The plan was to work from the beach huts to the rockpool area, then to the café – where Sophie was providing free refreshments for everyone who was taking part – and finally, if there was still time, further along the stretch under the cliff to the third groyne. As the time progressed, and because the tide was still rushing out, more and more beach was exposed and everyone was shocked by the amount and variety of rubbish they picked up.

As expected, there were plenty of things made from plastic such as straws, bottle tops and bottles, but wet wipes, food wrappers and cigarette butts made up an alarming amount too.

‘Would you just look at all this,’ said Sophie in dismay.

Everyone had convened at the café to drop off what they had collected next to her bins and stock up on her fortifying snacks.

‘The most depressing thing is that lots of these things haven’t even been washed up,’ she said crossly. ‘It’s all rubbish that folk have been too lazy to take away with them.’

‘I can’t believe how many cigarette butts we’ve found,’ said one young woman who was with the local parent and toddler group. ‘They were the last thing I was expecting to find.’

‘Especially in these numbers,’ said another, shaking her head as she peered into her half-filled bucket.

‘It’s really disappointing,’ said Hope.

‘And all these plastic water bottles,’ said Sophie, ‘there’s really no need for them to be a one-use wonder. I’m going to get on to the water company next week and find out how I can register to become a water-filling station.’

‘Won’t that put your bill up though, Mum?’ asked Hope. ‘If everyone who visits the beach decides to ask you for a refill, you’re bound to see an increased cost in your water bill.’

‘I’ll find out,’ said Sophie. ‘I’ll ask how it works because the world can’t carry on like this.’

It was a truly sad state of affairs but we consoled ourselves with the fact that all the rubbish we’d collected was no longer littering the beautiful stretch of beach and Hope already had a list as long as her arm of people who were promising to come back on a regular basis now the scheme was finally off the ground.

‘I should have done this months ago,’ she admonished herself.

‘At least you’re doing it now,’ said Sam, giving her hand a squeeze from where he was sitting at one of the tables.

‘Are you all right?’ Hope asked him, noticing how tired he looked.

‘Just about,’ he said, stretching his legs out in front of him, ‘but it might take me a while to get back.’

‘I’ll run you up in the car,’ Sophie offered.

‘No need for that,’ he said, looking even more uncomfortable. ‘I’ll manage.’