Wing schoolgirls are litter picking to help look after their environment

Chloe Gibbs, Emily Axten-Blackwell, Sanchia Kirchin and Sinead Drohan are all 11 and attend Cottesloe School, in Wing, they have been friends since they were toddlers.

They decided to start picking up litter to help keep the area tidy, they said: "We wanted to help make the village look better, we decided to pick up the rubbish from the streets and the lanes to help keep the area tidy.

"We were inspired by something that we saw when we were at primary school, we saw a dead bird and the ribs were on show, there was a plastic straw stuck in its ribs.

"We decided that we had to try and do something to stop that from happening, we are trying to help and want to make a difference.

"In a week, we went out nearly every day and we collected seven big bags of rubbish, in Ivy Lane we collected four big bags.

"We thought we should try and make a change to the environment, this is only a small amount of plastic in the world but we have made a start in our area.

"It is a start and we want to make a difference, we want other people to get involved too. We want to continue doing this in a regular basis."

Emily's mum Joanne, said: "They did the litter picking in between after school activities and homework.

"I wanted to raise awareness of what they have done and they wanted to spread the message to other villages and set an example to other children and parents.

"They are doing an amazing job at trying to clean up the litter and make a difference.

"All the parents are really supportive of what the girls are doing and we are all so proud of them, they are all best friends and they are having fun while trying to make a difference."