IT WAS operation beach clean at a wet and windy Crooklets in Bude last Thursday morning, with the children and teachers of St Petroc’s School donning wellies and gloves to do their bit.

The school were taking part in one of the annual autumn beach cleans for the charity Surfers Against Sewage that took place up and down the country from November 2 to 8.

The campaign tackles marine litter head on and helps to close the loop on marine plastics.

The school’s involvement in the beach clean was spurred on by some of the children’s parents’ ties with Surfers Against Sewage and the Environment Agency.

One of the parents, Dave Miller, works for the agency as well as being involved with Surfers Against Sewage, and he saw an opportunity through the school’s beach clean to produce a film about water quality for the Environment Agency.

They wanted to have an input from schoolchildren to get some of the information about beach cleanliness and water quality across, and in doing so, the year 5 and 6 pupils delved into a project entitled ‘Things that affect the water quality on Bude’s beaches’.

It involved pupils carrying out their own research to discover what types of things affect water quality and they then produced a short presentation.

The presentations were recorded by a professional film crew — both a nerve-wracking and exciting experience for all the pupils — and they picked the best two pupils to feature as narrators in the film they are producing for the agency.

Dave Miller said: “The water quality of Bude’s beaches and of the Rivers Strat and Neet is of paramount importance to Bude, so the community must act together to ensure Bude retains its ‘Good’ status.

“The Bude Cleaner Seas project is producing an educational film around Bude’s water quality and the impact to our people and our wildlife.

“The Bude Cleaner Seas Project was delighted to see the children of St Petroc’s School brave the weather and tackle the autumn beach clean at Crooklets Beach.

“If people want to find out more about the Bude Cleaner Seas Project and what they can do to help keep Bude’s beaches clean follow our Facebook page by searching for ‘Bude Cleaner Seas Project’.”

As well as the filming of the presentations, the crew also joined the school at Crooklets to film the beach clean — they even sent a drone up into the air to catch some of the action.

St Petroc’s headmaster Dan Thornburn said: “Clearly, this was a very exciting project for our pupils to be involved in, not only working on something very close to their hearts but also to present their findings in front of a film crew.

“I was immensely proud to see all of our children stand up and present in front of the camera and crew; not an easy task when you’re aged 10 and 11.

“We are hugely grateful to Paul and Amanda Bishop for their help in getting the beach clean organised, and to Dave Miller who was instrumental in getting the film crew involved. We can’t wait to see the finished videos.”

Speaking of the beach clean itself, Mr Thornburn added: “We jumped on the opportunity to get on board and to make a difference to our local beach. The children collected random pieces of rubbish from cans and plastic bottles and even part of an old barbecue!”

The pupils really enjoyed their time cleaning the beach, and didn’t let the rain dampen their spirits.”

Three year 6 pupils, Daisy, Tom and Jason, all said they learned a lot from the project and that the people who used the beaches needed to do more to make sure they stayed clean.

Daisy said: “We learnt about water quality and how we can help by keeping the beaches clean, and that rubbish left on the beach can harm animals.”

Tom said he thinks a lot of the rubbish he sees is from teenagers having parties and not clearing up after themselves.

Jason said: “We’ve found lots of rubbish — ropes, bottle tops, and even a toothbrush! It is quite bad because animals can choke on these things or get tangled up in the ropes.”

Jacca, from year 5, said: “I live near Widemouth Bay and I do beach cleaning there too. It’s good because else rubbish would go in the sea.”

As well as the older children, many younger pupils were also happy to be involved with the beach clean and got stuck in filling their bags with anything they could find.

Lily, of year 2, said: “I come here lots because my Nan’s got a beach hut. It’s important to clean the beach because animals might die if sharp things like glass go into their bodies.”

Ben, also in year 2, said: “I’ve found lots of plastic today. I come to the beach every summer when my cousins come down. When I come to the beach next time I will look to see if there is more rubbish to pick up.”

Classmate Chloe said: “I found some plastic spoons. I think people eat then leave their rubbish here.”

After the beach clean, the highly anticipated announcement was made that the two pupils chosen by the film crew to narrate the Environment Agency film were Molly Ashcroft from year 6 and Oliver Painter from year 5.