"We shall fight on the beaches," Winston Churchill once famously said - and on Sunday war will be waged on waste and litter on Castlecliff beach.
A number of community groups are lining up for what has become a regular monthly fixture, including Sustainable Whanganui, Coast Care, Castlecliff and Aranui School students and teachers, Second Chance Kittys, Charm Animal Rescue and the Whanganui Community Gardens Project.
It is the fifth such clean-up and will run from 1pm to 3pm.
Organiser Joy Clark has been particularly impressed with the efforts of younger children at the clean-ups.
"The youngest children helping are between 1 and 2 years. What is particularly pleasing is that children are now collecting rubbish on a daily basis around the streets, park and beach," she said.
"We have around eight to 10 come to the park every day and, without being asked, the children pick up rubbish and either pop it in a bag or put it in a bin."
She said the oldest members of the beach clean-up team were in their 80s - "so you can see this is a huge community effort".
That effort is supported by businesses and organisations that assist with prizes, equipment, food and water.
They include DOC (gloves, buckets, bags); Love Your Coast and Sustainable Coastlines (bags and ongoing training and support); Wanganui District Council (bags, gloves, helping remove rubbish, printing costs); Crazy Pumpkin (hundreds of pieces of fruit); Uni Pak (gloves for volunteers and sorters); The Water Truck (water); Piping Hot Plumbing (fish-and-chip voucher prizes); Rachel Kiernan from Nutrimetics (prizes) and books from Scholastic Books.
Any business or individual interested in supporting the clean-up can contact Joy Clark on 06 3446792 or 027 2826792.