Clean team hits beach

Students and families from a Taranaki school will be cleaning up Whanganui beaches next month as part of a fundraiser.

On May 14 about 600 people will be joining in the "I Love My Beach" cleanup event, which spans 12 beaches in the Whanganui and Taranaki areas.

The students from Westmount School Taranaki campus - based in Hawera - came up with the idea.

"They have made a decision they'd like to have a bit of a serious beach cleanup," Whanganui project team leader and father of a student Rick Anderson said. "There's students from New Plymouth, Hawera and Whanganui."

Because the school is private, it raises more funding through programmes and events so the students were using the cleanup to fundraise for their school.

Beaches being targeted for the project include South Beach, Castlecliff, Kai Iwi, Patea and Waverley.

Mr Anderson said the 600-odd people involved would be "divvied up" into groups who would target different beaches.

Volunteers were welcome, he said.

Anyone wanting to donate can find a sponsor form on www.ilovemybeach.co.nz or contact organisers on the same website with any questions.