Sex toys, pagan spells and cremation urns – these are just some of the items littering the beaches along the Meirionnydd coast.

Dianna Treganza, one of the founding members of Cambrian Beach Guardians, marked six years of cleaning the area’s beaches by telling the Cambrian News about some of the more unusual finds the group has made during its time keeping our beaches clean.

She said: “Very little surprises us now with cremation urns, pagan spells, medical waste, floral tributes, light bulbs, sex toys and ammunition from the Second World War amongst past finds. It’s all just part of the job we do with our volunteers.

“Ammunition is not a surprise at all, as the dune system here was used for target practice. Sex toys usually just raise a smile; it’s more personal items like the cremation urns that are upsetting.

“We have found private prayers of grief in messages in bottles before which are not designed to be seen by other eyes. We have given these into the local churches to be prayed over and buried appropriately, without the plastic bottles they were in.”

In a recent clean on Saturday, 4 January, the group cleared over 50kg of rubbish from Harlech beach.

See this week’s north editions for the full story, in shops and online on Thursday