THE first day of Swindon's Great British Spring Clean was postponed yesterday due to wet weather.

Heavy rain in the early hours of the morning led to the cancellation of events planned for Friday but the rest of the weekend activities are still scheduled to go ahead as planned.

While the weather could have been described as fairly typical for an early March morning, Swindon Borough Council decided the rain was too "intense" to take the risk of sending volunteers out on the ground.

Citing the "risk of injury or other mishap" the team behind the weekend's clean-up, ably assisted by the health and safety department, took the decision to keep everyone indoors.

Instead, weather permitting, the activities originally planned for today will take place next Friday following the same timetable.

Tracy Scott, Community Facilitator in the Locality Projects team, who is coordinating the activities, said: “It is disappointing but in line with our contingency planning, I have taken the decision to postpone today’s activities, to avoid putting our volunteers’ health at risk.

"We are aware that the same decision has been taken in other areas.

“However, we aim to repeat the planned activities with the same timetable, weather permitting, next Friday.

"We will still be able to record the number of bags collected and volunteers taking part to 'keep Britain tidy.'

“I look forward to events this weekend still going ahead.

“We are sorry for the disappointing news but look forward to our volunteers being fully involved next week and this weekend.

“I would be grateful if volunteers could confirm to me that they can still take part next Friday, if they haven’t already been in touch.

"Contact me on volunteer@swindon.gov.uk or phone 01793 466239."

In other news - bin men, road sweepers, postmen and traffic wardens were seen braving the allegedly monsoon-like conditions with heroic resilience.