Berwick railway station, the Lily Pond, Spittal beach and the town centre were the main areas targeted.

The clean-up was carried out by Berwick Cittaslow members with help from 1016 Air Training Corps, Berwick Borough Housing, Castlegate Area Residents' Association (CARA), Spittal Improvement Trust and Berwick High School's Duke of Edinburgh Award candidates.

Margaret Shaw, of the Berwick Cittaslow steering group, explained: "Cittaslow towns take a pride in their history and heritage, their infrastructure and their built and natural environment - all elements which contribute to quality of life.

"Every Cittaslow town strives to be a better place to live, work and visit and the appearance of our towns plays a major part in this."

The clean-up started on a Saturday morning when volunteers aged from seven to 70-plus met at the Lily Pond armed with spades, forks, litter bags, gloves and a desire to make a difference.

Youngsters from 1016 Air Training Corps, representatives from Berwick Borough Housing and Castlegate Area Residents' Association (CARA) remained in the park to tackle weeds, path and bed clearing and preparing the Lily Pond for replanting.

Representatives from the Berwick Community High School Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme and other CARA members set off for the railway station to clear the overgrown area between the shrubs.

"It was very impressive to see the way the students set about their task," said Mrs Shaw. "They were only advised once and then off they went. Weeds were pulled up shrubs pruned, litter collected, bags filled and the area cleared. It was obvious that they had made a difference."

Passers-by were very complimentary of the work being undertaken, although a few suggested it was the council's job.

However, the volunteers felt that doing nothing only allowed the people who drop litter to win.

"Berwick's urban litter is just about under control," said Mrs Shaw.

"Drop a bottle or a sweet wrapper in Marygate and the council litter wardens will pick it up, drop it off the main streets, or for it to be blown there, and it is likely to be uncollected for a long time."

Sunday saw volunteers working at the back of the Marygate shops and seven 'black bags' were filled in just over an hour.

Then it was the turn of some of the many benches that were suffering from winter dust and dirt to be cleaned.

The group also wished to clear the graffiti from Crawford's Alley and Wood's Wynd but it proved extremely difficult to obtain the co-operation of those shop-keepers responsible for the common wall.

Mrs Shaw said: "A repainting job here would make a vast difference and studies have shown that people are less likely to mindlessly graffiti clean walls. Perhaps our next 'clean up' will be able to address these areas."

Spittal Improvement Trust representatives initially set out to complete a beach clean-up but both because of a fairly recent tidying and the pleasant weather, the beach was in good order so the team concentrated on the grass areas along the prom, the children's play area and land at The Point. A number of debris bags were filled and 'the before and after effect' was quite clear!

The trust is in the process of forming a Gardening Club to try and maintain and create floral displays in public areas.

Cittaslow Berwick would like to thank all those who participated, particularly the young people who were a credit to their generation, Berwick Town Council for their encouragement and Northumberland County Council for leaving large litter bins in strategic places to be filled.