Volunteers were joined by the mayor in a community litter pick to clean up Barrow.

Dozens of people donned a high-vis and picked up a bin bag to wage war on rubbish and clean up the streets on Thursday afternoon.

The Mayor of Barrow Judith McEwan also came to support the effort and was joined by her husband councillor Bill McEwan.

The litter pick took place in preparation for the Festival of Transport, which will see vintage vehicles take over the town centre on Saturday.

Armed with a litter grabber and a bin bag, the mayor said: “I’m looking forward to the festival on Saturday, hopefully the day will be fine weather.

“We want to make sure the town looks smart and clean.

"We tend to get judged when we have events that attract a lot of people from out of town so we want it looking neat and tidy when visitors arrive.

“A sweeper comes around in the morning, which does quite a nice job, but you still find cans and packaging from McDonald's in the corners and areas off the road.

“I want people to think about their rubbish and be less careless with it, put it in the bin or take it home with you. Think before you throw it on the ground. Litter spoils the look of the town when we’re doing everything, we can to make it a nice place.

“There are a lot of good children in this town but I think a lot of it is a small percentage of teenagers who congregate around these places, particularly around the back of McDonald's. It’s a shame, there’s lots of things they could be doing instead, like local clubs and sports teams.”

Jason Forsyth, marketing and communications manager for Barrow's Business Improvement District, met volunteers at the ‘Spirit of Barrow’ statue.

“We put on a regular litter pick which takes place twice a month and this one just happened to fall a few days prior to the Transport Festival. It was perfect really," he said.

“We do try to keep the town centre as clean as possible so it’s looking its best.”

Jason said a lot of people get involved from businesses to organisations and members of the public.

He said most of the mess is made up of cigarette stubs and wrappers from local takeaway businesses.

Matt Blackburn, from Grimefighters, plays a big role in keeping the town clean.

He said: “While bigger companies can afford to donate time and manpower to the community, smaller businesses get involved in other ways and help by watering the plants and keeping an eye on the space around their shop.”

Between 20 and 30 volunteers turned up to offer their services at the litter pick. Matt said there would normally be more but people were a bit put off by the rain.

BAE had lent a number of apprentices to the community litter pick, one of which was Caitlin Patterson.

“I found out about it last minute,” she said. “We came to help clean up the town, it’s something I’ve not done before."

Caitlin found a lot of discarded vapes but there was not as much litter as she expected: “It’s not that bad, you don’t notice the litter until you look for it and the main streets are mostly clear, it’s just the back streets and alleyways," she said.