A CUMBRIAN poet and environmentalist was the inspiration for a 'sand graffiti' project.

Volunteers turned up at Haverigg beach to carve a Norman Nicholson poem into the sand.

Irene Rogan, an artist from Millom, organised the event.

She expressed her delight at having such a large number of people turn up to take part - despite only two days notice being given.

“With this project, I just thought I would risk it and see what happens, as I gave two days notice on the Around the Combe Facebook page to meet at Haverigg Beach Cafe,” she said.

“I said we were going to be doing beach graffiti with poetry.

“The response from the two day notice was amazing.

“We wanted to do a large poem. I managed to tell everyone what to do and how to do it.”

The group together wrote out the words to the poem ‘Sea to the West’ by Millom forefather Norman Nicholson.

“I have been working in the environment for a while,” Irene said.

“I have been going out on a kayak looking at the tide timetable.

“So we knew when to go and do it and that I had a certain amount of time.

“The tide gently erased the words as it was not so fast that day, which was lovely.

“It was an amazing day. We had lots of people passing and commenting, there were people of all different ages as well.

“It was lovely to see so many enjoy it.”

Irene Rogan, RL Wilson, and Julia Parks are each creating work in the industry and responding to areas of West Cumbria as part of RE Drift project funded by the Arts Council England, so there will be more to come.

Irene said she was extremely grateful to photographer Stephen Leece who captured the environmental artwork using a drone. "As well as aerial shots he also captured some action shots," she said.