A group of Sea Cadets discovered and disposed of nearly 20 bags worth of litter during a mission to clean up their local beach.
Members of the Dunbar Sea Cadet unit took to the seaside at Pease Bay Beach on Saturday, 22 May, 2021 in one of their first community events of the year.
The Cadets, aged 10-18, joined Cadet Force Adult Volunteers (CFAVs) to collect litter during the tidy-up at the beach in the Scottish Borders, a bay situated at Verdant Leisure Park and close to the border with East Lothian as well as Cockburnspath, Cove and Dunglass.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the environmental expedition was the first opportunity the Dunbar unit had got to say thank you to Verdant Leisure Park CEO Graham Hodgson, who donated 60 high visibility vests to the youth organisation.
Dunbar Sea Cadets Commanding Officer and CFAV, Chief Petty Officer Martin Galloway, said:
The Sea Cadets have been involved with this beach clean in partnership with the Pease Bay Leisure Park. The company that donated our high visibility jackets - Verdant Leisure – who own the park, donated them free of charge so as a thank you we decided to do a beach clean on one of their parks.
Every year we look to do as many community events as we can to make an environmental impact and to make a difference.
The donation of vests will allow the unit’s Cadets and volunteers to feel safer when carrying out activities. Each year the Sea Cadets aim to achieve 1,290 hours of boating for Cadets and at times have to walk the boats down to the harbour, which includes travelling on busy roads. This extra added protection will allow them to keep all personnel safe and be seen.
Having recently joined Keep Scotland Beautiful - a charity which aims to improve Scotland’s environment, combat climate change, tackle litter and waste - Dunbar Sea Cadets are continuously on the lookout to find new ways of protecting the sea and their local environment.
Cadet Hannah said: We are doing a beach clean by picking up all the litter as we want to help the environment. We can all do something to help, even by just not dropping our rubbish and letting it go into the sea.
Cadet Natalie said: I’m currently completing my The Duke of Edinburgh's Award and I’ve been litter picking for that. I heard about this litter picking event today and I knew I needed to come down and help. There are lots of volunteers who have come down to help too.