’t. She spreads a little joy to the local small businesses by frequently purchasing a cuppa or a light snack. However, if forced, she can prepare the meals her mother taught her – meat an’ two veg! .
So, what’s next for Rubbish Ruth? She has lots of plans for the Beautify Britain campaign, keeping her social media up to date, travelling across the country again, as well as conducting more interviews, after already speaking on BBC channels, local news stations, and to us!
We’re looking forward to following Ruth’s trail and what else she accomplishes. You can too, by following her on her social media or, if you see her, say hello!
Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter – RubbishRuthsRambles @ruthmajor44
Tiktok – Rubbish Ruth
Youtube: Ruth Major
Website: www.rubbishruthrambles.co.uk
Ruth Major was kind enough to stop in for this interview on Friday 19th, 2024, and it has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Make sure to stay tuned for Vol. 2 and our next councillor and follow us for more on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
22nd January 2024
Meet Jenny, a lovely lady relocated from Lanner to Redruth & looking for a fellow litter picker to accompany her to Beautify Britain. Jenny and Scooby ‘do’ lots of walking and picking in the locality. Let me know if you’d like to tag along! #beautifybritain #1pieceofrubbish #pickitup #everyday #redruth #cornwall #uk
22nd January 2024
Appearing on this show this morning between now and 10.00 with Andrew Read!
21st January 2024
This week’s 22 pieces picked up to #beautifybritain for M/cr’s beautiful 22. Photo taken at REdruth’s Berryman’s Bakery, abounding with fREsh bREad & a beautiful banner cREated by Make-A-Mends. #beautifybritain #1pieceofrubbish #pickitup #everyday #redruth #cornwall #uk
19th January 2024
Meet Ross Lannon, the CHAOS Radio presenter who interviewed me yesterday. He had thoroughly researched the campaign, prepared some excellent questions & was inspiring and enthusiastic in his support for Beautify Britain. What a wonderful guy! 🙏
Here’s the link:
https://www.mixcloud.com/chaosradiouk/beautifybritain-campaign-ruth-major-180124/
17th January 2024
Tomorrow on Daytime with Ross Lannon, he will be talking ‘rubbish’ with Rubbish Ruth’s Rambles, about her #BeautifyBritain campaign!
For the last seven years she has travelled around the country collecting around 100,000 pieces of rubbish – and doing it all for free on her bus pass. Her recent challenge saw her travel on 59 buses from her home in Redruth, to Berwick-upon-Tweed on the border – where her bus pass stops working.
Tune in from 10.00 tomorrow:
📻 105.6FM in #StAustell
💻 online at https://chaos.radio/
📲 on the ‘CHAOS Radio’ app
🔊 ask you smart speaker to ‘play CHAOS Radio’
