It's snow joke, as litter-pickers brave the cold to clean Blackpool's streets

The mercury might have plummeted to below freezing, but a bit of snow and ice didn't put these hardy souls off braving the wintry conditions to help clean up their local environment.
Volunteers litter picking for Fylde LoveMyBeachVolunteers litter picking for Fylde LoveMyBeach
Volunteers litter picking for Fylde LoveMyBeach

As part of Keep Britain Tidy’s nationwide annual Great British Spring Clean, LOVEmyBEACH organised a 10-mile beach clean relay across Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre to help clear the coastline of litter.

Starting at a snow-covered St Annes beach, 10 relay teams each walked approximately one mile of the coast, collecting litter in a variety of weather conditions. Fortunately for the volunteers, as the teams walked northwards through Blackpool and up to Cleveleys the snow cleared and the sun shone brightly.

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More than 75 adults and 20 children took part in the event and together cleared over 100kg of litter from the Fylde coast.

Fylde litter relayFylde litter relay
Fylde litter relay

Those involved included current LOVEmyBEACH volunteers, staff from the Sea Life Centre, Madame Tussauds, Blackpool Tower, C2V construction, BIU, Lytham Sixth Form, year 5 students from Rossall School and members of the general public.

Bispham resident Les Pilkington attended his first beach clean as part of the event and said: “I really enjoyed the afternoon; it’s been great to give something back to the local community.

“Everyone who lives in the area wants the beach to be clean, so I thought why not do something about it?

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“I’m planning to help out again and support one of the regular LOVEmyBEACH volunteer groups.”

Emma Whitlock, Fylde BeachCare Officer, added: “At first, the snowy conditions made it very hard for the volunteers to see the litter hidden under the blanket of fresh snow and we were concerned we might have to cancel the event.

“However, as the tides changed and the sun began to shine the beach was revealed again and we were back to business.

“We hope this event will inspire others to take part in Great British Spring Clean events taking place in the upcoming weekend or to join a beach clean in the future.”