PEOPLE young and old joined environmentalist and adventurer Ben Fogle to help clean up the beach at Hengistbury Head on Saturday afternoon.

TV presenter Ben, whose exploits include rowing the Atlantic Ocean, was on hand with bin bags and gloves to help out at the first in a series of events around the country under the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project, organised by the wine company and Surfers Against Sewage.

The idea is to keep beaches ‘barefoot friendly’ as summer approaches.

Ben told the Daily Echo: “We come to a beach and we look at it and on the face of it, it looks clean, but as soon as you start sifting through it you notice the rubbish.

“The point of today is we’re raising awareness and I’m hoping that this has a knock-on effect that the families and children that have turned up today, the next time they’re on the beach on their own they will do it spontaneously.”

Much of the debris being picked up is plastic waste that has washed ashore, rather than litter left by beachgoers.

“Lots of this plastic floats in from the ocean and the sad reality is once we go today a whole new batch will come ashore tomorrow, so this is an ongoing thing,” Ben added.

Andy Cummins, campaigns director at Surfers Against Sewage, said: “For the fifth year we’re around the country and Bournemouth has been a great start.

“We have 50 or so volunteers and they will remember today and what they saw and they will know the benefits from picking it up and taking it out of the environment.”

One volunteer, Laura Michie, said: “I have a mad passion for the beach and surf and wanted to get involved. It’s been great; we’ve picked up lots of things.”

Nick Palmer, from Southbourne, added: “I’ve been a member of Surfers Against Sewage since it started 20 years ago and I walk along this beach with my dog and want to make sure it’s all nice and clean.”