Coronavirus West Berkshire: Steve’s bin busy keeping people smiling in Woodlands St Mary

Superhero thank you to all our key workers

IF you go down to the Woodlands today, you’re sure of a big surprise.
Because it appears that a host of colourful characters have been appearing in Woodlands St Mary on bin day recently.
Superman, Poseidon, a Viking warrior and even Robin Hood have been spotted putting out the rubbish since lockdown began.

The hilarious costumes have all been the brainchild of Steve Marcham, in a bid to raise a smile during the past few difficult months.
Mr Marcham, who lives with partner Sally in the quiet corner of West Berkshire, said he got the idea after seeing a post on Facebook.
Now his weekly bin outings have been liked hundreds of times and he’s received messages from people as far afield as Australia, Canada, Japan and Malta.“The idea was to do exactly what it has done and that is to make people laugh,” said Mr Marcham.
“I saw a post that said ‘my bin has been out more than me’ and I thought that was true.
“So the first week I put my best suit on to take out the black bin.
“People commented that I was colour coordinated with the bin, so I put a tweed jacket on the following week to take out the green bin and it just went from there.
“I haven’t got a dressing-up box – all these things are what we have around the house, or what we’ve made from cardboard.
“I have been totally gobsmacked by the response.
“I have had so many positive messages.
“The whole thing is a tribute to the bin men, who have worked right through this whole thing, and to the NHS and all the key workers out there.”
Mr Marcham’s daughter, Bev, also created a video of her dad’s superhero antics, which you can see below.