Litter pickers scour Ramsey's drained Mooragh Park lake

Mooragh Park lake in Ramsey is drained once a year

About 50 volunteers joined a litter picking mission in Ramsey on Sunday to scour a drained boating lake.

The annual emptying of the amenity in Mooragh Park had provided a "unique opportunity" to tackle rubbish in the town, organisers Beach Buddies said.

Items found in the lake, which is near to the shore, included old signs, golf balls, glass bottles and tin cans.

Founder Bill Dale said a lot of the items found on the coast originally came from inland.

Meghan was a first-time volunteer for the charity on Sunday

The charity holds weekly litter picking sessions on beaches and in glens around the island throughout the year.

First-time volunteer Meghan, who was with her two young children, said joining in felt like "the right thing to do" and was "something close to home".

"The kids spent more time in the mud rather than litter-picking," she added.

Bill Dale started the litter picking sessions after finding "thousands of plastic bottles"

Mr Dale said: "We spend a lot of our time encouraging people not just to clean beaches but to come to places like this."

However, he said he was thrilled with how the group had grown in 16 years, explaining that "every week somebody turns up who's never been before".

"Just recently we reached 16,500 different volunteers and that on an island with an 85,000 population is incredible," he added.

About 50 volunteers combed the lake for rubbish on Sunday morning

Beach Buddies recycles many of the items that are collected