Volunteers clear beach litter

A POPULAR Cornish beach has been cleared of an incredible 54 large bin-bags full of rubbish – by a school surfing group and its friends.

More than 50 people turned up throughout the day on Saturday to clean up Tregantle Beach, at Whitsand Bay.

The session was organised by Tavistock College Surf Academy, run by Dan Kinsman and Design Technology teacher Peter Keegan.

Peter said: "It was horrendous; there was so much plastic on the shoreline, things like bottle tops which would stay in the sea for hundreds of years.

"Much of it was marine debris, and there were even syringes, but we left it perfect."

The bags of rubbish were carried by the volunteers up to the nearby Tregantle Fort barracks, which arranged for the trash to be taken away by Cornwall County Council.

The beach-clean is an annual initiative by the Surf Academy, which is linked to the reward scheme at the school. The 20-strong team will be taking 10 students on a surfing holiday to Brittany during the Easter holidays.