Beach Buddies had a great turnout last night for its special event to clear the coves and bays in Port Erin ahead of the official re-opening of the coastal footpath this weekend.

Lots of local residents, including ten new volunteers and the DED Minister and Rushen MHK Laurence Skelly, answered the call to the community to get involved in removing marine litter, and collected 15 bags, plus numerous large items, including a long-lost metal road barrier.

“We had the Beach Buddies truck stationed on the Upper Promenade on a lovely evening and walking towards us was what looked like a group out for a summer’s evening walk. What we didn’t realise was that they were all coming to join in the beach clean,” said Beach Buddies founder Bill Dale.

"It just goes to show the power of the local media in the community. We had only announced the event earlier in the day, but it resulted in 34 people joining in, to make a difference, and what a difference they made.”

Inside the hour-long session, the charity’s volunteers cleared three bays, concentrating chiefly on Spaldrick which is one of the Island’s most frequently visited stretches of beach tackled regularly each year by Beach Buddies.

The official re-opening of the footpath, and its new footbridge overlooking Spaldrick will be tomorrow morning (Saturday) at 10am.