Five Wimborne youngsters aged six and nine took part in the Litter Free Dorset Challenge which was arranged by Dorset Council for the month of June.

The council provided the litter pickers and special T-shirts adorned on the reverse with the wording ‘Litter Free Dorset Challenge’.

Walking from their homes on the edge of town and watched over by their mums they collected litter as they walked into town.

Anthony Oliver, Wimborne in Bloom press officer, congratulated them on undertaking this mundane task on a Saturday afternoon when they could have been out enjoying themselves.

He said: “If only people would use the litter bins provided around town there would not be the need for people to undertake litter picking.”

Mum Kerry said: “They actually signed up for the ‘10 times in June’ challenge but we didn’t quite achieve this. However, the kids are definitely super keen to continue doing further sessions in the future, so I’d like to think we’ll keep on with this as a regular activity even for an hour or so once or twice a month.”

The children received some positive comments from passers-by, and one kind gentleman even donated some money for the children to buy a treat for all their hard work.

Nearly 13kgs of rubbish were collected including with a wallet with credit cards which had been lying about for some time, scaffolding clamps and quite a few face masks, crisp/sweet wrappers and beer cans.