Morecambe Outdoor Market

[Daniel]

If any groups in the Lancaster, Morecambe, Heysham, Carnforth to Silverdale area covered by Lancaster City Council wish to borrow equipment for a cleanup on Beaches, Parks or Cycle Paths etc then click on the link for details

The public realm dept at Lancaster City Council will provide litter picking equipment to groups and individuals who are dedicated to tidying up the Beach, Parks or elsewhere. Contact by email. Publi...@Lancaster.gov.uk

Marine Conservation Society do Beach Cleans, mainly at Half Moon Bay, Heysham. The amount and type of litter and plastic is logged scientifically. @MCSLancs on twitter also @MCSUK Marine Conservation Society

if there are any Issues concerning the beaches of Morecambe, Heysham and Silverdale etc then contact Lanncaster City Council switchboard and give the details. I have always found them to be very helpful Lancaster City Council Website

The Great British Spring Clean is a campaign with a simple aim: to bring people across the country together to clear up the litter that blights our towns, villages, countryside and beaches.

A staple of all beach clean calendars, the Big Spring Beach Clean is hugely impactful, inclusive and above all else, fun. It is the standard by which all other beach clean projects are measured, thanks to YOU! For more information or to get involved, please email Jack on beach...@sas.org.uk.

Love my Beach, Morecambe Bay PartnershipMainly Fylde and Barrow up to Silloth. Can be seen on local Middleton Sands and Bolton le Sands. Check calendar for organised events, usually something on most days. They do a lot on Twitter and Facebook to promote a wide range of things which impact on the Beach and Marine Environment. They usually have a stall at local events in Morecambe and Heysham with lots of information leaflets. @lovemyBeachMBP AND @LoveMyBeach_NW

There is a big calendar of events. The local group @MCSLancs do Beach Cleans and also have a calendar of meetings. The last beach cleans were Dec 2017 and March 2018 at Half Moon Bay, Heysham. The ones in the next few months locally are Formby and Whitehaven but keep an eye on the local Facebook in case of others

There is a Beach Clean Board provided by Love My Beach, Morecambe Bay which is put our by the Clock Tower Cafe when it is open. Can you recycle your supermarket bags by putting them in the aparture on the board so that they can be re-used for litter pick ups. A couple of litter picking sticks are available on the board.

You can volunteer and tidy up any part of any beach yourself. There are many volunteers who tidy areas of Beaches from Bolton le Sands to Middleton Beach on a regular basis including the Trumacar Tigers from Trumacar Primary.

Finally, the Council has a beach tractor with an attachment for picking up litter and it is deployed on a regular basis on the sandy area. Amie, the driver, does a comprehensive clean on the beaches from Thornton Road where the boats are to the West End.

Who? You might ask. Wayne and his dog Koda are travelling 6000 miles around the Coast of Britain and picking up litter as they o along. They rely on donations and the kindess of strangers for accommodation.

If anything, as far as I can see, the public frenzy is only just starting with many people voting with their feet and seeking alternative suppliers such as local greengrocers, milk in bottles, bakers, butchers and fishmongers. Some of the town markets and farm shops have see an increase in enquires about plastic free produce and are sourcing paper bags for the customers.

If I call into Morrisons, Sainsbury and Asda etc., it is only for basic essentials now. I try to get supplies from anywhere I can and it is a measure of the current situation that I was excited about the purchase of a loaf of bread from a the Post Office Shop and Cafe in Beetham, near Milnthorpe. It looked tasty and was supplied in a paper bag. It tastes fantastic.

The supermarkets are bogged down in supplier contracts etc. Just imagine a farm with an expensive machine costing 100,000 or more with the pickers sat along a boom on either side, all the mechanism is geared to popping stuff in plastic bags, either there or in a farm building, so it will take time to make changes.

So without visiting them it is difficult to say as to what extent they are Plastic Free. However, I did a blog of the same for Lancaster and Morecambe and if you take some bags and containers with you then you may have some luck.

Countrystyle Foods at Lancaster Leisure Park, Lancaster. Free Parking, toilets and level for wheelchairs & baby buggies. A lot of loose Fruit and Veg. There are plastic bags available but if you are going plastic free you will be taking your own anyway. You can take a container for your cheese and they will wrap in paper. An abundance of Deli items in glass bottles so just have a look around and see what appeals. @Countrystyle18 on Twitter

Let me explain. I needed bread, milk and was thinking of buying loose tea so I needed some sort of sieve for the tea leaves. We all sleep-walked into the plastic teabags situation and loose tea is the way to go.

