WHILE most people were enjoying the fine holiday weather at the beach on Tuesday (April 7), a small band of determined local volunteers were giving up their free time to help clear a fly-tipping hotspot in Milford Haven.

In just two hours, the four volunteers – helped by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park ranger (PCNPA) Hayley Barrett and Mari Williams of Keep Wales Tidy – collected 12 bags of rubbish, with a toilet seat, bundles of old catalogues and a Playstation 1 among the detritus.

The team also dug out several tyres, slates, carpet remnants, and shards of broken glass from the woodland that runs alongside the popular dog-walking path.

The second clean-up in recent months, it followed the frustrating news in March that fly-tippers were continuing to dump rubbish in the area, undoing much of the team’s previous good work.

Nick Barrett, 32, has been the driving force behind the clean-up campaign.

He said he was pleased with how the latest session went, but said there was still much to be done to restore the area to what he sees as its natural role – a safe habitat for wildlife.

“If ten people worked from nine to five it would take weeks to clear the whole area, and because this is purely a volunteer venture it’s going to take us a lot longer,” he said.

“But I’m determined to see it all cleared.”

“Some of it was so well buried, you don’t see it until you start digging around,” said Mari Williams.

Nick’s younger sister Amy added: “This was my first time helping clear, and I didn’t realise how much there was.”

Earmarked for removal in the next clean-up session are mattress, broken toys and bits of plastic, and what looks like a collapsed den, built out of discarded bits of wood and metal inside an old lime kiln.

If you can spare a few hours to help out, contact Mari Williams by emailing mari.williams@keepwalestidy.org or telephoning 01646 694800.