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Let’s clean our beaches
RECORD BREAKERS: PokerStars staff celebrate breaking Beach Buddies record for the number of bags collected during a clean up
IT’S not enough to just stand are stare.
That’s the message from beach cleaning group Beach Buddies founder Bill Dale ahead of the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS) Beachwatch Big Weekend.
It takes place from Friday to Sunday, with beach cleans organised by groups across the British Isles.
In the island, events are being organised by Beach Buddies, and they are starting early.
On Wednesday, a beach clean will take place at Ballaugh Cronk (6pm).
On Thursday, volunteers will meet at Kirk Michael beach (Balleira) at 6pm. Friday will see volunteers clean Blue Point, near Jurby, from 2pm.
Saturday’s event includes Carrick Bay, starting from the Shore Hotel at 3pm (Each session lasts 60 to 90 minutes) and Chapel Beach Port St Mary at 5pm.
On Sunday, a two-hour beach clean takes place at The Lhen, at 11am. Every item collected will be recorded for the MCS annual survey of British beaches.
Monday sees a beach clean at Fleshwick at 4pm.
Volunteers should wear good walking boots and bring warm clothing and gloves. Beach Buddies supply gloves, litterpickers, bin bags and organises rubbish collection/recycling.
Families and supervised children are welcome but it is not recommended for children under four years old.
Mr Dale said: ‘We mostly find plastic, but the priorities we target are items which could cause injury to dogs (and their owners) such as broken glass, rusty tins, fishing tackle and fish hooks.
‘We also target plastic bags and fishing line and general fishing gear which can get tangled around seabirds and marine animals.’
On average Beach Buddies cleans four beaches a week, producing an average of 10 bin bags of litter. The group wants to start cleaning up litter from glens, walkways and the coastal footpath too and get groups to ‘adopt’ small areas to clean regularly.
He said: ‘The MCS event is important because it achieves national publicity, so I hope this will highlight what Beach Buddies is doing for the Isle of Man.
‘However, one massive beach cleaning session is just the tip of the iceberg. I am cleaning beaches four to five times a week, and once a year is simply not anywhere near enough.’
For details about the Fleshwick and Chapel Beach events call Michelle Haywood, 300090. For information about the others call Bill Dale, 496560.
• A Beach Buddies beach clean on Thursday broke the group’s record for the number of bags of rubbish collected. With the help of the entire staff of PokerStars, they cleaned a large section of the beach at Gansey near Fisher’s Hill, collecting 62 bags of rubbish.
The previous record for a Beach Buddies collection was 55 bags, set two years ago at Ballaugh.
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Weather for Isle of Man
Sunday 19 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 8 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: North west
