Two days after being presented to the Queen, two members of the Operation Springclean movement, Mr Tom Huggon and Mrs Gay Williams, were out in the bonfire procession. Pushing the "guy" in a wheelbarrow is Youth Town Clerk, Linda Hargreaves. Two days after being presented to the Queen for their work in Operation Springclean, members of the local action committee were out on Saturday morning pushing dustcarts and loading other people’s rubbish on to lorries. An Operation Springclean bonfire proved an outstanding success and the amount of rubbish collected exceeded even the most optimistic expectations. Before even half the route, with its six collection points, had been completed, four lorries had to make a special trip to the bonfire site to be unloaded, and then they re-joined the procession to be filled up once again. The procession assembled opposite Colne Rd library and proceeded to the bonfire site at Westgate via streets in the Daneshouse and Stoneyholme areas. Led by the band of the 1st battalion Boys’ Brigade (attached to Rosegrove Methodist Church), the lorries stopped at the pre-arranged collection points which were manned chiefly by members of Burnley Junior Civic Trust. Helped by dozens of children, who each qualified for a Burnley Express Operation Springclean badge, the eight lorries were quickly loaded.
The lorries were provided by the chairman of the local action committee, Cllr. F A Bailey, the vice chairman, Mr A Wood, members of Burnley Round Table, led by Mr Ray Hunter, and by Burnley Cleansing Department.
When the procession, which included corporation litter trolleys and a “guy” in a wheelbarrow, reached the bonfire site, the Mayor, Ald J R Sutcliffe, was waiting with Mr Simon Towneley and the Youth Mayor, Mr Jeremy Lawson. The “guy”, dressed in evening dress, was handed to the Mayor by Junior Civic Trust and action committee member, Mr Tom Huggon.

During the day, the bonfire was stacked and guarded by members of Sandygate Youth Club. In the evening the bonfire was lit by Mrs Springclean, the Stockport grandmother, Mrs Peggy Wake. At the bonfire site, there were complaints from local residents about the choice of this particular spot. Commenting on this, an Operation Springclean spokesman said that advice had been sought from the fire brigade and the local authority and this was considered to be a site that would cause as little inconvenience as possible. The spokesman went on “The response was quite amazing to the Springclean. People really took advantage of the chance to dispose of their rubbish and, thanks to the corporation, we were also able to take old bedsteads and the like. At Oswald St, one man said he had too much rubbish to move by himself and asked for a lorry. The lorry re-joined the procession loaded to the gunnels.” The spokesman thanked all those involved, particularly the Cleansing Department workers who cleaned up all of the collection points and the bonfire site.
“The public welcomed a chance like this to get rid of rubbish, which might well have otherwise ended up on open spaces”