About 70 volunteers rolled up their sleeves on Sunday to clean up the Walsingham Reserve as part of an environmental relay leading up to the Commonwealth Games.

The Commonwealth Clean Oceans Plastics Campaign, organised in advance of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, aims to address the issue of plastic waste with a series of clean-ups that kicked off in March 2025.

As part of the campaign, the Bermuda Olympic Association partnered with the Walsingham Trust and Keep Bermuda Beautiful to clean the coastline of the Hamilton Parish reserve often called Tom Moore’s Jungle.

A spokeswoman for the Walsingham Trust said they were thrilled by the turnout and dedication of participants, particularly highlighting the contribution of representatives from Special Olympics Bermuda.

She said: “Walsingham has a group of deeply committed friends who quietly help whenever the call goes out, and they certainly rallied, with about 25 of our team coming to set up for the event and then take part in the trash collection.

“Keep Bermuda Beautiful also rallied a large number of volunteers, which included a really big contingent representing the Special Olympics, which was incredibly meaningful as this was a Bermuda Olympic Association-led event and as Bermuda gears up for the Commonwealth Games.

“It was so wonderful to have the shoreline area cleaned up of all the stuff that washes up. It really was an important thing to get done. People pulled a lot of large items that had floated in, like tyres.”

The spokeswoman said the clean-up effort was also assisted by Robert King, the area MP, and Andrew Murdoch, the Governor.

She added: “The Governor actually jumped in a little lagoon on the property and he pulled out a tyre that had been there for quite a while.”