Over the last two years, more than 1,200 Coast Care volunteers have given over 20,000 hours of their time to help look after our beautiful coastline. To mark their milestone successes, volunteers celebrated with a fish and chip lunch with Coast Care staff and partners.
Aimed at protecting the North Northumberland Coastal area, Coast Care is supported thanks to money raised from National Lottery players through a grant of £522,600 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund
Coast Care has offered over 295 group volunteering activities, which have seen people assisting with practical conservation tasks such as beach cleans and grassland and wildflower management in a number of areas along the coast.
Volunteers have ranged from people who are holidaying in the area, offering to lend a hand for a couple of hours, to corporate companies such as Sainsbury’s Alnwick store sending a team to work on a task for the day. One volunteer has dedicated over 1,100 hours!
A network of 58 voluntary ‘site wardens’ has been established to help look after their ‘patch’ of coastline which involves keeping the area clear of litter, monitoring coastal erosion and reporting any issues which can’t be tackled by themselves.
Cllr Jeff Watson, Chair of the Northumberland Coast AONB Partnership said "This remarkable milestone of Coast Care volunteers having contributed so much time to the conservation and enhancement of this very special place is testament to the pride that local people have in their area. I never cease to be amazed by the effort and energy that people put in to making sure that the wildlife of the Northumberland coast thrives ... We simply couldn't do this without the amazing support of our volunteers."
Coast Care is looking to recruit more volunteers to get involved with the initiative. If you are interested in finding out more or would like to see what volunteering opportunities are coming up please visit www.coast-care.co.uk or contact the team on info@coast-care.co.uk / 07813 563047.
