The children from Year Six, teacher Roz Gilles, other volunteers from the school and Blue Reef staff collected approximately 400 separate items of rubbish from Rock-a-Nore beach in just one hour.

The most common items were bits of plastic between one and 50cms long and cigarette stubs. However the volunteers also picked up lolly sticks, sweet wrappers, crisp packets, bottle caps, fishing line and rope.

Among the more unusual objects recovered were an oil drum, three disposable barbecues, a bouncy ball, flip flops and two children's dummies.

Blue Reef's Sophie McGachy said: "Although it's obviously concerning for us to have collected so much rubbish in such a short period of time it was also a fantastic way to bring home to the students the reality of pollution.

"The fact that we were doing something positive to address it seemed to really strike a chord with them all and I'm hoping they will all be far more aware of both the marine environment and the need to protect it from now on."

Everyone taking part was issued with collecting bin bags, a pair of gloves and a reporting form to record their finds.

Ms McGachy said: "Rather than just picking up litter each group was asked to record the type of rubbish they found in order to get a better picture of the overall state of our local beaches.

"All the rubbish we collected on the day was brought back to the aquarium to be separated out and itemised. After that we will recycle as much of it as we can while the rest will be disposed of safely."

The next beach clean event is due to take place on September 19 and 20 to coincide with National Beach Watch weekend. Anyone interested in taking part should contact Sophie McGachy at the aquarium direct on 01424 718776.