Black Horse from Ballot Box Bridge

On the Day

You will be greeted by Liz Henderson who will run through the safety briefing. You will then need to complete a sign-in sheet, confirming you understood the briefing, and giving us emergency contact details. We will keep this sheet for no longer than 21 days after the event to comply with GDPR regulations.

We will supply all the equipment you need, but please bring strong gloves if you have them. You should also bring a drink and a snack as litter picking is thirsty work!

Area(s) Covered

This pick covers the towpath between Ballot Box bridge and the A40 bridge. Also included is around the IBM bridge (Wooden Bridge)

Local History

The Ballot Box

At the foot of Horsenden Hill you will find all that’s left of the Ballot Box public house. It was built in around 1867 and was used as the polling station for those who lived and worked on the Grand Union canal. It was demolished in 1943 and is now smothered the site with trees, ivy and brambles. A replacement pub has been built further down the road.

Perivale Wood

The towpath runs alongside Perivale Wood, a local Nature Reserve in West London. It is 27 acres in size, which is mainly ancient oak woodland, with coppiced hazel and swathes of bluebells in the spring. It also has two meadows (5 acres), which are dominated by buttercup and yellow rattle in early summer. Other habitats found within the reserve include hedgerows and ponds, one of which is right next to the new Bluebell Education Centre.

Perivale Wood is owned and managed by the Selborne Society. The Selborne Society was founded in 1885 to commemorate the eighteenth-century naturalist Gilbert White of Selborne in Hampshire. It was originally a national organisation, founded to continue the traditions of this pioneer of environmental study.

Today’s Selborne Society continues the work of its founders, observing and recording wildlife in part of west London and managing and conserving Perivale Wood Local Nature Reserve as the Gilbert White Memorial.