Beach Buddies has been given the honour of winning one of the major community awards in the Isle of Man, at the Manx Radio DreamCatcher Appeal awards dinner last night sponsored by Friends Provident International at Mount Murray.
We were presented with the prestigious award for "Dedication to the Community" which was sponsored by Standard Bank.
This is a fantastic recognition of the brilliant work achieved in recent years by our team of wonderful volunteers all over the Island, and to the sponsors who have had faith in us and given donations to keep us operating, particularly when it was a financial struggle from time to time to make ends meet.
"We now have a list with more than 3,500 names of individual people who have volunteered for Beach Buddies in the last few years, and that's without counting the many, many hundreds whom we know as the "unknown army" of volunteers walking the beaches and using our "Beach Buddies Big Beach Bins" at car parks at access points to the beaches.
The good news is that we have more bins on the way, which will be seen in lots of high profile positions across on the Island soon. We have some new sponsors, too, to be announced shortly, but we are always searching for more, so any ideas or contacts would be very gratefully received, so that we can maintain our work - and do even more in the future.
Beach Buddies' founder and chairman Bill Dale said, "This award is a wonderful tribute to all the many hours by our volunteers, and the way they have transformed the beaches and improved the environment for the people of the Island and our wildlife.
"I never ever thought Beach Buddies would be such a successful organisation, and it's entirely down to this fantastic group of volunteers and the sponsors who have supported us along the way that we have achieved everything we have."
• Beach Buddies is a registered Isle of Man charity (no 1158) and operates entirely based on donations. To find out more, sign up for regular news updates by e-mail at beachbuddies@manx.net.
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