Five year old from Portsmouth rallies volunteers for beach clean up in Eastney

Inspired by her lessons at Stamshaw Infant School, five year old Eleanor Lawler created a poster inviting classmates to take part in her clean-up efforts.

Mum Claire Haywood said: ‘Her school has really inspired her.

‘She has been learning about how the ocean is being polluted and the effects this is having on the sea animals.

‘She has been so affected by this topic that she wanted us to go and clean the beach, however it has ended up with her creating a poster which she took into school and invited her class to come and join us too because in her words “the more people we have the more rubbish we can pick up”.’

On Saturday morning, Eleanor met 11 other volunteers at the Eastney Coffee Cup.

The litter picking team donned gloves and pick-up tools, filling bags with rubbish they gathered from the seafront.

Claire, who lives in Stamshaw, said: ‘I’m really proud.

‘She’s still very excited and wants to do another beach clean.’

Jo Cooper, headteacher at Stamshaw Infant School, said that many students have been inspired by the school’s environmental project.

She said: ‘We’ve done lots of work in school about the effects of plastic pollution. It’s really to help the children have an awareness of its impacts on the planet.

‘I’m really pleased that Eleanor was so inspired. We do lots in our lessons about how we can improve our environment.

‘The children are the future – they go home and inspire their parents.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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