The most sincere thanks go to every single person who gave their support today at Castletown in what can easily be described as “windy”.

In fact, “windy” is something of an under-statement! It was “blowing a hoolie” for goodness sake! The aftermath of Hurricane Gonzalo was definitely in evidence yesterday (Sunday, October 26th) at Castletown Bay as a wonderful team of volunteers turned up to clear the beach which has been battered by on-shore gales and storms in recent weeks.

It was interesting to note that, despite a fair number of large items, there wasn’t a great deal of rubbish close to our access point at the second car park past Hango Hill, following a beach clean earlier this week by staff from McDonalds who did a really good job.

We had 37 volunteers today, and quite a few new faces, which is always brilliant. Plus some visitors from the UK, who were very supportive and wished they could join us every weekend.

But it has to be said that at the beginning of the session in the howling gale we were all looking at each other with the silent expression on our faces: “are we mad or what?”

However, as always when the weather isn’t too good, everyone got stuck in and got warmed up and did a great job once again.

Thanks are also due to Castletown Golf Club and their greenkeeping staff, who removed some very large items from the beach to make it easier for Beach Buddies to collect afterwards at their depot.

Windy, yes. But effective, yes. And rewarding? After coping with the initial battle of trying to hold down empty bags in the Force 8 gales, our volunteers did fantastically well, and we collected 32 bags of rubbish, plus loads of rope, oil drums, lobster pots and fish boxes.

We will have two sessions next week as a trial. On Saturday at 10.30 it’s Port Grenaugh and on Sunday, also at 10.30, it’s Ballaghennie (Ayres Nature Reserve).

If it’s as windy as today then maybe we might give it a rest for a week, although Port Grenaugh is definitely a lot more sheltered than most beaches.

It wasn’t easy today, and it was a really great effort in difficult conditions by everyone who helped today (as the picture shows) including some very young children, although they seemed to cope no problem.

As well as doing a great job for the environment and wildlife, it’s also supposed to be enjoyable, and the conditions today were a test for all of us.

So, well done to everyone - medals all round!