Hosted by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust at the brilliant and sustainable Bedruthan Hotel and Spa, the day was made possible thanks to the Your Shore Beach Rangers Project which is funded from the Big Lottery Fund’s Our Bright Future movement. The Your Shore Beach Rangers Project, a partnership project between Cornwall Wildlife Trust and Cornwall College Newquay, hopes to extend this amazing network of local marine groups and volunteers in Cornwall by reaching new communities and people. It will also provide fantastic opportunities for young people aged 16 – 24 to become more involved in marine conservation as well as develop employability skills within a marine environment context.

Cornwall is unique in having a thriving network of dedicated local marine volunteer groups around its coastline who look after and shout about their fantastic marine life. The Your Shore conference is a chance for Cornwall Wildlife Trust to thank all of these groups and individuals for all that they are doing for Cornwall’s marine environment. The achievements of all of the groups from 2016 were remarkable. They ranged from the success of Rame Peninsula Beach Care in removing one million plastic nurdles from a single beach, a number of surveys to help monitor local wildlife and the fantastic Festival of the Sea that was organised by volunteers from the Looe Marine Conservation Group. And what an inspiring end to the day as we heard about major breakthroughs in combating the marine litter issue thanks to volunteers from all across Cornwall that have come together to form the Cornish Plastic Pollution Coalition.

The day was full of brilliant speakers who shared their ideas and inspiration on how we can work together to make a difference and protect our marine environment in Cornwall. There were inspiring accounts of some fantastic projects for local groups and volunteers to get involved in such as The Great Eggcase Hunt with The Shark Trust and the ReFILL scheme that hopes to combat the single use plastic problem.

To find out more please contact nat.gibb@cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk or call 07973728804. Or follow the project on Facebook and twitter @beachrangers or instagram: @beach_rangers