Strandliners was thrilled to be able to continue the work of Rother Voluntary Action’s ‘Clean Seas Please’ project in Bexhill, providing a boost to its expanding activity and commitment to environmental protection. The Clean Seas Please website shows an archive of their work.
Our experience involving pollution monitoring and surveying along the coast was invaluable for the work of Clean Seas Please with Bexhill communities and businesses.
This collaboration was an exciting opportunity to partner with other ecological and community groups, working together to discover and raise awareness about Rother district’s amazing coastal environment.
Schools Project
The Clean Seas Please team delivered a programme for Year 5 children in three primary schools in Bexhill, with sessions in school, looking at the problem of plastic pollution in the marine environment, and what happens when the wrong items are flushed down the toilet. The Clean Seas Please message was also delivered to the whole school during assembly. These sessions were followed by mornings on the beach, encouraging children to learn about their local marine environment.
Community Events
The team has also been working with Transition Town Hastings and Wonderfill (a refill shop in St Leonards) on a project called #BeyondTheBeachClean in a series of ‘long-game’ conversations about our problems with plastic. We held a community screening of award-winning film, The Story of Plastic, which provoked a huge response. We are continuing this project with a brand audit at the Common Room in Hastings.
Local Businesses
The Clean Seas Please team has also been working with local plumbers, carrying out surveys to establish the most commonly occurring drainage and connection problems they encounter.
Past Events
Do you use the sea or visit the beach often?
Can we tell if the sea is clean?
Do you want to be part of a network protecting our marine environment?
Following our Community Action Team training in 2019, supported by Sea-Changers and United Nations Association – Climate & Oceans we presented an updated opportunity to gain skills, take action & raise awareness through a series of workshops, including: identification, recording, mismanaged waste (litter!), sewage related issues (the unflushables!).
These were followed by practical sessions on the beach, during which time we led volunteers through a Marine Conservation Society Survey.
Meet the Team
As an introduction we arranged “meet the team” events on Bexhill beaches, so that everyone to visit and discover more about the Clean Seas Please project.
Great British Beach Clean
We also ran some beach cleans/surveys for the Marine Conservation Society at Rock-a-Nore, Hastings and Galley Hill, Bexhill, as part of the Great British Beach Clean
If you wish to be kept up to date with events along the Bexhill coastline (and the Rother area), you can subscribe to the monthly news sheet here.
Cleaner Rivers, Cleaner Seas 