Rescued surfer helps to make the shore spotless
A SURFER who spent 32 hours clinging to his board in May after he was carried out to sea by strong winds and the tide off Westport beach returned to Kintyre for a beach clean.
Matthew Bryce, from Airdrie, joined a beach clean organised by Machrihanish’s Christie Middleton, who is a Scottish representative for Surfers Against Sewage (SAS).
Mr Bryce made headlines on Monday night’s BBC news and in daily papers, on Tuesday, which reported his rerturn to surfing at a training centre in Snowdonia North Wales.
A group of surfers, named Strath Surf, from Glasgow’s Strathclyde University, chanced upon the clean and added their efforts to the army of volunteers determined to make Machrihanish beach sparkle.
The November event, postponed from earlier in the autumn, was one of more than 350 across the country organised by SAS.
Christie said: ‘SAS tries to encourage people to cut out single-use plastics as they are extremely damaging to our planet, oceans and wildlife.
‘We collected a lot of rubbish on the day, and it was mainly plastics.’
The Campbeltown Co-op attended and donated hot rolls, pies, teas and coffees for everyone after the clean. They also took away the rubbish and sorted out the recyclables from the rubbish.
Christie said: ‘The Co-op was an amazing help. Thanks to Colin Middleton, Donna Graham and Dylan Brown.’
Christie added: ‘Argyll and Bute Council needs to have a regular uplift of the bins over Machrihanish beach.
‘I have been complaining for more than six weeks now that the bins are full and people started to leave rubbish around them, so during the beach clean we lifted all the rubbish that was left out of bins.
‘After five complaints there has still been no uplift! After the beach clean the high winds blew the bins open again and the rubbish is littering the beach once more – after our hard work.’