A TON of rubbish was collected from the River Wye by a keen group of community volunteers in Hereford.

Following on from the great success of last year's events, Hereford Community Clean Up Group decided to take on the mammoth task of cleaning up the River Wye and its banks from Hunderton Railway Bridge to the new suspension bridge at Rotherwas.

Starting at 9.30am on April 7, the community effort attracted the help of around 100 volunteers, who were kept fed and watered on the day by a donation made by Asda Hereford and the culinary skills of Lucy Hurds and a team from Hereford RSPCA.

A team organised by River Carnival chairperson Patricia Hales scoured the river for rubbish whilst Emma Jones and Morgan Schofield led the bank clean-up.

A specially commissioned rubbish collection barge constructed from used plastic bottles by the 'master boatbuilders' at Horizon Training and named by Lord Scudamore Primary School pupil Evie James-Skyrme floated along the stretch as a repository for the collected refuse.

"A vast amount of rubbish was collected along the route," said Hereford Community Clean Up spokesperson Andrew Wood.

"Finds included a bicycle, road work signs and, unfortunately, large numbers of used syringes.

"We also tried out some magnet fishing from the Victoria Bridge and while no ancient artifacts were found, a couple of pieces of old cable were pulled from the river by the children, who seemed very impressed by the idea of using magnets to fish with!

"As a group, it was the largest event we have yet attempted and without the support of our brilliant volunteers none of this would have been possible.

"To them we say a very big thank you for helping and taking pride in our lovely city,"