AN ENVIRONMENTAL campaigner is praising the ‘amazing effort’ of volunteers who helped clean up Sidmouth beach at the weekend.

A discarded deck chair, boat parts, fishing line and numerous plastic bottles were just some of the many items picked up as 12 volunteers filled 17 bags of rubbish during a three-hour stint between 11am and 2pm on Saturday, March 29.

Organised by environmental charity Surfers Against Sewage, the clean-up was part of a national campaign tackling 150 beaches around the UK.

“The volunteers did an amazing effort,” said SAS local organiser Ross Curwen. “They worked really hard and put a lot of effort in. I was pleased with the dedication of the people that came out to the Sidmouth clean-up. They did an awesome job.”

Probably the oddest item recovered was the discarded deck chair.

“It was metal framed one, not a rented one, so impossible to know where it had come from,” said Ross. “And we had many plastic bottles, which although you can tell brands you can never know how far they’ve come.”

Ross was pleased with the turnout.

“Twelve for Sidmouth is quite good, and more than we had last time,” he said. “It’s one of the harder areas for Surfers Against Sewage because it doesn’t have the watersports activities that, say, Exmouth does, but 12 volunteers is all right. It’s growing, which is why I’m keen to keep plugging away at it.”

He plans to hold another clean-up in the autumn, but, if the beach gets ‘in a bad way’ he will arrange an additional one in the next few months.

A similar beach clean-up took place in Exmouth on Sunday, when 35 volunteers collected 34 bags of rubbish.