The healthiest obsession on the planet By Janine Pulford Photos by Louis Pulford and Lee Cooper
If you want to keep fit and healthy and help save the planet at the same time, Roy Beal and Oli Rush would love you to join them on a beach clean. Whether you look upon their work as an obsession or a passion, one thing is for sure, their enthusiasm will rub off on you.
Roy and Oli remove the litter Enthusiastic helpers
It's a long trek to the beach
28 |
4DORSET March 2020
They litter pick along the Jurassic Coast and a kayak comes in handy to help them clear the inaccessible beaches. Whilst picking up litter is not new to either men, working together is a fairly recent partnership. As an eco-minded sea kayaker, Roy has collected plastic and other litter out of the water for many years whilst enjoying his hobby. More recently, he has set up an initiative called Clean Jurassic Coast. “It came about after a chance meeting on the beach with the Jurassic Coast Trust,” he said. “When I explained what I was doing and my perspective of the coast, I was invited to become an ambassador for the Jurassic Coast.” He took up the offer and wanted to do something productive for the natural World Heritage Site. “It started with a beach clean and developed from there,” he said. “I now spend five hours a week cleaning beaches along the Jurassic Coast.” Then along came his ‘wing man', windsurfer and swimmer, Oli Rush, who is just as obsessive about trying to keep the coast clean. They met when Oli, who has been beach cleaning for many years and started Project Planet, went to Chapman’s Pool and had a meltdown when he saw how bad the problem was. Not because people drop litter on the beach, (Chapman’s Pool is a long trek from anywhere), but because the rubbish is swept in from all over the planet on the tide. Chapman’s Pool is a natural collection point with around 99 per cent of the debris being plastic. Oli put out a plea on Instagram for someone with a boat to help him remove the large quantity of plastic, including fishing gear he’d gathered up because it was impossible to walk it out on his own. “I saw the request,” said Roy, “And got in touch.” Since then, they’ve worked together and often meet at Chapman’s Pool to carry out a beach clean. Roy comes from Exmouth and Oli from Poole. Before Storm Ciara hit the Dorset coast, they picked around 81kg of rubbish off the beach with a few willing helpers. A week later the pair were back and picked up a staggering 100kg. Follow 4DORSET MAGAZINE on FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/4Dorsetmagazine
