More than 30 bags of rubbish were collected as diligent volunteers took to the beaches of a coastal town.
The popular Adnams spring beach clean was held yesterday (Saturday, March 11) as more than 50 people gathered to conduct a beach clean ahead of the busy summer season.
Organised by Adnams brewery, in conjunction with the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), the volunteers cleaned a 1km stretch of Southwold beach known as The Denes, between Gun Hill and the harbour.
Ben Orchard, environmental sustainability manager at Adnams, said: 'It was fantastic. We found quite a lot of old rubbish, such as bottles and cans, and in the end we collected 35 sacks of rubbish.'
Included among the bags of rubbish was a piece of thick cable, a plastic container, half a bin lid, fishing debris, scraps of metal, bits of glass – and even a sock.
The 1km stretch of beach which was adopted by Adnams in 2003 as part of MCS' 'Adopt a Beach' scheme, and with more than 50 adults and some children scouring the sands between 10.30am and noon, Mr Orchard said: 'The day was a great success. A massive thank you to all those who helped tidy up the beach here in Southwold,
'It is lovely to get the community together. A lot of the volunteers are local, many of them are repeat volunteers who have been doing it for many years,' he added.
'But we did have some new volunteers as well – it is something that people care for and they want to do.'
As part of the national MCS survey, sample data was taken during the beach clean and this will form part of the collated figures when the conservation society produces their annual statistics as beaches are cleaned across the country.
Waveney Norse will now dispose of the bags of the rubbish that was found. Pleased with how the day had gone Mr Orchard added: 'It was definitely a very successful beach clean.'
As a reward for their efforts, all the volunteers were given a celebratory drink at The Harbour Inn after the beach clean.
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