ON SUNDAY, March 26, volunteers from Friends of Barry Beaches carried out a beach clean at The Knap in Barry.

Spokesperson Claire Curtis said " We had a great response to our appeal for volunteers, with 22 people taking part at our Knap beach clean.

"We collected 10 bags of rubbish and 10 bags of recycling, which would have spoiled the beauty of the area and potentially injured marine wildlife.

Youngest volunteer Oliver Burniston was taking a walk with his family and asked if he could join in. He did a fantastic job and filled a bag of rubbish by himself and was presented with a "Go Green" badge as a thank you.

Ms Curtis added: "Friends of Barry Beaches welcomes volunteers of all ages and abilities and it was wonderful to see the enthusiasm Oliver had for the environment."

Volunteers were also joined by four people from Cyfle Cymru, who were taking part in their first beach clean.

Cyfle Cymru is a peer mentoring project which helps people develop confidence to make positive life changes.

They provide support to access training, education, volunteering and employment. Their events and activities co-ordinator Rick Stephens thanked Friends of Barry Beaches for making everyone welcome and promised to come back again at a future beach clean.

Friends of Barry Beaches was formed in 2010 after a group of friends became despondent at the amount of litter blighting our beaches and injuring our marine wildlife and environment.

Claire Curtis said "We have been joined by hundreds of volunteers over the last 12 years and would like to thank every one of them for taking the time to make a difference. We would also like to thank Keep Wales Tidy for their support over the last twelve years."