MEMBERS of Widemouth Task Force had the help of the Army when they carried out beach cleans in the Bude area on Friday, July 8.

They tackled Upton beach and Widemouth Bay including Salthouse beach.

The BeachCare programme teamed-up with Widemouth Task Force and the recruitment division of the army. Overall they removed around 60 bags or 900 kilos of rubbish.

Ado Shorland, who runs Widemouth Task Force, also seized the opportunity to get pupils from Budehaven School involved during their sponsored walk.

Mr Shorland expressed his thanks to the students, who he said managed to remove 17 bags of rubbish from Widemouth in their spare 20 minutes.

Neil Hembrow, BeachCare officer, said: “It’s unusual to see this amount on the beaches in June but this is due to a constant onshore Westerly wind for the last 30 days. This drives in the litter that is floating in the Atlantic.”

The BeachCare programme was established in 2010 to support beach clean groups throughout Devon & Cornwall as well as conducting one-off cleans. The programme provides litter pickers, gloves, insurance and advice to community groups.

The programme has recently been successful in securing funding from South West Water to continue its work until 2020.

For more details of the groups and future beach clean-ups find Widemouth Task Force and BeachCare on Facebook.