Irvine Sea Cadets and community members joined the Scottish Maritime Museum and Irvine Clean Up Crew for the first Community Clean Up on Saturday (7 August).

The group of over 45 people of different ages helped get Irvine Harbourside shipshape before enjoying a talk with Alan Hughes, Co-founder of Irvine Clean Up Crew, and Veronika Leibscher, the Crew’s Recycling Co-ordinator.

Chatting with everyone in the Museum’s Education Room on Harbour Road, Alan talked about how Irvine Clean Up Crew came together and Veronika gave everyone the inside track on recycling and sustainability.

The Scottish Maritime Museum and Irvine Clean Up Crew now invites adults to come along to the next event which will be a Waterways Community Clean Up at 11am on Saturday 4 September.

Nicola Scott, Exhibitions and Events Officer at the Scottish Maritime Museum explains:

Joining in the Community Clean Up in September will be a fantastic opportunity for everyone to have some fun, meet new people and make a difference.

“Whilst this event will not be suitable for children, because we will be cleaning up the waterways, we will have a children’s crafting workshop in the Museum so kids can make their own puppet out of recycled materials to bring along to the STORM Walk in October.”

Suitable for all ages, the September Community Clean Up event, which will also be attended by Irvine Sea Cadets and the Rubbish Paddlers, will combine a litter pick beginning at 11am and an environmental talk at 12.30pm. All bags, gloves and litter pickers will be provided.

Everyone taking part will also leave, once again, with a free admission ticket for the Scottish Maritime Museum!

The Irvine waterways clean up will be followed by a Making a Splash Fighting Pollution talk by Rubbish Paddlers which was established during lockdown to help clean up Ayrshire’s waterways removing litter from the rivers by kayak.

The hour long children’s crafting sessions will take place in the Museum and begin at 11.15am and 2.15pm.

The two Community Clean Ups will culminate in a celebratory walk with the giant puppet STORM at 12noon on Saturday 2nd October.

Meeting at the Coastwatch Scotland Unit on Irvine Beach Park, everyone will walk with the giant, ten metre tall puppet STORM, a sea goddess created entirely of recycled and natural material by Vision Mechanics.

All events are also part of the national Climate Fringe Week (18 – 26 September), which celebrates and supports all the ways in which everyone can engage in caring for the environment.

For updates on the Community Summer Clean up events and celebration visit www.scottishmaritimemuseum.org or follow the Scottish Maritime Museum’s social media.

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Issued on behalf of the Scottish Maritime Museum by

Joanna Harrison, Mobile: 07884 187404.