When a keen army of volunteers flooded the Thames Foreshore to clean up the neighbourhood, they expected to be picking up plastic bottles.

Newham Recorder: The Surfers Against Sewage charity cleaning up the Thames foreshore at Woolwich with an army of volunteersThe Surfers Against Sewage charity cleaning up the Thames foreshore at Woolwich with an army of volunteers (Image: Archant)

And sure enough, the flock of more than 100 residents at the Big Spring Beach Clean picked up 250 of them – but stranger things were to come.

Dom Ferris, from Surfers Against Sewage, who ran this clean-up and 400 others like it across the country, was impressed with the rubbish they cleaned up: “There was so much litter that we had to weigh it individually, but we think there was two tonnes. It was mostly scrap metal. We found a motorbike, rifle bullets and a safe.”

Newham Recorder: Big Beach Clean-UpBig Beach Clean-Up (Image: Archant)

It sounds like ingredients for a detective novel, but unbelievably it was sitting in our river.

The event on Monday April 3rd was well-publicised by local groups Thames21 and Royal Docks Community Voice, and combined with the sunny weather, there was an impressive turnout.

Newham Recorder: Big Beach Clean-UpBig Beach Clean-Up (Image: Archant)

Dom said: “It was a really good day and went very well.”

“We had young families, people who took the day off to come down, 25 children from the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation and some youngsters from a small charity called Get City Kids Surfing.”

Newham Recorder: Big Beach Clean-UpBig Beach Clean-Up (Image: Archant)

Newham Recorder: The Surfers Against Sewage charity cleaning up the Thames foreshore at Woolwich with an army of volunteersThe Surfers Against Sewage charity cleaning up the Thames foreshore at Woolwich with an army of volunteers (Image: Archant)