Clear message over pre-Loopallu Ullapool beach clean!
ULLAPOOL’S seafront beach is to be given a major makeover ahead of an influx of revellers to the village’s Loopallu annual music festival, being held next weekend.
And a giant message along almost the entire sea wall, proclaiming “This is for our own good”, leaves no doubt that everyone is benefitting from the project.
The idea of a major clean-up for the beach has come from Scottish Wildlife Trust’s living seas officer Noel Hawkins and Marine Conservation Society’s “Sea Champion” Laura Shirra, both based in Ullapool, who agreed to combine the two organisations’ resources to smarten up the seafront.
In addition, artists Fin Macrae and Al MacInnes – better known as DUFI-ART – sprayed their chalk message along the Shore Street seawall, playfully suggesting a message that parents might give a child when advising them what they have to do, at the same time encouraging people to visit and appreciate Ullapool – for their own good.
Said Noel: “Cutbacks at the Highland Council have meant that our beach doesn’t get cleaned as often as it used to, and it is thanks to Ullapool Harbour Trust that it has been cleaned at all recently.
“It is disappointing that the first thing people generally see coming into Ullapool isn’t prioritised for cleaning and can get a bit messy at times. “First impressions always count and if visitors are welcomed by a messy beach it doesn’t reflect well on the village.
“Polystyrene, twine, plastic bags and general rubbish accumulate on all our beaches and not only look bad but pose a serious threat to people and children wanting to visit and play on the shore, as well as being potentially fatal to wildlife which can become entangled in rubbish or try to ingest it and choke.
“We decided to try and encourage local volunteers into taking matters into our own hands and have set up a community beach to attempt to remove what we can.
“If everyone were to get into the habit of taking away even just one piece of rubbish every time they visit and walk on the beach, we could have a huge impact on the litter around our coast and maybe make the shore a cleaner and healthier.”
The beach clean is scheduled for noon tomorrow (Saturday, September 19), starting at Ullapool Harbour, surveying the litter from the first 100 metres between Ullapool Harbour and the jetty to the east, then continuing along the rest of the sea front as far as the number of volunteers are able and willing to continue.
It is hoped that this will be the first of a number of similar cleans at Loch Broom, Coigach and Assynt to the north.
Volunteers wishing to take part can sign up at the Marine Conservation Society website www.mcsuk.org.
