PEOPLE from more than 80 miles away have travelled to help clean up Rhyl beach.

Visitors from Wrexham, Manchester, Stoke and Stafford have lent a helping hand to volunteers from Prestatyn and Rhyl, for one of the biggest litter picks on the North Wales coast as part of national marine conservation and campaigning charity Surfers Against Sewage's annual Autumn Beach Clean weekend.

The team, made of 59 volunteers from both sides of the border, cleared about 100kg of rubbish - equal to 100 large bags of sugar - from Rhyl beach and promenade, more than half of which some form of plastic.

Rhyl town councillor Keith Jones, who organised the event, said: “I am proud of our town and its beach and its community and it’s awesome to know that people from other areas are prepared to travel here just to help out.

"We found wet wipes, straws, bottles and tops as well as hundreds of cigarette butts on the foreshore, most of which had been dropped by visitors to the beach, rather than being washed in by the tide.

“The next set of major cleans will be over school half term in October. But every day, you will see people on the beach, litter picking, and it’s brilliant to see such a community spirit.”

“This is why we have started ‘PlasticFreeRhyl’ – it is far easier for us to have less single-use plastic to collect, if we use less in the first place.”

Aswell as conducting regular litter picks, the Rhyl branch of Surfers Against Sewage have also introduced the #PlasticFreeCommunities initiative to Rhyl to try an reduce the amount of single use plastics used by the town's businesses.

Cllr Jones added: “I’d like to thank every single person who came along to give a hand and also to Simon Jones at the Pro Kitesurfing Centre and Café for providing refreshments for our volunteers.”