A group of 20 year five and six pupils at Gedney Hill Primary School donned yellow bibs and protective gloves and then, armed with litter pickers and bin bags, did a clean sweep of the village playing field and the school grounds.

The field, which is used by the community as well as the school for their sporting activities, often has broken glass, cans and sweet wrappers around the edge.

Teacher Lynn Chappell said: "We always try to relate what they do to real life situations and hopefully this will help to build up a sense of respect for where they live and they will go on to care for their community.

"We use the field a lot for sports so it's nice to put something back and make it clean and tidy for people to use."

Lynn says that she hopes that this event can serve as an example to other people in the district, especially those who have a grot spot in their area.

She said: "I think people are inclined to leave it for everybody else and think it's someone else's problem but if everybody does their own little bit then it isn't such a huge issue.

"Something like this with the children needs to be well organised but it is certainly well worth it in the end."

Terry Seal, who lives in Lincoln Avenue, contacted the village's PCSO to arrange the event and often takes it upon himself to pick up litter or even cut grass in the village if it is needed, to keep active while he recovers from an operation.

He said: "Children of this age are of a lovely stage to be at and if you start this sort of thing at a young enough age then hopefully they won't fall into bad habits when they get older.

"My specialist told me to keep active and I think it's good to show a little bit of public spirit."

PCSO Ben Harrington said he was surprised at just how well the event went and said that this type of activity was an important part of his role.

He said: "It's all about community based relationships, a bit like the old bobbies on the beat, and this has been a good bit of team work.

"I would be glad to hear from any more groups that want to do something like this."