Couple’s nightly walk turns into community upkeep

A giving southeast Queensland couple have taken it upon themselves to clean up their neighbourhood, and they do it every single day.

Arlene and Peter Wyatt have been nominated for a Pride of Australia award for their work in cleaning up the community.

COMMUNITY pride is key for Arlene and Peter Wyatt who dedicate their evenings to cleaning up the streets of Forest Lake.

Mr and Mrs Wyatt have taken it upon themselves to remove rubbish, return shopping trolleys and report graffiti and property damage as part of a nightly walk around their neighbourhood.

Mr Wyatt said the pair would clean up anything they found along their six kilometre journey which involved a stint on main thoroughfare Grand Ave.

$1 A WEEK FOR THE FIRST 8 WEEKS. Min. cost $4

“We’ve lived at Forest Lake for the past four and a half years,” he said.

“We have pride in ourselves and pride in the area so we started to pick up rubbish, then it expanded and we started reporting things to Council and now we’ve returned lots of lost wallets as well.

“We’ve been in the area for about 40 years but when we moved into Forest Lake we started doing this.

“There’s a variety of things we find, even stuff that’s flown off cars, but it’s mostly food wrappers - Maccas features heavily.”

The couple who have ties to the local Men’s Shed and Forest Lake State School have been nominated for a Pride of Australia award for their generosity to the community.

Mr and Mrs Wyatt who were in a state of shock over the nomination said they didn’t do the work for any gratification.

“People do notice what we do and sometimes during the Christmas season cars will pull over and give us chocolates and small gifts, but we don’t do it for that,” Mr Wyatt said.

“Anything that helps the local community.”

Now in their 15th year, the Pride of Australia awards seek to unearth and honour ordinary Australians who make an extraordinary contribution to communities.

News Corp Australia, publisher of The Courier-Mail and Quest Community News, is partnering with Australia Post and Seven News to stage the 2019 awards.

Nominations are open at prideofaustralia.com.au until October 21.