HUNDREDS of people were out cleaning the Jurassic Coast at the weekend as part of the Great Dorset Beach Clean.

The 25th annual clean-up was organised by Dorset County Council but people from all sectors of the community turned out to help.

At Lyme Regis, 41 people turned out to give Monmouth Beach a spring clean, where the wet winter and storms had churned up the shingle.

Volunteers included Lyme Regis Rotarians, town councillors, members of Turn Lyme Green, a visitor from Berlin, and even a group from Dairy Crest in Chard.

They worked for two hours and removed 45 bags of mostly storm blown rubbish.

Terry Sweeney, beachmaster for the event, said: “It's sad that we have to do this.

“This is the 25th anniversary of the Great Dorset Beach Clean. Things are better now than the early years when we found old freezers thrown overboard from ships, but there's still too much plastic and discarded fishing gear, which is both unpleasant and harmful to wildlife.

“We only found one dead guillemot - but that was one too many.

“It's thanks to the caring folk and children who turned out on Sunday that the beach is now as its best for the thousands who will enjoy it when spring arrives.

“But it only emphasises the need to care more about what gets dumped in our seas and ends up on our doorstep.”

Volunteers also did their bit at Charmouth beach, where there was more storm blown rubbish littering the coast.