March has been another productive and varied month for Beach Buddies with a strong focus on education, community engagement and regular volunteer efforts across the Island.
School & Youth Engagement
Working with schools continues to be a key part of our mission and this month we reached a wide range of students:
- Year 6 pupils from Manor Park School, Douglas took part in a Beach Buddies presentation followed by both a community clean and a beach clean at Port Grenaugh. Across the sessions, 48 volunteers joined including an impressive 35 new participants.
- Marown School’s Year 3 and Reception classes carried out a clean-up around Peel with 54 volunteers taking part, 23 of them new to Beach Buddies.
- At St John’s School, we delivered a whole-school presentation followed by a community clean involving 90 volunteers including 14 new starters.
- Pupils at Michael School and both infant and junior assemblies at Scoill yn Jubilee also received Beach Buddies presentations.
- Peel Clothworkers School saw multiple year groups get involved from Reception pupils carrying out a school clean to Year 5 students combining a presentation with a clean at Fenella Beach and the surrounding castle area.
It’s encouraging to see such strong enthusiasm from young people with many experiencing their first clean-up activity.
Community Events & Outreach
March also included a range of talks, partnerships and special events:
- A presentation was delivered at St Anthony’s Church in Onchan.
- We were invited to attend a tour of Rebecca House.
- Beach Buddies joined the launch of Ramsey Health Station.
- We met representatives from the Isle of Man Government’s Blue Carbon Project.
- Home-educated students not only took part in a Douglas beach clean (19 volunteers, 8 new) but also created artwork celebrating ocean life, highlighting the creative side of environmental awareness.
Regular Volunteer Cleans
Our weekly clean ups remain a cornerstone of Beach Buddies activity:
- Port Erin weekly clean attracted 46 volunteers including 4 new participants.
- Niarbyl weekly clean saw 38 volunteers with 5 new faces joining.
- A smaller but valuable effort took place in Ballaugh on World Clean-Up Day with 5 volunteers contributing.
These consistent efforts play a vital role in maintaining cleaner coastlines week after week.
Overall Impact
Across all activities in March Beach Buddies engaged hundreds of volunteers with a significant number of new participants getting involved for the first time. From school programmes to community cleans the continued growth in participation reflects a strong and growing commitment to protecting the Island’s environment.
1360Kg of rubbish collected in March has been deposited at the Energy from Waste plant excluding materials separated for recycling such as glass, cans, plastics and metals.
Looking Ahead
With the momentum continuing to build, we look forward to expanding our work further in the coming month, reaching more schools, welcoming new volunteers and continuing to make a visible difference around our coastline.
Our upcoming events can be found here.
A big thank you to everyone who contributed in March, your support truly keeps Beach Buddies moving forward.
