More than 40 bags of rubbish were collected and 33 new volunteers recruited during a busy weekend for Beach Buddies.
The charity focused its attention on the south of the Island and joined with Manx Wildlife Trust in Port St Mary for an event on Saturday, followed by a team session at Langness on Sunday.
Saturday’s event was aimed at children and families, and was very well supported with 35 people joining in a beach cleaning session from Chapel Beach to the harbour, collecting a wide variety of items along the way.
Afterwards, the group took their finds to Port St Mary Town Hall where MWT officers Lara Howe, Dawn Dickens and Anne-Marie Kilgallon organised a craft-making session, using the items collected to make “works of art”.
The event also gave the opportunity to highlight the harm that can be caused to wildlife by the careless disposal of litter, in particular items such as tins cans, fishing line and throwaway cartons.
The group collected an estimated 2,000 mostly small plastic objects, but there were also a good number of larger items, including ropes, nets, asbestos pipe, industrial rubber fan belts and a considerable number of metal objects.
The event was kindly sponsored by Colas Ltd who provided excellent prizes for the most imaginative objects made afterwards by the children from the materials collected.
On Sunday, the weekly Beach Buddies’ session switched to Langness where massive amounts of rubbish have gathered in the first two months of the year. Despite the commitments of Mother’s Day, the session attracted 21 volunteers who filled the Beach Buddies’ AFD truck to the brim with a wide variety of items, plus a record number of golf and tennis balls!
Nine golf balls were discovered, plus seven tennis balls recovered from the beach and amongst the undergrowth. Plastic drums full of oil, commercial fishing gear, lobster pots and a huge piece of rope were amongst the items found, but the majority, as always, were a huge variety of plastic items.
The area also suffers from the careless disposal of food and drinks containers, some of which had been deliberately thrown into the undergrowth over many years. In addition, several hundred rusty nails and screws were removed from the BBQ fire pits which have been created in the area.
The lack of a bin in the unofficial “car park” alongside the coastline will be addressed by Beach Buddies in the coming few weeks. A Beach Buddies’ bin has recently been placed in the official Langness car park, and is working very successfully as walkers take up the challenge to “fill a bag and make a difference”.
However, it is clear that another needs to be positioned at the beachside car park to improve the area. The Beach Buddies Big Beach Bins can be sponsored by anyone - companies, individuals, families, charities - and give the sponsor excellent publicity and media coverage.
• Beach Buddies runs team beach cleaning sessions every weekend, usually on Sunday mornings, lasting a maximum of 90 minutes. All ages are welcome and the necessary equipment is provided by the charity, with all items removed by Beach Buddies, and recycled where possible. We are very grateful to the sponsors who make this possible. These include AFD Software, Offshore Public Relations, SITA, WDS Limited, Isle of Man Photos, the Department of Infrastructure, The Scott Trust, The Elizabeth Clucas Trust, The Society for the Preservation of the Manx Countryside, Blythe Financial, Aston International, Charlie’s Mum and Dad, Zero Waste Mann, Ramsey Grammar School, Andy Kerruish, Lloyds Bank, Bobby Sadler Agricultural, Santander, Merrill Lynch, Douglas Rotary, Cains, Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, Zurich, Shoprite and Juan Knight OffRoad.
• If your company would like to become part of this prestigious list please send an e-mail to find out about our sponsorship opportunities. Beach Buddies is a registered charity - No. 1158.
• Beach Buddies also runs corporate "team building days", corporate barbecues (summer months), and hosts competitive corporate beach cleaning events.
• To register for e-mail updates on Beach Buddies or to find out about sponsorship or team building events please send a message to beach buddies@manx.net or phone 496560
Photo - Some of the new Beach Buddies volunteers at Port St Mary on Saturday.
