Isle of Man Guide

Students at Queen Elizabeth II High School have carried out a beach clean with a difference.

Fifty students from the school took part in The Big Tidy Up, organised by the Keep Britain Tidy campaign.

For six of them, it proved an opportunity to complete the kayak expedition section of their Duke of Edinburgh silver award and they paddled from Port St Mary to Douglas, cleaning several beaches en route.

Teacher Lesley Sleight said:

'They collected all sorts of rubbish en route, including a computer and keyboard, fishing boxes and lots of plastic waste. They also encountered the remains of a car and a boat.'

Mrs Sleight said:

'Most of the rubbish collected was plastic bottles and sweet wrappers. The students collected 25 bags of rubbish over a four-day period.'

It was the school's latest effort to help the environment. Two weeks ago a team of six students finished a fantastic second in the Volvo Adventure, a competition for young people all over the world, with their innovative scheme to offset carbon emitted by vehicles when travelling to and from school by planting thousands of trees. And in May the school made the finals of the Observer Ethical Awards, held in London.

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