A first litter-pick in Martham has been hailed such a 'brilliant' success that organisers now plan to stage it every year.

Around 25 villagers gathered in the sunshine on Saturday to collect many sacks of rubbish.

The community effort was staged ahead of the popular Scarecrow Festival which attracts hundreds of visitors over the first May bank holiday weekend.

This year's event will also see a yarn-bombing element with colourful pom-poms dotted all over adding vibrance and interest.

Litter-pick organiser Paul Hooper, vice chairman of Martham Parish Council, said he was delighted with the turnout, boosted by the local Rainbows and Guide groups.

He said: 'We had lots of youngsters and more mature people, it was the middle age group that was missing. But overall it went brilliantly well, we are very very pleased with how it has gone. This is the first time we have done it but we aim to make it an annual event now.

'It was mainly odd bits and pieces of rubbish that has been thrown from cars that tends to accumulate. But we did find a 'no vehicles beyond this point' sign in the pond and a very colourful child's windmill in a hedge. Mostly it was low level littering which is nevertheless annoying.

'Someone had dumped two or three carrier bags from their car and we picked that up too.'

Clearing up helped to instil a sense of pride among villagers, especially the young who would now think twice about dropping litter themselves, he added.

On the day many people who saw what was going on said they wanted to help next year and would have been out there on Saturday helping to fill sacks had they known about it.

Bags and pickers had been provided by Great Yarmouth Borough Council.

Mr Hooper added: 'GYBC are very cooperative and if there are any other villages out there who want to do this kind of thing I would advise them to get in touch.'