Barefoot Wine and Ben Fogle are leading the way in a campaign to keep Britain’s beaches ‘barefoot friendly’ in 2013 and on Saturday 31st August, volunteers are encouraged to roll up their sleeves to clean South Bay beach.
The national Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project, now in its sixth year, kicks off in May and continues throughout spring and summer with environmentalist and adventurer Ben Fogle as ambassador.
Robert Goodwill said: It is a great project to encourage the community to get together to help to clean the beaches and also to promote the public awareness of marine litter. We have got one of the most beautiful beaches in North Yorkshire and I hope people will be able to come out on Saturday 31st August and support this project.
Barefoot Wine has teamed up with environmental charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) to encourage volunteers to join the coastal clean. After collecting a Barefoot Wine/SAS t-shirt and any necessary kit, volunteers will spend an afternoon collecting litter along their local beach, and end the day with a celebratory glass of Barefoot Wine.
Ben Fogle, who also led the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project in 2012, commented: “I’ve been involved in environmental issues for years and I’m passionate about the outdoors. A seemingly clean beach can actually have huge amounts of litter and rubbish just hidden beneath the surface, it’s a bit like sweeping rubbish under the carpet. The Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project makes tackling environmental issues fun and an activity that everyone can get involved with.”
“The 2012 Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project saw over 3 tonnes of litter collected from the UK’s coastline, including a sawn off shot gun, old signage and lots of tin cans! A staggering 10 tonnes of litter has been removed from our coastline since the campaign begun and I’m excited about building on this success and encouraging even more people to get involved.”
The beach provides a fantastic day out for everyone but currently there are almost 2,000 items of marine litter for every km of the UK’s beaches. Marine litter can devastate our beaches and severely affect our enjoyment of these beautiful places. The majority of beach users rank cleanliness as a priority in choosing their destination and a 2005 ENCAMS study showed that 97% of people avoided beaches with 10, or more, large litter items per metre.
“Barefoot Wine is very proud to be working with Ben Fogle for what’s set to be another exciting year of the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project”, said Barefoot Wine Marketing Manager, Yona Ellis “Ben Fogle is the ideal ambassador to raise awareness of our coastline and inspire people to make the UK’s beaches ‘barefoot friendly’ for future generations and beyond. We are pleased to be working with Surfers Against Sewage for the sixth year in a row and all our Barefooters are looking forward to helping out at the clean ups and serving volunteers a well deserved glass of Barefoot Wine!”
For more information about the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project 2013 and for the full list of beach clean dates and locations, please visit www.barefootwine.co.uk
In addition to the ‘barefoot friendly’ beach clean tour, Barefoot Wine supports a range of community events, charity fundraisers, music festivals and sporting events. Since 2005, Barefoot Wine has supported over 3,000 charities around the world.
For further information: Alex Messis – 07716 503 051- [email protected]
Location:
31st August 2013
Meeting Point: South Bay, Scarborough YO11 1NU.
Clean up: 2.00 pm - 4.00pm
Celebration 4.00 pm - 5.00pm