The second evening of volunteer beach cleaning for the BeachWatch campaign has taken place at Balleira, Kirk Michael. A group of local residents volunteered to join local group Beach Buddies as part of the nationwide UK campaign to tackle the rubbish on Britain's beaches.
Amongst the finds last night were barbed wire fencing, fish boxes, fishing tackle and some large metal posts.
The BeachWatch campaign, run in conjunction with the Marine Conservation Society, continues again this afternoon (Friday) with another beach cleaning session organised by Beach Buddies, this time at Blue Point from 2pm.
Friday September 14th: Blue Point 2.00pm (Beach Buddies - Bill Dale - 496560)
Saturday September 15th: Gansey (Shore Hotel) 3.00pm (Beach Buddies - Bill Dale - 496560)
Saturday September 15th: Chapel Beach, PSM 5.00pm (Michelle Haywood 300090)
Sunday September 16th: The Lhen 11.00am (Beach Buddies - Bill Dale - 496560) *
Monday September 17th: Fleshwick Beach 4.00pm (Michelle Haywood 300090)
Please wear good walking boots and bring warm clothing and your own gloves if you have any. Beach Buddies supplies gloves, litterpickers, bin bags and organises collection / recycling of the rubbish. We also have a small First Aid kit, but in six years it has never needed to be used, so please use common sense when cleaning the beach and do not pick up items which may be dangerous such as broken glass, sharp items and syringes. We warmly welcome families and supervised children. It is not recommended for children under 4 years old. Children are asked to concentrate on collecting safer items such as plastic bottles, tins cans and packaging.
Each session lasts about 60-90 minutes maximum.
* This event is the one where a detailed beach cleaning session will take place, with every single item collected being recorded for the Marine Conservation Society annual survey of British beaches. This session is likely to last around 2 hours.
Beach Buddies organises beach cleaning sessions all over the Isle of Man every week of the year and volunteers are warmly welcomed. We also have a new scheme about to be launched where groups of people (from as small as 3 or 4 volunteers) "adopt" a beach, or a glen, or a pathway or a section of coastal footpath and clean their chosen area on a regular basis throughout the year. This is ideal for groups such as Guides, Scouts, Cubs, youth clubs, schools, families, church groups etc etc. Beach Buddies will provide groups with litterpickers, gloves and bin bags and organise collection of the rubbish collected.
