Three Burnham-On-Sea youngsters who are worried about the environment have started their own campaign to ‘save Somerset’ and have held their own beach clean in the town.
Ben Whitrow, Kayden Wright and Archie Shaw, who are Year 7 students at Hugh Sexey Middle School, did their bit by collecting plastic rubbish from the town’s beach this week.
The boys, all aged 11, are currently studying a school Humanities topic called ‘what effects do we have on the environment’.
They were so shocked to hear about global warming, deforestation, fossil fuels, pollution from vehicles and litter that they wanted to ‘do their bit’ in helping tackle the issues locally.
Ben’s mother, Louise Whitrow, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “They recently had an assembly at school about plastic pollution and, after also watching David Attenborough’s Blue Planet 2, the boys were inspired to do something constructive to help the environment and Burnham.”
“Together with their friend, Will, they came up with the campaign name ‘Save Somerset’ and organised their first litter collection on Burnham Beach last Sunday (November 25th).”
“The equipment they needed included a litter picker, black bags and protective gloves. They wrapped up warm, and decided on the two stretches of beach either side of the pier, keeping well away from areas of soft sand and mud! They ended up collecting a bin bag full of rubbish.”
“During their collection, they were stopped by a number of people who wanted to know why they were collecting, and the boys were pleased to receive some very positive feedback for their efforts.”
Their aim now is to carry out regular litter collections in the Burnham area and, hopefully, encourage more of their friends to join them in the campaign.
