How I bagged a fiance on my beach clean!

WHEN Catherine Gemmell was searching a beach for plastic waste, little did she suspect that she’d end up find something more elusive: love.

Four years ago, she was organising a seaside litter-pick in Edinburgh through her job with the Marine Conservation Society. As the event loomed, she made contact with Keep Scotland Beautiful (the Scottish version of Keep Britain Tidy) and started talking to its beach representative at the time, John Simpson, 28.

‘We got on rather well so we decided to organise a “meeting” outside of work, ostensibly to run through logistics for the event,’ says Catherine, 30. ‘That turned out to be our first date. Our second date was dinner, and our third date was the clean itself!’

Their relationship has blossomed over a sequence of beach-cleans. ‘There’s no doubt we’ve got litter in common,’ says Catherine. ‘It is a shared obsession for both of us.’

And four years to the day after their first beach clean together, John got down on one knee to ask Catherine to marry him. To her delight, he produced a ring crafted around a piece of green sea glass picked up on one of their litter-picks.

Their wedding is planned for spring 2021 and Catherine is convinced the beach will play a part in their big day.

She says: ‘I love sharing our story of how we met with friends and colleagues who find it hilarious that beach cleaning brought us together.

‘When I’m persuading volunteers to get involved I tell them they won’t only be saving the sea, they might meet the love of their life. I certainly did.’