EMBSAY mum and keen paddle boarder Jo Moseley picks up litter around her home every day.

But now she’s off to sunny Biarritz for a litter picking weekend at the beginning of May – as part of a European campaign to clean beaches and safeguard the oceans.

Jo, 54, won the trip to France's major surfing destination after entering the ‘Cheers to the Ocean UK’ competition run by the ‘Friends of Glass’ project driven in the UK by Sheffield-based British Glass.

Last year's competition encouraged twitter users to send in photos of themselves raising a glass to toast the health of our oceans, and Jo’s entry was deemed the most inventive.

She will represent the UK in joining other eco-minded people from across Europe who will receive surfing lessons on La Cote des Basques before taking part in a litter pick just a short distance up the south-west coast of France close to Biarritz.

Jo already has significant experience with litter picking after dedicating the whole of last year to conducting a two minute litter pick on the beaches and streets that surround her home.

And, later this year, she will devote most of her summer holiday to paddle boarding the 162 mile coast to coast Desmond Family Canoe Trail to raise awareness of littering and also to raise funds for The Wave project, which helps young people gain confidence and self belief though surfing.

So the trip to Biarritz seemed like the perfect opportunity to continue to make a difference to the places she loves.

She said: “In 2018 I set myself a challenge, after the Blue Planet show, to do either a litter pick, a beach clean or a street clean, every day for a year wherever I was – often I’d just do it on my way to work and clean up the street where I work.

“But then I noticed the Friends of Glass competition and given that I like being in the sea and I like beach cleaning it was like ‘wow what an opportunity’.”

Despite the lure of learning to surf on the Bay of Biscay, not surprisingly it’s the litter pick side of the trip that Jo is most looking forward to.

“I am looking forward to the surfing very much because the waves will be very different on the Atlantic Ocean, but I think the beach clean and learning about the beach clean is what I’m most looking forward to.

“All of it sounds really fascinating but I think it will be fabulous to see the work of the Surfrider foundation and their aims and to have a beach cleaning certificate is very nice. I’ll be an official beach cleaner.

“The whole thing will be really, really interesting.”