Firstly, before buying the loose tea, a visit to Morecambe Festival Market. There are a couple of the traditional stalls selling everything you might need for the kitchen. I found a circular gadget for the loose tea for 3.

Into Morrisons (free 3 hour parking) opposite the Market then, for bread. I looked at the vegetables as I passed by and they looked about 30% plastic free, but of course you then pull a plastic bag from a roll to weigh them. Morecambe market has a stall of locally sourced vegetables and will tip them into your bag without plastic so I will be going there in future.

So, went to the Morecambe Festival Market on Sunday as there is a good veg man who also does the street market in Lancaster. His stall is on the Winter Gardens side, outdoors. Have shopped here before. Maybe this would be better than a supermarket with regard to plastic.

Wet wipes are often flushed down the toilet along with cotton buds and we assume that the sewerage Works filter them out. If there was flooding, then perhaps they are flushed out of there or maybe there is some other reason why so many have been found on the beach this week and Morecambe is normally free from a lot of sea plastic.

There are areas where the tide leaves a pile of plastic and various organisations locally such as Marine Conservation Lancs, @MSCLancs, Lancaster City Council, Lots of volunteers, Morecambe Bay Partnership @lovemybeachmbp and a school at Trumacar in Heysham all have helped around the coast of Morecambe Bay.

I started a publication on Twitter called Plastic Pollution Daily using Paper Li. On Twitter Twitter link of Chris Coates This collects relevant articles about Plastic Pollution and puts them into an online newspaper.

If you intend to do more than pick up a few items while out walking the dog etc., then its a good idea to have a couple of plastic bags inside a long-life supermarket bag so the the litter does not blow away, also take gloves. One of the bags is for plastic bottles, glass bottles and cans.

There are four sets of recycling bins along Morecambe Promenade for plastic bottles, glass bottles and cans. 1) Lifeboat Station 2) Cenotaph 3) Near Regent Road in the West End and near the Beach Cafe at the Battery. If you pick up cans or plastic is is up to you whether you use a normal council bin or pop them into your own recycle bins. There are plenty of bins for other items.

All beaches need to be tided between tractor cleans, and where the tractor does not go. There are individual people who tidy up the range of beaches, council workers, groups such as the Trumacar Tigers and some organised groups such as Love My Beach of the Morecambe Bay Partnership who did a beach clean at Middleton recently. The Marine Conservation Society did an organised beach clean of Half Moon Bay at the beginning of December 2017, Families involved in #PebbleArt have mentioned that they are helping by picking up litter.

Local volunteers help on an occasional basis. Douggie tidies up round Bare Village. Chris tidies from the Strathmore to West End and sometimes Half Moon Bay and Bay Cottage Beaches and another person helps Chris occasionally. Dawn tidies up Middleton beach regularly. The Pattinsons tidy up around Half Moon Bay and the Heysham Headland. There is a chap who cleans Sandylands beach

Many of the beaches have rocky areas, do not climb onto rocks which can be slippery. Also keep on the sand and do not go on any muddy areas. Someone was stuck in mud near the boats last year, only a few feet from the sand.

There are possibly important areas I have missed but whether you adopt an area, or work through the list, then anything helps. I did a beach clean at the Half Moon Bay beach recently and could only fill half an Asda bag of tidal and other litter so we are not talking about bin bag sized litter problems.

Any beach tidying shows people and visitors that we are proud of where we live and that we will take steps to help everyone enjoy the scenery we all love. When people take photos we see on social media they will not include tin cans in the picture.

The Ashley is perfectly placed to visit many local attractions and areas of outstanding beauty, from the Lake District to the Trough of Bowland, the beautiful historic village of Kirkby Lonsdale where you will find 'Ruskin's View', the genteel Grange-over-Sands and Heysham village to name but a few.

To the north attractions include Carnforth Railway Station, Leighton Hall and Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve and the Lakeland Wildlife Oasis and to the south of the district the Ruskin Library and the Peter Scott Gallery at Lancaster University. Make time for a drive through the beautiful Lune Valley and visit the Bridge House Farm Tea Rooms at Wray or, for the children, Docker Park Farm.

Visit the historic city of Lancaster, a 15 minute car journey and easily reached by bus or train - see the Maritime Museum, the City Museum, the Judges' Lodgings and the Castle as well as the Lancaster Priory and Williamson's Park. Or enjoy a walk or cycle ride along the River Lune. For the shoppers amongst you, Lancaster has many high-street names, indoor and outdoor markets, and a selection of speciality shops.

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