Dumfries and Galloway Eco Warriors are set to clean up for their anniversary.
The group is celebrating its seventh birthday with a beach clean at Southerness on Sunday.
And everyone is encouraged to go along to help out – and receive some soup and cake for their efforts.
The group’s Laura Howieson said: “Every year for our birthday we go back down to Southerness where it started. Solway Firth Partnership give us some hot soup and we have cake just to say thanks to our regulars and volunteers.
“As well as clean, we also try to educate the next generation, talk about sustainabaility and recycling and what everyone can do to make a difference.
“It’s about positive mental attitude – it’s good for people to get out and about and it brings the community together.
“Myself and my friends Fiona and Lottie started it seven years ago.
“We met through one of the local wildlife Facebook pages commenting about the state of the rubbish, which I knew about as I used to be the co-ordinator for British Divers Marine Life Rescue.
“We started with one beach clean at Southerness in January 2018. It was freezing and horrible but we had about 80 folk.
“We thought we were maybe on to something and people were starting to listen about the amount of waste getting washed up.
“We decided we’d start a group and see who wanted to get involved and it’s continued from there.
“We have at least one or two cleans a month. We try to do fancy dress cleans at Hallowe’en and we’ll do a shark egg hunt at Easter working alongside The Shark Trust.”
The group has branched out and also cleans laybys, business premises and parks.
And they’ve even used helicopters, thanks to the support of Rotary clubs, to clear up some of the more remote parts of the region.
They’ve had lots of support from local businesses and groups including Solway Firth partnership, Keep Scotland Beautiful, Dumfries and Galloway Council and Rotary.
Laura added: “Because of the eco warriors name, some people seem to not want to get involved but that’s not what we’re about.
“It’s not about blame, it’s working with different people like farmers and land owners.
“We don’t want to get paid, we’re all volunteers – we just want to work together.”
Dumfries and Galloway Eco Warriors will be holding their seventh birthday beach clean at Southerness beach on Sunday, January 19 from 10.3a0am to 12noon.
Everyone – including well behaved dogs and children – is welcome.
Anyone attended is asked to let the group know by emailing [email protected] or through the D&G Eco warrior cleans Facebook page to ensure there is enough cake for everyone.