A BEACH clean-up on the Llyn Peninsula led to the discovery of an American newspaper delivery box, which is believed to have been in the sea for over 10 years.

The bollard was found during a beach clean-up carried out by students from Bangor University on Aberdesach beach on 31 January.

The clean-up was organised by Gwynedd Tidy Towns project off­icer, Lee Oliver.

It was Mr Oliver himself who discovered the box, which had Salem Evening News and a witch symbol printed on it, on the beach at the top of the last tide line and was immediately intrigued as to where it came from.

The Tidy Towns officer traced the box back to the Salem News in Massachusetts and contacted the paper to let them know of the discovery.

He said: “When I first discovered the box I knew it wasn’t from Britain and then I noticed the flying witch symbol on it.

“I had heard of the witch hunts of Massachusetts so I put two and two together and then did some research and came across the Salem News, who I then contacted.

“I found out from them that they hadn’t been the Salem Evening News in around a decade which suggests that the box has been floating around in the water for that amount of time.

“This was a great thing to discover during the clean-up. We do often find many other unusual items such as lobster pot tags from Newfoundland and this year I found a tag from Florida, but this is probably the biggest find from the USA, and the fact that it is linked to a newspaper I thought it would be a great way to highlight the issue of marine waste and how far it can travel.”

The Salem News told Mr Oliver they were thrilled with the team’s discovery and will be running a news piece on their website to highlight the find of their old newspaper box.

Keep Wales Tidy is organising the next beach clean-up at Hell’s Mouth in Llangian on Sunday, 28 February.

Organisers are asking those who wish to attend to meet at the car park at 10am. Litter-picking equipment will be available.

For more information e-mail lee.­[email protected] or call 07824 504799.