A COMMUNITY litter picking group has been formed by a group of people who mainly arrived in Middlesbrough seeking asylum.

And the six-strong group are looking for further opportunities to give back to the town they now call home.

Two of the group, Henrietta Mlilo and Xoliso Sithole, both from Zimbabwe, live in the Newport area and approached the ward’s Councillor Tracy Harvey about getting involved in activities locally.

Xoliso arrived in Middlesbrough in 2006 and Henrietta last year and between them have given their time freely to help at James Cook University Hospital, the North of England Refugee Service and the Restoration of Human Rights group.

They are joined in the litter picking group by fellow Zimbabweans Sipho Ncube and Ndumiso Ncube, Miriam Michael from Nigeria and Jainaba Jah from Gambia.

The six are now planning to attend Community Hub drop-in sessions explaining more about volunteering opportunities in the town.

Xoliso Sithole, 45, said: “I have stayed here for a long time and I can say this is my home and I want to know more people and be friendly with more people.”

Henrietta Mlilo, 48, said: “We would like to get involved within the community which we live in. We came to the council and we asked Tracy what we could do and she advised us that we could do litter picking working with her and also suggested we do some training on volunteering.”