Mindless Chavs are blighting our countryside

Did you, as any normal person would have done, try to sell it?

Did you, perhaps, try to hand it on to a local youth group?

Perhaps you decided it was beyond repair and had to go.

That being the case and you, being a responsible member of society, took it apart, squeezed it into the boot of your car and took it the household waste station – or whatever it is called this week.

What you did not, absolutely did not do, was heave it over your back fence and dump it in the nearest field.

You just wouldn’t do that, would you?

Well you might not have done, but someone certainly did - about a year ago.

I checked recently and, apart from the fact most of the material has disappeared, the trampoline is still there.

And it is just another of those blights on our countryside which drive me insane.

I live in a spot which is almost in the country.

I love the countryside and spend countless hours enjoying it – walking the dog or stepping up my training for the Pennine Lancashire 10k.

But every now and then my peace and tranquility is disturbed by the actions of mindless people like whoever decided a field was the final resting place for a trampoline.

Within a few short yards of this can be found an unwanted petrol generator laid to rest in a stream.

Just on from that are two plastic picnic chairs, no longer needed – no doubt as recent summers have left picnics as a distant and somewhat hazy memory.

I will not tell you exactly where in Burnley you can find these scenes.

But I bet you would guess wrong.

This trampoline is actually within 50 paces of a house that would probably still cost around £200,000.

Now I’m not for a minute saying it was the property of its current nearest neighbour.

But I am saying that, to paraphrase an old saying, you can take the man out of Chavtown, but you can’t take the Chav out of the man!