One of the great things about the Sea Champions project is getting to work with other fantastic organisations and groups for a common cause. Sea Champion Andy has been helping out the Friends of Shoreham Beach Group who were recently awarded some funding to start a new beach cleaning initiative. Here he tells us a little more about it.
A cool, blustery afternoon on 24th April saw the Friends of Shoreham Beach (FoSB) Spring Beach Clean. 25 adults and 8 children gathered at Shoreham Fort, and carried out a sweep of the shingle shoreline. It was mostly the usual plastic litter, bottles, caps, fishing material and sweet wrappers, much of it swept in by the storms earlier in the year.
This event also marked the launch of a new initiative, TUTT (Tidy Up the Tide Line) made possible by a donation from the HP Beach Clean Up Fund. The fund has allowed FoSB to purchase child-sized litter pickers and florescent vests for family beach cleaning. It will feature monthly or bi-monthly one hour family focused beach cleans along the tideline where most of the debris accumulates. TUTT will also include talks on things of interest relevant to the beach and the adjacent local nature reserve and have competitions and “most unusual object” and generally encourage a “care for your beach” attitude amongst the young.
HP Beach Clean Up Fund was set up by HP in conjunction with the Marine Conservation Society and Keep Britain Tidy, following a storm at sea in 2014 that resulted in the loss of HP printer cartridges which are being found washed up on UK and other European coastlines. The fund supports non-profit organisations, individuals and local authorities who are undertaking, or planning to undertake beach litter clean ups on UK beaches in areas where HP cartridges have been found.
Ed Santry, MCS Volunteer and Community Engagement Manager (South East England) extended his congratulations to FOSB and said he was pleased to see the money going to a worthy active clean up group.
The efforts of the beach clean resulted in at least 30 refuse sacks filled and the afternoon was concluded with a tour of the Napoleonic fort by Friends of Shoreham Fort and a well-earned hot drink from their beachside café.
FoSB are a volunteer group, supported by Adur District Council whose role is to look after the Local Nature Reserve that is Shoreham Beach and one of its many tasks is organising Beach Cleans.
Click here to find our more about the HP Beach Clean Up Fund
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