Volunteer beach cleaning organisation Beach Buddies has blitzed another of the Isle of Man’s beaches with the support of the people of the south of the Island.
A total of 38 volunteers joined in a “Big Team” beach cleaning session on Sunday morning and left the half mile of beach spotlessly clean. It follows another record-breaking session at Ballaugh a week earlier.
“Beach Buddies has been cleaning the beach at Castletown many times, but the difference made by such a big group was just tremendous,” said Beach Buddies organiser Bill Dale.
The group collected 31 bags full of rubbish, much of which has been recycled, together with large numbers of plastic containers and fish boxes.
The event was also notable for the inclusion of two southern police officers who arrived to join in for the one hour session. “When they drove up to the car park I thought maybe we might be in for a telling-off for some reason or other,” said Bill Dale, “but they arrived with a smile, collected lots of rubbish and it was a pleasure to have them involved.”
The volunteers also discovered three syringes during the session. “We are noticing more syringes in recent years,” said Bill Dale. “We always give a safety talk before each session and show children what a syringe looks like, so there’s no danger to anyone, but it shows the value of cleaning the beaches regularly when so many children use our beaches and so many people take their dogs for walks.
“For that reason alone it makes regular beach cleaning sessions all over the Island’s beaches so important and so worthwhile.”
The third “Beach Buddies Big Team Beach Clean” will take place this coming Sunday, November 11th, at 2pm at Ramsey North beach, meeting opposite the new swimming pool.
Beach Buddies provides litterpickers, gloves and bin bags and will dispose of the rubbish and recycle wherever possible. Volunteers of all ages are welcome, and advised to wear decent walking boots and bring their own gloves, if they wish. Sessions last one hour.
Email: beachbuddies@manx.net or follow “Beach Buddies” on Facebook.
Photo caption - Two police officers from the south joined in to help Beach Buddies.
