ON Friday evening at just after 6pm a gathering of locals descended on Harbourside Beach at Sandbanks to litter-pick in aid of nothing more than local pride and the wish to see part of their public space cleared of debris.

Armed with wellies, bags, litter picking sticks and gloves, borrowed from Poole council, we set to our task and picked our way through the seaweed, the reeds, mud and sand to try and sort the natural from the man-made.

We found everything from mooring chains to messages in a bottle, unfortunately illegible, and bagged a good few black sacks of rubbish for disposal.

The harbourside will always remain a site where flotsam and jetsam will wash up, but, if we try to keep it to a minimum, hopefully others will remember to take theirs home or put it in a bin.

Our volunteers included all ages from little toddlers up to the slightly more mature and of course not forgetting the variety of four legged friends charging a clear path through the reeds.

A good community spirit ensued and even a passing tourist donned a bright green bib and joined in.

On the arrival of the council tipper, our gathering was brought to a halt and the bags of waste disappeared into the back of a council van, while the hunters of junk sauntered over to the Sandacres to enjoy some light refreshment of the foaming type or a bottle of pop for the young at heart. A great success I believe and I think a ‘wellie’ good time was had by all.

Peter Fay, manager, Sandacres Free House, Sandbanks