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Batley and Spen MP Kim Leadbeater - who was appointed the new chair of the Tidy Britain All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) last month - got her ‘hands dirty’ at a graveyard clean-up project in Heckmondwike.

The clean-up, which took place on Sunday, January 22, involved the local volunteer group Keep Hecky Tidy, Heckmondwike councillors and the Heckmondwike Scout Group, as well as Ms Leadbeater, who all helped to spruce-up the overgrown graveyard at the Upper Independent Chapel.

“It is a beautiful place which has been neglected for a number of years,” Ms Leadbeater said after the three-hour event. “We wanted to do something positive with it and we had a very good turn out.

“The main thing for me is getting my hands dirty. It is not just about preaching to other people about what to do, it is getting involved yourself and I try to do that as much as possible when I am in the constituency. I don’t tend to take things on and talk about them - I like to do them as well.”

Batley and Spen MP Kim Leadbeater helped out with local volunteer group Keep Hecky Tidy, Heckmondwike councillors and the Heckmondwike Scout Group to spruce-up the overgrown graveyard at the Upper Independent Chapel.

The MP also recently met with the CEO of environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy - which provides the secretariat for the Tidy Britain APPG - to discuss future events, including the Great British Spring Clean, which takes place from Friday, March 17 to Sunday, April 2.

Ms Leadbeater said: “I think it is a really important role and I talked with the CEO about what this might look like in the coming months. They have got the Great British Spring Clean coming up which is a brilliant campaign.

“My intention with that is to do as many events across the constituency as I can but also encourage my parliamentary colleagues to get involved.

“I also want to encourage local schools, businesses and volunteer groups - anybody to get involved and do a big spring clean. We had a very good conversation about that, so I really want people to start planning their Great British Spring Clean up event now.

Clean-up project at Heckmondwike's Upper Independent Chapel's graveyard.

“The good thing about it is that it is a subject where you can find MPs of different political parties coming together because I think we all want to have nice, clean, tidy constituencies that everybody feels proud of.

Tidy Britain: Batley and Spen MP Kim Leadbeater gets ‘hands dirty’ in Heckmondwike graveyard clean-up

“We are really lucky in Batley and Spen that we have got some lovely public spaces, like Wilton Park and Oakwell Hall.

“Every town and village has got a nice, green space. But we have got to look after those spaces and we have got to respect them.”