Volunteers ‘Keep Oban Beautiful’

OBAN is looking more beautiful than ever after volunteers dedicated a weekend to collecting more than 300 bags of rubbish.

Organisers of the town’s first Keep Oban Beautiful weekend have hailed it a huge success, praising the teams of volunteers who put in hours of hard work.

Most of the haul was made up of drink cans, plastic bottles, food wrappers and takeaway containers but other grimy finds included six supermarket trolleys pulled from the Black Lynn, a lawn mower, a hoover, a cycling helmet, fire extinguishers, a pregnancy test and a wallet.

‘While that highlights the hard work put in by a good number of volunteers, it also shows we all have a lot to do to engender more pride in Oban. It may be stating the obvious, but the only reason so many people agreed to give up their weekend to get tired, sore and dirty is that a minority of the population think nothing of dumping their litter wherever it seems convenient,’ said Maurice Wilkins from the Keep Oban Beautiful group.

And he added: ‘We have a huge task in front of us simply to clear the rubbish and eradicate the invasive exotic plants, let alone get the message over that putting rubbish in the bin prevents it sailing out into the ocean, but it will be worth it in the end.

‘We would like to thank the crowd of volunteers of all ages who rallied to the cause.’

Derek Laidler was part of the team from the Saturday morning park run at Ganavan who picked up litter from the beach. He said: ‘People tend to be litter blind until someone says we need to pick it up. That’s when they start noticing it. I hope this weekend will make people do it more. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful place; we need to look after it.’

Adrian Beard was among volunteers clambering up the bank at the back of the Atlantis Leisure centre to clear rubbish. In the first 30 minutes, Mr Beard and helper Frankie Lanos had filled three bin bags.

Volunteers from The Salvation Army swept Stevenson Street tidy and Luize Vinkalne and her mum Mary were litter-picking a footpath at the back of the hospital to Glengallan Road. They found a discarded supermarket trolley and used it to load their rubbish, which included a lawnmower, a hoover and alcohol cans and bottles. Ms Vinkalne said: ‘A lot of what we found could have been recycled if people had been bothered. It’s really sad.’

By the Black Lynn, nineyear-old Emily Macleod and her mum Amanda were among volunteers. The Rockfield Primary School pupil said: ‘I’m helping because I don’t want the litter to go out to sea and make the fish sick.’

A clear-up crew from The Oban Times targeted Lochavullin Road and filled 15 bags of rubbish which included lots of urine-filled drinks bottles thrown into the bushes.

Pensioner Maureen Mair was helping litter-pick along the Black Lynn, a route she walks daily with her dog.

‘I wish more people would pick up litter. Better still, if it’s their litter put it straight into a bin!’

Former Oban In Bloom organiser Andy MacDowell, 85, who was part of the MacQueen Bros team near Glenshellach Industrial Estate, found three bags each full of around a dozen empty Tennents tins. ‘It’s disgusting. Someone had deliberately thrown them onto the roadside. I worry about the mess we are leaving for future generations. We have to stop this and stop it now.’

Ben Lawlor, 12, was out with Oban Youth Forum tackling the footpath which runs from Tesco up a muddy bank to the High Street.

‘I sometimes think about global warming and how we are harming where we live. We need to try and stop pollution,’ he said. The litter-pick was part of the forum’s GIVE idea where young people volunteer in the community in return for activities as a thank you.

Beach cleaners swept their way along the town’s beaches led by marine environmentalist and campaigner Janie Steele who was logging all their finds as part of a survey charting the mountains of waste that end up on the shores.

Oban woman Lee Mckillop was up at the Hydro and collected 21 bin bags of litter - that is more than 90 since the start of this year.

Her litter-busting efforts so far have raised £659.25 in aid of the Sophie North Charitable Trust.

There were lots of others out and about over the weekend doing their bit to keep Oban Beautiful, including Faisal Juwel from Argyll and Bute Council who gave up his weekend chasing around the town picking up people’s bags to fill the skip which he organised at Rockfield Community Centre.

Sally Thomson, Julie Fairbrass, Adele Knox, Derek Laidler and Shadow the dog at Ganavan picking litter after Saturday’s park run.

Above: Litter busters Graham MacQueen, Andy MacDowell, Stuart MacQueen and Donnie MacPhee found bags filled with empty lager cans and a giant traffic cone.

The Oban Times crew made a team effort cleaning up Lochavullin Road. The team included editor Susan Windram, Lesley McKerracher, Kathie Griffiths, Chris Bennett, Andy Bruce and Jack Bruce, 9. Also taking part was Robert McKerracher, not pictured.

Oban Youth Forum members were out with Scott Douglas to clean up the footpath behind Tesco to the High Street.

Left: The Salvation Army team cleaning in Stevenson Street were Jane and Hass Sanie and Mark Sheldrick.

Mary and Luize Vinkalne stashed their litter haul from Glengallan Road near the hospital in an abandoned shopping trolley.

Adrian Beard and Frankie Lanos brave the muddy bank at the back of Atlantis Leisure Centre to clear rubbish.

Dog walker Maureen Mair was out on Saturday and Sunday doing her bit along the Black Lynn to Keep Oban Beautiful.

Lee Mckillop in her Cookie Monster onesie filled 21 bin bags from the Hydro area of town, fundraising for the Sophie North Trust.

Marine environmentalist Janie Steele and volunteers filled buckets and bags of rubbish from Wee Ganavan.