THE FRIENDS OF TANKERTON BAY

Join us at our 

BEACH CLEAN

Dear Friends,

We had beautiful blue skies yesterday for our April ’25 Beach Clean, but there was still a very chilly, strong easterly breeze making the collecting sacks dance!  Very pleasing to have a total of 32 volunteers out collecting, including two young children and three very welcome first-timer ‘grown ups’, as well as three lovely dogs for their last beach-time assistance before the summer dogs’ restrictions start on 1st May.

Totals:                     Last time:

Beach    29kgs           (30kgs)

Slopes   25kgs           (18kgs)

Total:     54kgs          (48kgs)

Total to date since our first clear in April 2016: 4,282kgs

 

Beach – lots of the usual small pieces of plastic, as well as remnants of fishing / angling gear. Still a great deal of fragments of polystyrene blocks (in from the sea?) and takeaway food boxes, a couple of aluminium food containers, plastic bottles and lots of shredded bits of plastic bags.  Two more rigid plastic oyster farm ‘nets’ and some of their rubber bands, a broken ‘DIY’ paint roller tray, a retractable dog lead, some rubber matting, someone’s frisbee, and a small buoy (taken away to be used!)

 

Most interestingly, a driving licence and a corporate American Express card were found – the Lehman Brothers credit card dating from 2002!  Had they been in the sea that long? Certainly Lehman Brothers went to the wall in 2008, so who knows?  They were destroyed by us for security reasons, and a postcard will be sent to the address on the driving licence, telling the owner that the cards had been found 23 years later on Tankerton Beach!  We hope for a reply – a sort of message-in-a-bottle in reverse!

 

Slopes – still all the usual food / drink packaging and empty bottles and cans – some from around the beach huts and the sailing club, together with pieces of discarded / blown away pieces of beach hut roofing felt.  Little ‘light’ litter on the top of The Slopes – the wind had probably already taken that towards Canterbury!

 

We remain very concerned about the litter and apparent impact of ‘rough sleepers’ in and amongst the trees behind the ‘west end’ beach huts – especially from a public health and general safety point of view.  In particular this is not an area for youngsters to be ‘exploring’ as who knows what they might find!  As has been said before the scale of this really does need much more concerted action by CCC, and not just left to volunteers such as ourselves. Some form of CCC response and then regular monitoring would now actually be very helpful as it is long overdue.      

 

Many thanks to all our helpers, including our Kent County Councillor Neil Baker, and Chestfield Councillor James Flanagan, who are both regular and appreciated volunteers at our Beach Cleans, and also to the Canenco bin collectors, who always have a task ahead of them in clearing our pile of bags away so promptly.

 

Our next Beach Clean will be on Sunday, 4th May – if any of you could bring your own reusable rubbish bags or garden trugs, that will save a few more CCC plastic sacks from being used.  Every little helps!

 

See you on the beach in May!

The Friends of Tankerton Bay

Meet at the Lifeguard Hut on the Beach Front, adjacent to Tankerton West.

An hours energy, well spent for the benefit of the community.

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“Adopt-a-Beach” Scheme and Canterbury City Council Foreshore Services

Meet on the beach at the bottom of Tankerton Slopes, by the NEW White Lifeguard hut

Do come along and join us – all equipment will be provided.

All collecting gear will be provided by Canterbury

City Council.

 For information on beach cleans in general 

go to www.mcsuk.org/beachwatch/

 An hour’s exercise, rosy cheeks, and a clean beach!  You’ll feel better for it!