Beach Buddies had an "army" of volunteers in action on the coastline at Ballaghennie this weekend with a record for 2017 of 44 people taking part in one of our sessions.
The target was one of the most sensitive areas of the Isle of Man's coastline for the breeding of seabirds, with the intention of clearing away all of the items of rubbish before the official start of the breeding season on April 1st.
Volunteers collected 56 bags of rubbish, plus numerous large items such as fish boxes and fishing boat ropes and have done such a good job that we will not now need to go back to this area until the late summer.
"This was a record turn-out for this year," said Beach Buddies founder Bill Dale. "This week the weather was very kind to us, and and we could actually feel some genuine warmth in the sunshine. Everyone went away with a smile and sense of achievement, which is what this is always, and has always, been about."
This was the third event in three days for Beach Buddies, as part of the "Great British Spring Clean" weekend. We hosted a company day with PaySafe at Castletown in very, very wet conditions on Friday, and emptied numerous Beach Buddy Bins on Saturday.
We also know of a number of people who have individually cleaned not just beaches, but also roadsides, footpaths, glens, plantations and parks over the weekend. And it should be noted that they do this very regularly, and not just for special events such as the British Spring Clean.
The newest project is to encourage people to "adopt" areas around the Island - not just beaches - to set an example to the rest of the world. Here in the Isle of Man we are already doing that, and we could show everyone else that we really care about our environment and wildlife.
If you want to "adopt" an area of beach (such as Ralf Mitchell at Port Cornaa), or a glen (such as Paul and Janet Quayle in Onchan), or a footpath, then left us know and we will provide all the kit you need to do this.
It's been a brilliant long weekend - sincere thanks to every single person who has picked up even one single item of rubbish this weekend. Thank you sincerely to everyone.
It's now time to take a breath and open a well-deserved bottle of vin rouge!
