Mawgan Porth is the closest beach to where I live so another favourite of mine as well as my families favourite when they come down in the summer and yesterday when I arrived the beach was a mess. Wooden decking all over the entrance to the beach, the wall that separates the beach and the road collapsed and the road covered in debris and sand.
Rubbish bins have been ripped open and strewn across the village, rocks carried by the surging tide littered everywhere and the road and pavement coated in sand.
It was shocking just how far up the road the sea had carried all the debris with piles of seaweed and high banks of the sand blocking half the road.
The beach didn't look that much better either with more wooden decking, fishing crates and even a porta loo broken on the beach.
However much damage the sea had thrown at this village the community sprung into action to clean up. With the help of two tractors to clear the road and an army of helpers in the short amount of time I was in Mawgan Porth the community were already pulling together to tidy up.
Men with shovels load up the sand and debris into the tractor to return the village back to it's former glory.
Another team of locals start making light work of the entrance to the beach breaking up the decking and granting access back safely onto the beach.
It wasn't just the boys helping with the beach clean, women and children were also getting involved to clean up their beautiful beach. What I was witnessing was totally humbling a community pulling together and working together to tidy up the beach and the village. I've previously taken part in organised beach cleans but this wasn't a facebook group nor was it arranged by local group surfers against sewage. These people were out in force just a few hours after the tide started to reseed and were really doing a wonderful job.
You don't need to be a part of an organisation or turn up on a certain day if everyone that visits the beach to walk the dog, or just enjoy some fresh air picks up one bit of rubbish whilst on the beach we will have the beaches clean in no time. With several more storm swells forecast and lots more rain predicted I don't think this will be the last clean up on the Cornish coast. Next time you visit the coast in Cornwall pop a carrier bag in your pocket and if you see any rubbish please pick it up and help out the local communities that put in so much hard work to enable us to enjoy the beaches when we visit.
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