Following a massive clean-up operation by almost 200 local children, six beaches along the Antrim Coast are now much more attractive for visitors and local residents. And the message from the children, who came from 12 local community/youth groups, schools, churches, scouts, is simple: “Keep our beaches clean!”
The Beach Clean operation, organised by the Community Policing Team of Larne PSNI and sponsored by P&O Irish Sea and the Port of Larne, saw a massive 735 bags of rubbish collected from the beaches. In addition to the expected plastic bottles, drinks cans, food containers, other items collected included bicycles, wheelie bins, satellite dishes and 51 car tyres.
Sergeant John Stewart of the Community Policing Team explains: “The children worked exceptionally hard on Saturday and made a real difference to the beaches. It would be a real shame to see this effort wasted by people discarding their rubbish the next time they are on the beaches. So on behalf of the children, I would echo their sentiments by appealing to the general public to keep the beaches clean!”
As well as the benefit to the environment, the children had an additional incentive to collect as much rubbish as possible as the Port of Larne and P&O Irish Sea provided prizes to the 4 groups who collected the most rubbish.
As Sharon Toner, Communications Manager, P&O Irish Sea pointed out: “P&O Irish Sea and the Port of Larne have a strong commitment to the safeguard and protection of the environment. We were delighted to get involved in the beach clean and would like to congratulate all the children who made such a tremendous effort.”
The team who collected the most rubbish was Larne Grammar School who received a cheque for £500 from the Port of Larne. Ballycarrey Youth Club, Linn Road Youth Group and Seacourt Community Group were runner-ups and each received 20 free crossings to Scotland courtesy of P&O Irish Sea.
The beaches which benefited from this tremendous effort were Brown’s Bay, Ferris Bay, Sandy Bay, Drain’s Bay, Carnfunnock and Ballygally.