Fifteen Intrepid Volunteers who turned up in the rain

Gordon Bell and Jim Hope dragged loads of abandoned rope out of the harbour

Sheila Guthrie rescued an empty glass ‘Buckie’ from the beach – one of the few that wasn’t smashed

The Annual St Monans Community Council Beach Clean 2011

The St Monans West Pier car park rendezvous on Sunday the 8th of May was wet; very wet! As the rain poured down we realised that 12noon would probably not yield a good turn out of volunteers for the annual St Monans Community Council Beach Clean. SO we actually felt quite blessed when 16 intrepid souls, and one dog, were assembled at 12minutes past noon….as it was still raining with obvious determination.

However by the time everyone from 4 to 78 years was blue-gloved, handed their litter-pick & black bin bag ~ and some had donned bright yellow,

‘Keep Scotland Tidy’ bibs (and tuck was promised for all on return to base!) – the rain magically stopped.

During the next three, almost rain-free hours, we had help from 38 people and managed to clean St Monans Harbour, and all the beaches to the west; including those at the Auld Kirk and Newark Castle.

Young and old were grateful for the promised snacks and refreshments that awaited after so much hard work. St Monans Community Council members would like to thank everyone who turned up to help make our village ready for summer. Our thanks also to Pam, Ruth and Win who held out in very cold conditions to provide the very welcome hot drinks and other goodies that we all enjoyed on our return. As always we would also like to thank local farmer John Thomson of Newark Farm who spent the afternoon taking tractor loads of flotsam and jetsam to the skip for us.

The most far-travelled, identifiable item recovered from a St Monans beach this year was a large, yellow plastic fish box from the Shetland Isles – which has now been recycled as a garden plant holder!