Churchgoers have helped Beach Buddies to tidy up the Douglas’s shoreline.

Two of the island’s Methodist churches joined forces on Douglas beach to hold a brief service before cleaning the beach, with around 50 taking part, many for the first time.

The Rev Richard Hooton led the service on the beach close to the Villa Marina, accompanied by Paul Craine, who organised the event.

The congregation was made up of members of Trinity Church and Loch Promenade Church.

Trinity Church is the first church in the Isle of Man to be given an Eco-Church award by A Rocha, the Christian environmental organisation.

A Rocha (Portuguese for The Rock) encourages churches to bring hope to those tackling environmental problems.

Rev Hooton said: ’The Bible reminds us that the Isle of Man - indeed the whole world - is not ours, it’s God’s and in doing what you do for Beach Buddies you are working for God, doing his work and we are grateful to you for that.’

After the service everyone joined in a beach cleaning session for more than an hour, collecting a wide variety of items from Douglas beach, the majority being microplastics - small items the size of a fingernail which are responsible for killing millions of seabirds and fish.

Paul Craine said afterwards: ’Some had been involved in beach cleaning before, others had not. Several described the morning as "inspirational".

’The environmental agenda will one with us for many years to come, but there will be few responses that bring such a pleasant and memorable Sunday morning. God bless you Beach Buddies.’

The event made headlines in the Methodist Recorder, which is distributed throughout the British Isles.