Members of the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade donned abseiling equipment for a litterpick with a difference as they tackled the problem on the banksides of King Edward's Bay.

They used equipment normally associated with cliff rescues to remove wind-blown litter from the slopes.

At the same time, members of the Tynemouth Village Association carried out a litterpick in the surrounding area as part of North Tyneside Council's Big Spring Clean campaign.

During the two hours, the volunteers filled 24 bags of rubbish and collected two pallets, a lobster pot and a fish box.

And recently students from TyneMet College carried out their own litter-pick on Tynemouth Longsands.

During their two-hour stint, they managed to fill a number of rubbish bags which were removed by council staff.

Other clean-ups are scheduled to take place elsewhere in the borough as the campaign reaches it climax at the end of May.

Clean-ups also took place at Earsdon Cemetery and the Silverlink Biodiversity Park in the centre of Cobalt Business Park.

Bags, gloves, hi-visibility vests and litter pickers were provided by the council at both events.

The clean-up in Earsdon was organised in conjunction with the Friends of Earsdon as part of the entry into the Northumbria in Bloom and Britain in Bloom contests.

Verna MacNaughton, chairman of the Friends of Earsdon, said: "There are plans to improve the area and we thought this clean-up would get things off to a really good start."