Nine-year-old schoolgirl collects 240 bags of litter during lockdown

Sophie Moan, 9, picked a staggering 240 bin bags full of litter to raise more than £700 for Blyth Wildlife Rescue.

Now she has been honoured after bumping into officers from the Blyth Neighbourhood Policing team, who were out with Northumberland County Council staff in the Cowpen Quay area of the town issuing fines for fly-tipping, while she and her family were clearing rubbish off the street.

Everyday Sophie, along with help from her siblings and parents, has been tackling a different area in Blyth and picking any litter that they come across to raise money for Blyth Wildlife Rescue.

Sophie pledged to raise £500 for the charity but since managed to smash her target and raise £773.

The neighbourhood policing team and Blyth Valley MP Ian Levy were so impressed with the work they invited the family down to Blyth Police Station to thank them in person.

Sergeant Wayne Daniels said: “We are so impressed by the hard work that Sophie has selflessly done in Blyth to clear our streets and beaches of litter whilst raising money for a really worthy cause.

“We felt that after all Sophie and her family have done for the local community, we just had to shows our thanks so invited them to the station.

“Sophie and her family’s selfless work is a prime example of the great community spirit we have here in Blyth and all of us are very grateful for their efforts.”

Sophie has also created free ‘boredom buster’ packs to hand out to local residents that included fun puzzles and games to entertain people during the lockdown.

Mum Kirsty said: “After seeing the litter get worse, Sophie wanted to do something more active about the litter problem and asked us to buy her a litter picker.

“She regularly litter picked on our family walks and wanted to see if she could raise money for a charity by doing it.”

Sophie completed her last sponsored litter pick on Saturday (1 Aug) however, her family welcome any last donations on her Go Fund Me page.”

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