A GROUP of National Lottery winners from Yorkshire have committed to make a difference, hunting for microplastics and litter down on a North Yorkshire beach.

Motivated by the work of the charity, The 2 Minute Foundation, to make a difference through simple acts, the band of lucky winners volunteered to spend a morning scouring Sandsend Beach in Whitby for litter and tiny pieces of plastic waste, which can be devastating to marine animals.

The National Lottery winners, with a combined wealth of almost £25M, have been playing their role in helping to keep the Yorkshire coast pristine and litter free as the school summer holidays approach.

York Press:

In addition to microplastics, the millionaire litter-pickers collected waste ranging from plastic water bottles and picnic debris, to ocean waste and old fishing ropes.

Joining the clean-up team were Susan Herdman and Andrew Hornshaw, from York, who won £1.2M on Lotto in 2010.

Susan said: “Since winning the lottery Andrew and I have loved being able to give time back. One of the great things about winning is this buys you time to support such great causes like The 2 Minute Foundation.

“Our beaches and coastline are so important and it has been wonderful working with The 2 Minute Foundation on this project – learning and actually doing something positive for the local environment and for the benefit of local people at the same time.”

York Press:

Keen to see the Blue Flag Status retained, and the area of coastline being kept in the best possible condition for the thousands of people who love to visit every year, the winners managed to collect more than 25 sacks of waste during the morning in Whitby.

The winners received guidance from The 2 Minute Foundation, a charity which has previously received £19,410 of National Lottery funding in 2018 and 2019, to help with its education programme.

Claire Giner from the charity, said: "Sadly there is a huge amount of rubbish floating in our seas and oceans, and every day the tide brings it ashore. The litter pick shows what can be achieved in a short space of time and we encourage others to do the same this summer to help save marine animals, even if you can only spare two minutes."

A registered charity, The 2 Minute Foundation aims to educate people across the country about the coastline, the creatures which inhabit it and what can be done to protect and enhance it. The team are devoted to cleaning up the planet, two minutes at a time.

York Press:

“It has been a very successful morning and we have really enjoyed working with the local National Lottery winners to help make a difference to this stretch of important coastline," Claire added.