Instow’s ‘eco warriors’ give dunes a spring clean

Young 'eco warriors' from Instow Primary School grab their grabbers and vests to help tidy part of the sand dunes at Instow beach.

Andy Keeble Thursday, March 14, 2013
8:00 AM

Youngsters offer helping hand to spruce up local beach.

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YOUNG eco warriors from Instow Community Primary School have armed themselves wit grabbers and bin bags to give their local beach a spring clean.

A team of around 30 pupils – and teachers and local parish councillors – helped spruce up an area of sand dunes at Instow.

They were given special vests and litter pickers, items now available to any likeminded groups wanting to do their bit for the environment.

The gear has been purchased for Fremington, Lovacott, Instow and Westleigh parish councils through Devon County Council and North Devon Council’s Town and Parish (TAP) Fund.

Grants are available for parishes if they can show they are working in partnership with each other.

The county council is providing one pound for every elector in the district and the district council is topping up this amount by 10 pence per elector.

Fremington Parish Council chairman Cllr Rodney Cann, who helped secure the funding, said: “This is an excellent example of parish councils working together and sharing resources.

“There has been a growing interest in volunteering for clean-up operations in recent years so we’ve put the equipment in place to encourage local groups to take an active interest in the environment and make it easy for them to do so.

“Without the help of volunteers, ‘off the beat and track’ areas like the sand dunes would never get cleaned up.

“The kit is available for anyone – young or old – by arrangement with the Fremington Parish Council offices.”