Beach Buddies had an army of volunteers in action on the coastline at Ballaghennie, near Bride, at the weekend with a record for 2017 of 44 people taking part in one of the sessions.

The target was one of the most sensitive areas of the 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 1.

Volunteers collected 56 bags of rubbish, plus a lot of large items such as fish boxes and fishing boat ropes.

’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.

The group hosted a company day with PaySafe at Castletown in wet conditions on Friday, and emptied numerous Beach Buddy Bins on Saturday.

Mr Dale also knows of a number of people who have individually cleaned not just beaches, but also roadsides, footpaths, glens, plantations and parks over the weekend. They do this 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.

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, let Mr Dale know and he will provide all the kit you need to do this.

To contact Mr Dale phone 496560.