MEMBERS of Bude 1st Scouts joined the Widemouth Task Force (WTF) recently, to take part in an educational beach clean.

The sun was shining when the Bude 1st Scouts group showed their commitment to the environment, after ridding Widemouth beach of 4kg worth of plastic netting. They also found a total of 20 bottle caps, after they meticulously picked through the sand and seaweed.

Ado Shoreland, founder of the Widemouth Task Force — a dedicated beach cleaning group — was there to help the children understand the dangers of plastic waste on beaches.

He said: “A constant today was nearly all the children recognising just one piece could kill an animal! If that’s the case that’s over 1,000 animals potentially saved in one hour! Well done!

“Thank you to Ulli alliwell for asking WTF to be involved. It’s always a pleasure when the children are this involved and concerned for our wildlife.”

Ulli, who is an assistant Beaver Scout leader for the 1st Bude Beaver Colony is also an active member of the Widemouth Task Force.

Therefore she was really keen to combine the two groups.

She explained: “He (Ado) ran an extreme beach clean with Bude Explorers two years ago and I know that Ado is all up for promoting beach cleaning.

“I asked him to come along as he has all the equipment on hand to get all beaver scouts involved and as Ado is very good at what he does and I knew the children would have a great time.”

The group purchased a beach cleaning badge for their camp blanket as a reward for all the their work. Ulli is hoping to incorporate environmental cleaning into what the children learn.

She continued: “It is very important to get all generations involved in beach cleaning and you can’t start young enough to get involved.

“We are trying to teach the Beavers that with every bit of plastic they pick up they potentially can save one animal and on the day of the beach clean we picked up to 1,000 pieces, even though the beach looked fairly clean.”

During the day the Beavers asked Ado lots of questions about the types of plastics and where it came from. Ado also told the Beavers at the end if they could pick three pieces of plastic or litter up a day they would make a great impact.

Soon, the club are hoping to run a session about recycling and how to use less plastic.