JUST Bin It! Was the Keep Scotland Beautiful campaign slogan this year - but “Just Skip It” would have better suited the enthusiastic volunteers who came out to take part in the annual litter-picking exercise. For everyone worked so hard that they filled a skip with all sorts of rubbish, from sweet wrappers, take-away cartons and plastic bottles to rubber, wire and broken glass.

The largest object found was probably the office chair, though someone went off with that to recycle it for their secret hideout. And no-one found a three-piece suite or a fridge for Dell McClurg, much to her disappointment! In fact, Dell is delighted that the amount of rubbish seems to be going down each year - at one time quite large household objects spoiled the best view in Inverness, not to mention endangering the wildlife. But now the litter is mainly small scale, even although it can still be unsightly. After the anti-litter drive, flowers were planted at Carnarc Point.

Helping the usual suspects were quite a number of young people and a contingent from The Body Shop, who had asked to take part. The weather could have been a little kinder, but the drizzle went off after an hour and everyone enjoyed a refreshment at the Dolphin Centre afterwards.