A GROUP of four school friends in Holt are doing their bit to rid the local environment of single use plastic.

William Curtis and his friends Kit Ingram, 12, Finn Joscelyne, 12, and Dolly Kombate, 14, are members of the steering group of Plastic Free Holt which aims to eradicate the use of single use plastics.

William, 14, said: “We wanted to do something about the amount of plastic pollution and the way it is effecting nature.

“We have set up a Instagram account called Free Nature From Plastic and are asking people to draw a picture of their favourite animal from nature with a piece of single use plastic which they pledge to give up in the background.

“They then need to be photographed holding their artwork and send us the picture and we will upload it to the account.

“They can send a message to go with their picture which we will also publish.

“Once we have enough posts we will contact our local MP Michelle Donelan to arrange a virtual meeting with her to ask what the government is doing to reverse the tide of plastic pollution.”

He is being backed by his mum and dad Catharine and Rob Curtis, who live in The Street at Holt, and Kit's mum Emily Ingram, who also lives in Holt.

Plastic Free Holt was set earlier this year and has around ten members.

The youngest member is ten-year-old Lois Brannan and the oldest is Alan Fox, aged 84.

Their aim is to reduce the use of single-use plastics such as bags, water bottles, food packaging and sweet wrappers.

"We already have pictures from 14 people and 84 people are following us on Instagram," said William, who will be a Year 10 pupil when he returns to Corsham School in September.

"There is too much plastic in the environment and we need to cut down on our use of single use plastics."

His father, Rob Curtis, 48, is a part-time youth worker at Holt Youth Club and the Surfers Against Sewage representative for Trowbridge.

Earlier this year, he planned to paddleboard 45 miles along the Kennet & Avon Canal from Holt to the sea at Portishead but was forced to postpone the trip because of illness.

"I suffered a kidney strain and had a stent and a catheter inserted at the Royal United Hospital in Bath," said Mr Curtis.

"I've been at home for the past seven weeks and am hoping to have the stent and the catheter removed at the end of this week.

"I have spent the past two weeks in isolation so that surgeons can can operate on the kidney strain.

"I am hopeful I can get back into training and do the paddleboard at the end of August."

Along the way, Mr Curtis plans to video film the amount of plastic pollution that he finds in the canal.

The plastic pollution that Mr Curtis records will be used to send messages on social media to the makers of single-use plastic as part of a scheme called Return to Offender run by SAS.