A taskforce of determined volunteers has braved wintry conditions to clean up one of Co Down’s most notorious litter eyesores.

As part of the Belfast Telegraph’s Big Clean-Up campaign we joined forces with a team of locals and staff from the Volunteer Development Agency to tackle the shore at Ardglass.

There we found a shocking array of rubbish, much of it swept in on the tide — fishing boxes, net, plastic bags, endless food and drink bottles and at least 100 of the distinctive blue gloves used by fishermen. We even found an oil drum and a pair of fisherman’s overalls.

The worst thing is that much of this waste is unnecessary — so many of the things we found could well have been reused.

Green Party councillor Cadogan Enright said Ardglass is one of the few places on the Co Down coast where you can see distinctive blue drifts of fishermen’s gloves.

“There’s overwhelming evidence of negligent behaviour by some people who are engaged within the fishing trade in the town,” he said.

“On one occasion we collected 450 gloves, on another there were almost 1,000.

“Today we had another hundred gloves and we always gather fishing boxes down here. We find black bags full of rubbish — people have gone to a lot of trouble to fill a black bag with rubbish and toss it off the boat when they are coming into harbour.

“It’s almost industrial scale rubbish around this piece of coastline — this morning we got half a skip load here and in the past we’ve had more than that.

“The Young Greens have been involved in cleaning up this beach and Lecale Conservation Society would clean here, Killough and Rossglass, but it’s not too long before it’s back again. It’s only two months since the last clean-up.

“Because the blue gloves all weigh the same they all end up in the same place — you find the gloves in drifts the same way as you find seaweed drifting.

“It’s the only place on the coast where you can find these drifts of gloves created by the action of the tide on the weight of the rubbish.”

Cadogan was helped by his three-year-old son Cadog, one of many young volunteers who help their parents to carry out regular beach cleans along the Co Down coast. “More and more people are interested in finding out how this rubbish gets here,” Cadogan said.

“The harbour authorities say they put fishing crews through environmental training courses but there is no point in people coming to clean it week after week if they keep throwing the rubbish overboard.”

Fidelma Glass, marketing manager with Volunteer Development Agency, said it was great to get out of the office to get involved in something that is going to make a difference to the community.

“Our volunteering here today has not only given us the chance to link with some of the organisations our work supports, but also the time to engage in some valuable teambuilding,” she said.

“Staff from different project teams have been able to link with some new staff outside the office environment to take part in the clean-up whilst getting to know each other a little better as well as gaining a greater understanding about volunteering and why people get involved.

“I would encourage more organisations to think about supporting their staff to volunteer in activities such as the beach clean. Employer supported volunteering has been shown to provide significant community impact, employee development opportunities and corporate profile among many other benefits.”

Down District Council said it is obliged to clean beaches between April 1 and September 30, but is not resourced to carry out general cleansing of beaches outside these times.

But the council supplied gloves and litter picking equipment so that our volunteers could tackle Ardglass. The council says it will try, resources permitting, to respond to specific complaints and will always deal with any issues drawn to its attention by Environmental Health. “Down District Council is, however, very eager to help and assist local community groups who may wish to carry out a beach clean-up,” Canice O'Rourke, director of environmental services, said.

“As and when a group makes contact, the council will happily supply bags, litter pickers, fluorescent vests and similar equipment, take away any waste and rubbish gathered, and often help out on the day.

“Down District Council recently participated in such an event with Lecale Conservation Group to clean up Rossglass Beach, which of course highlights one of the real problems with keeping beaches clean during winter — the beach can be clean one day, and following a winter high tide, be entirely dirty the next.”

10 eyesores cleaned up, but the job’s not over

The Belfast Telegraph is pledging to step up its campaign to tackle litter hotspots throughout this coming year.

With our Big Clean-Up campaign we want to get the ‘grot spots’ that blight our towns and countryside cleared up.

We’ve already cleared up 10 filthy sites ranging from a neglected woodland in Poleglass to litter-strewn beaches on the Co Down coast, and have won the backing of Environment Minister Edwin Poots for our Big Clean-Up.

We’ve joined forces with Tidy NI, Conservation Volunteers NI, the Volunteer Development Agency, the Greater Village Regeneration Trust and Lecale Conservation Society to tackle some of the worst local eyesores and highlighted the work being done by a small army of determined volunteers across Northern Ireland to clear up ugly fly-tipping, including Belfast Royal Academy, the Ulster Unionist Party, the Prince’s Trust, WWF and Tidy Craigavon.

Meanwhile, members of the public have got in touch to let us know about eyesores that need to be tackled. If you’re planning a clean-up, let us know by contacting us at bigcleanup@belfasttelegraph.co.uk .