This article is from page 23 of the 2009-02-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 23 JPG
THE people of Spanish Point and Miltown Malbay came out in force on Sunday to support a local hotel’s initiative to clean up the beach.
Rubber gloves at the ready, and woolly scarves and caps on to keep out the cold, more than 100 people scoured the beach for three skip fulls of rubbish.
Among the unpleasant items col- lected was a large amount of house- hold waste and heavy-duty plastics that seemed to be washed up in the tide.
The sun shone down on the employ- ees and management of the Armada Hotel who, joined by more than 90 volunteers, reclaimed the beach from litter and debris.
Spearheaded by Noralynn Murrihy from the Armada Hotel, the clean-up kicked off at 4pm with young and old braving the cold as they reclaimed the natural beauty of the area.
Within 90 minutes, the beach was restored to its former glory with bags of all forms of rubbish collected.
The hard-working group managed to fill one skip every hour, taking thousands of items of litter and rub- bish off the beach.
This was the first voluntary beach clean-up of the year.
Commenting on the success of the event, Ivan Tuohy, General Manager at the Armada said, “We are very proud of our environment and the fact that our hotel overlooks Span-
ish Point Beach. It’s a privilege to put something back into the community that has supported us so well over the years.”
June Burke Curtin, Guest Relations Manager at the Armada, was also on hand to ensure that all volunteers received complimentary hot drinks and food afterwards at the hotel.
She also expressed her thanks to all the volunteers, the local schools, local media and the Clare County
Council for their support on the day. She said the beach clean-up would now be an annual event.