A CAR bumper, a beer keg and a wooden picnic table were just some of the items found washed up on the banks of the River Severn.

On Saturday almost 50 people took part in Oldbury Clean Team’s Severn riverbank clean up, including members of Thornbury Sailing Club.

During the clear up an array of unusual items were found such as wooden pallets, a blue buoy, a fire extinguisher, a traffic cone, a sign for boat trips that had floated down from Stourport, a car bumper, a beer keg and a wooden picnic table.

Janet Astle, co-founder of Oldbury Clean Team, said: "We thought that we had cleaned up the riverbank pretty well in September last year and we were a bit apprehensive about whether it was worth having another go at it six months later.

"Sadly, we needn't have worried. We collected 47 sacks of litter, compared with 51 last time, and we amassed a huge pile of driftwood and other rubbish.

"It seems pretty clear that Oldbury is on the receiving end of all the rubbish that everyone else upstream chucks in the river - when you think that the River Severn rises in mid Wales and then flows down through Shrewsbury and Kidderminster, there is plenty of scope for people's discarded items to end up on our riverbank."

The clean up was carried out as part of South Gloucestershire Council's Big Spring Clean campaign.

Anyone who wants to join Oldbury Clean Team should visit, www.litteraction.org.uk/oldbury-clean-team