Lockdown has lifted just enough for us to help out a community beach cleaning project. 

Yes, we’re happy to share that on Sunday 9th May we’ll once again be helping Strandliners CIC in a major beach cleaning project. As the main photo above shows, the volunteers at Strandliners have been working hard to clear rubbish and pollution from the Cliff End and Fairlight Berm areas.

As regular readers of the blog will remember,  Strandliners organised a similar clean-up of the huge amount of plastic pollution, polystyrene and general rubbish at the berm last September.

This is a hard-to reach area of the coast which, because of the tidal flow, does tend to be a drop-zone for water-borne pollution. Once stuck behind the rocks though, it tends to stay, having a major impact on the wildlife and environment around the Berm.

So, once it’s all bagged up, there’s only one way to get the rubbish out of there …

Bringing the rubbish from the boat to the slipway is all part of the clean up task.

The easiest way to remove the bagged up bulk is by boat. So, weather and ‘Shouts’ permitting, on Sunday 9th May around 11 am, we’ll be launching one or both of our boats, to go across to the berm. Once there, our crews and Strandliners volunteers will load up the boats with the rubbish and our crews will bring it back to the Pett Slip.

From there, it will be picked up by Rother Council, and there’s sure to be a lot of it, as the amount of bags from last September shows …

Get involved in beach cleaning …

This will all take place as part of our Sunday training and maintenance session at the boathouse. Some of the volunteers from StrandlinersCIC will also be at Pett Slip, so please do come and talk to them about their work and how to get involved in local beach cleaning – either as a volunteer with the group or as an individual.

As before, it’s important to mention that this beach cleaning project hasn’t just involved picking up rubbish and pollutants. Every single item being removed has been counted and sorted before being bagged up for removal. There’s more information from Strandliners in the poster below …

If you’d like to get involved at whatever level suits you as we come out of lockdown, please do pop down.

Andy of  Strandliners (pictured below from last year’s clean up) should be available to talk about the work of Strandliners. He’ll be at the boathouse end of the slip, outside and socially distanced, of course. Andy and Strandliners volunteers will be happy to explain how even the smallest clean up is welcome, and why the recording the rubbish and pollution along the coastline is a vital part of the campaign to clean up our coastline.

We are very pleased to be able to assist with beach cleaning community project, and to help preserve our local beaches. Check back for updates and photos this Spring’s rubbish retrieval soon!

If you would like to know more about Strandliners please visit www.Strandliners.org or follow on Twitter at info@strandlinerscic.

Poster credit: thanks to StrandlinersCIC 

Whilst you’re here …

As an independent charity providing rescue services, we are run solely by volunteers.

We receive no government or central funding and have to fundraise every penny needed to buy and maintain our equipment and to pay our considerable running costs.

Since the start of 2020, our running costs have increased to around £10,000 a year.

If you like the work we do and would like to support us, your donation would really be appreciated.

Anything you can spare will help us to help those in danger on our local coastline.

Thank you so much, from the volunteers at Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat.

The ‘new normal’ is a continued adjustment period, but thankfully restrictions are lifted enough for community project work to carry on.

So we’re happy to share that on Sunday 6th September we’ll be supporting a community project close to our hearts and our boathouse … the Fairlight Cove Clean-Up!

The clean-up has been organised and carried out by Fairlight-based community interest company Strandliners. Teams of 6 volunteers have carried out 8 sessions of mammoth rubbish clearing behind the main three rock berms of Fairlight Cove. However, although the rubbish is now  bagged up, there’s the significant problem of getting it all off the beach.

Which is where we’re able to help. Weather permitting, on Sunday 6th September we’ll be launching both our boats to go and pick up the rubbish bags from the cove. Everything will be brought back to the slipway, where it will then be removed by Rother Council.

The plan is that we won’t carry out a training launch on our usual Sunday session at the boathouse. Instead our volunteers will be there slightly later, preparing to launch around noon, to assist with the rubbish clearance. Volunteers are not required to assist, but if anyone wants to stop by and speak to StrandlinersCIC about their work and how to get involved, they will be at the boathouse around noon.

More than a beach clean …

It’s worth pointing out that this beach clearance project has involved a significant amount of time and huge effort by the community volunteers involved in the Strandliners’ clean up. Every piece of debris and rubbish has been counted and sorted before being bagged up for clearance. This is so that firm data on the types, spread and impact of plastic and polystyrene pollution can be gathered. In turn, this data will inform wider conservation and environmental concerns and projects. There is more information on this in the Rye News and on the Strandliners website and social media.

We are very pleased to be able to assist with this community project, and to help preserve our local beaches. Check back for updates and photos of the rubbish retrieval soon!

If you would like to know more about Strandliners please visit www.Strandliners.org or follow on Twitter at info@strandlinerscic.

Image credits: Dee Rampling, thanks to StrandlinersCIC 

Whilst you’re here …

As an independent charity providing rescue services, we are run solely by volunteers.

We receive no government or central funding and have to fundraise every penny needed to buy and maintain our equipment and to pay our considerable running costs.

Since the start of 2020, our running costs have increased to around £10,000 a year.

If you like the work we do and would like to support us, your donation would really be appreciated.

Anything you can spare will help us to help those in danger on our local coastline.

Thank you so much, from the volunteers at Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat.