HUNDREDS of church-goers have been blamed for spoiling a Sussex beauty spot with litter from a mass picnic.

Now the church leaders are offering to send in a clean-up squad. The Coptic Orthodox Church in Davigdor Road, Hove, said its members were too poor to pay for clearing the litter, including half-eaten food and other rubbish, so they were prepared to do the job themselves. Meanwhile, the Forestry Commission has launched its own clean up at Abbot's Wood, near Hailsham. But they have warned that it expected the church to pay the costs of the full-scale tidy up. Angry residents complained that the wood had been "trashed" when hundreds of church-goers turned up in coaches and taxis for their Easter barbecue on Monday. Father Zakaria Henein apologised for leaving the woodland in a mess and promised the church would be happy to clear away all the rubbish. He said: "This was our Easter Monday, as in our church we celebrate Easter one week after the Western Easter. Every year we go to these woods to celebrate with a barbecue because its such a good place. "If there is a problem, we can go and clean it up. We don't want to leave any dirt in the place. We are ready to clean it up ourselves." He said many members of the congregation were Middle Eastern refugees who had little money and they simply could not afford to pay a hefty bill for clearing up the rubbish. Stuart Sutton, forest ranger, said 30 binliners had already been filled with rubbish and he expected to fill at least another 30 before all the waste was picked up. He said: "The place is just a sea of litter. They have left rubbish everywhere. There are bits of chicken, water melons, bits of barbecues, toilet paper, broken glass and beer cans all over the place." "I spoke to them when they were here and said, don't trash the site. They said they were going to clear up after themselves, but they haven't done it."

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