Frank Sparkes

For more than 30 years, Frank Sparkes has been looking after Grimsby, from cleaning the sea defences and removing tonnes of rubbish to supporting local charities, events and people who need a helping hand. Known as The North Wall Cleaner, Frank's passion for his town and its community shines through everything he does.

For Frank Sparkes, seeing rubbish is almost impossible to ignore. Whether it is washed up along the sea defences or left somewhere it should not be, Frank feels compelled to do something about it. For more than 30 years, he has been quietly cleaning up Grimsby and the surrounding area, becoming known to many simply as The North Wall Cleaner.

Describing exactly what he does is not straightforward because, as Frank puts it, "I do so much." At its heart, though, it is about looking after the place he calls home. Frank cleans the sea defences, removing everything from everyday litter to much larger items, and has taken away many tonnes of rubbish over the years. But his work goes far beyond the North Wall. He works across all four corners of the borough, including the East Marsh and West Marsh, Nunsthorpe etc, often loading rubbish onto one of his trailers and taking it away himself. "If we see a lot of rubbish, we'll get the trailer out and we'll take it away, no questions asked," he says.

Frank is also a painter and decorator, but it was his love of fishing and frustration at the state of the North Wall that first started him on this particular path. In 1995, while a member of the Humber fishing club, he became increasingly fed up with the amount of rubbish he saw around him. "I was sick of seeing that amount of rubbish down there that I had to do something about it," he explains. He bought a small wooden trailer and began taking rubbish to the tip himself. A few years later, his work became part of something much bigger. In 1998, his son came home from school and told him about wanting to start a project through Lifestyle, asking whether they could do something together. The answer was simple: "Of course we can. Let's clean the sea defence." The project saw children cleaning the sea defences throughout the six-week summer holidays and when the project finished and the children went back to school, Frank simply carried on.

Over the years, the trailers have got bigger, the areas he covers have grown and the work has developed into something much wider than litter picking. Frank now works with volunteers, including Craig, who has been helping him for around two years, and together they continue to get out into the community at their own pace. Frank has also been recognised for his contribution, winning a Civic Award for Environmental Impact in 2023 and this year collecting the BBC Make a Difference Award for The Environmental Award.

But awards are not what motivate him. His approach is much simpler. He sees something that needs doing and gets on with it. "I don't see myself stopping," he says. "I'm doing more and more now. I've got a good volunteer, Craig, who's been with me for two years, so we're doing more really. We're doing it at our own pace and we're doing quite well, but I'll not stop. I can't go past rubbish. I have to pick it up."

That determination has also led Frank into other kinds of community work. He helps charities with his trailers, supports local events and carnivals, and has helped disabled people and others whenever he has been able to. For Frank, it is all connected. "It's not just rubbish. I like helping people as well," he says. "It's all a community thing, and the community means loads to me." One particular project that has stayed with him was helping people affected when winter fuel payments were stopped. Frank got involved in collecting donations of food, making sure it was all in date and suitable to distribute, with the support of organisations including Age UK. The food was handed out at Centre4 on the Nunsthorpe. "I was really chuffed about that. That really meant a lot to me, helping people like that," Frank remembers. Seeing the reaction of the people receiving the food made the work worthwhile and reminded him that community is about much more than keeping the streets clean. It is about noticing when somebody needs help and doing something about it.

That sense of responsibility comes from a deep connection to Grimsby itself. Frank was born here and grew up with fishing at the centre of his family. "Grimsby means everything to me," Frank says. "I was born here. My father was in the fishing industry, my brothers were all fish merchants. I'm passionate and I love Grimsby."

It is perhaps why his message about litter is so straightforward. He is not asking for anything complicated, just a little more consideration. "Please take your rubbish out. Don't chuck it around the place. Just put it in a bin," he says. "If there isn't a bin nearby, take it back with you. Just keep things clean and green. You wouldn't like it if someone chucked rubbish in your garden, so please, please bin it."

Frank's Facebook page, The North Wall Cleaner, has become a way for people to follow what he is doing and support his work, alongside his GoFundMe page. But ultimately, his work is not about social media or recognition. It is about seeing a problem and refusing to walk past it.