A fundraiser has been launched as a thank you to the council beach cleaner caught on camera as he battled against a tide of litter at Margate Main Sands on Saturday (June 12).
Pizza pop-up business owner Jools Moore has set up the fund after seeing photos by resident Frank Leppard and the article in The Isle of Thanet News showing the council employee in the thankless task.
People across the isle hailed the worker as a hero and said he should get a medal but Jools has come up with a tastier option – the fundraiser to buy the worker a few pints.
The weekend was incredibly busy across Thanet beaches and bays as temperatures soared and visitors flocked to the coast.
Thanet’s cleaning team and an army of volunteers took to the beaches to clear away the carelessly discarded trash left behind.
Jools said he was prompted to set up the fundraiser and hopes that people will contribute as a thank you to the worker and his colleagues.
The dad-of-one, from Margate, said: “I think the least we can do is club together and buy this man and the team he works in a pint or two for all their hard work keeping out beach and town clean.”
A Thanet council spokesperson said: “It’s wonderful to see the efforts of our beach cleaner be appreciated. The work that he and all our operational staff (as well as all our volunteers) do in tough conditions is so valuable.”
How Thanet District Council tackles litter
- TDC provide and empty over 400 litter bins across the district. In the summer months there are an additional 180 bins in busy locations.
- TDC has a dedicated team of street cleansing staff who work 7 days a week from 6.00am to 8.00pm (6.00pm in the winter) Monday to Friday and 6.00am to 2.30pm Saturday and Sunday
- Additional street cleansing staff are taken on over the summer months.
- Monthly inspections are carried out to monitor standards.
- High footfall areas such as town centres are swept daily and our mechanical sweepers are out frequently in all other areas.
- TDC prioritise reports of increased litter in public areas and aim to deal with these as quickly as possible.
We are on a road leading off from Northdown Road and haven’t seen a sweeper for over a year. Dunno about daily, that’s a bit far fetched even for Northdown Road.
Obviously the efforts of TDC are just not good enough during summer season, especially with toilets being closed in highly populated areas.
Well done these zero hours cleaners in the orange hi viz jackets who have been brought in through agency work to slog it out on the beach with day trippers throwing rubbish and litter everywhere, you deserve a medal. It’s a shame the TDC officers are not there backing you up with issuing fines, especially at busy times such as weekends and public holidays through summer.
it could be a great photo opportunity for sir roger gayle – picking up litter , especially as theres not many garden fetes to open at the moment.
That would be fantastic idea. Let him walk along the beach this weekend and see what goes on and do something immediately one Hope’s. Then again who is to blame when he has been an MP for generations. Blame those who vote for him in every local & national elections.
Do we really need yet another fund raiser for such a thing ?
Why not just go down the beach, buy the bloke a pint, and say thank you.
Simples eh !
Yes, it is simple. So when are you going to do it?
Always avoid Margate in the summer with all those emmets… Most of em don’t buy owt just bring all their own and drop it where they sit. Amazing u can carry it when it’s heavy but not when it’s light. The worst are the coaches from Lewisham, Brixton et al…gazebos, 30 giant coolboxes, large sound system. Just come n use n leave… pathetic selfish emmets
I dont think one can pinpoint any worst offenders. I have seen locals on the beach with loud music smoking & drinking too. This is a British culture littering, roudy, disrespectful of others and drinking/drugs in public. It’s not unique to any particular group of people either let’s not make that mistake. Littering and binge drinking remains a British problem even when they are on holiday in the Spanish beaches..no Angels ask the Spanish
Anyone, anyone who litters is utter scum. Period. I would like to know how much extra our council tax is to pay for others to use / abuse…
Margate has been turned into benidorm. Sad thing is that if these people are behaving like this on our beaches they must have been doing it abroad for years to other countries beaches. Its no wonder we aren’t very well liked in Europe. Also its sad for Margate. It was doing well before the lockdown attracting the right tourists. Now we are attracting people who spend very little. Beers from the shop and a mcdonalds and cost us with clean up missions and to police them. Decent tourists won’t want to come back. Its a hellish place to be right now
Not just the beaches look a mess , what about no now may ? That made many areas look uncared for and a bloody mess. From george IV park to the waterfall , that grass looked horrendous. It gave the impression that the council dont care. So unkempt.
The long uncut grass in Albion gardens etc , impossible to pick up dog shit cleanly, and allows people to dump rubbish unseen.
The areas that the tourists walk etc need to be maintained, not left uncut for a,month. Utter madness.
Hi, can I please suggest you spend some time tracking down, and reading, the science and facts about the climate and ecological emergency your planet is in. Failure to act decisively now to quickly reverse the damage caused over the last several decades will mean death and destruction on a massive scale: your kids may not reach your age, your grandkids certainly will not. Let that sink in. These are the scientific facts. If not cutting verges is a concern to you them you are going to be in for a very rude awakening in the next few years.
No Mow May was beautiful.
Parks and wild spaces were teeming with wildflowers and nature.
It gave the impression that the council actually care about nature.
Your comment is utter madness!
Art? I think you will find No Mow May was a success. TDC received exceptionally good feedback on their FB post. Perhaps you should look a bit deeper as to why the initiative is so important, rather than being wrapped up in your own agenda.
I wouldnt use FB to judge anything to be honest, the vocal minority.
As I have said I am not 100% against no Mow may, but feel it shouldnt be a blanket no Mow. I feel areas that are the selling point of the town, the top prom from the park to the lift and Albion Gardens. These areas should be highly maintained. Tourists want to see a nicely maintained sea front.
I spoke to a tourist on a bench along the top prom. There asked why the grass is so unkempt. I told them it was a National thing of not cutting in may.
They said it looked a bloody mess ! And pointed out weeds about two foot high.
Yes we can let some areas go more wild but managed. But it has to be a compromise.
The problem with the no Mow may, tree huggers, etc you dont do compromise you want the world to live to what you want ! We need a compromise, blanket no cutting in may all over thanet made some areas look horrible.
Just a thought you say that no Mow may was very successful, and TDC FB page had good feed back.
I don’t do FB so out of the population of 141,819 (@2918 figure) What percentage posted they likes for uncut grass everywhere across thanet ,
Its not just the beaches and parks that get trashed by selfish inconsiderate litter louts, my road hasn’t seen a Street Cleaner in living memory!
Mate you have been Dump t on
Great for Margate, the bins in Ramsgate Saturday night were so full it fell out on to the roads, why were they not emptied.
I was talking about the area the tourist use the top prom from George IV park to the lift. I personally thought it look horrible.
If you think it’s a good look the have uncut grass about 18 high that’s up to you. But as a visitor I wouldnt come back to ramsgate with its uncut, uncared for look. It encourages litter to be dropped, it encourages dog pop to be left. You cant walk on it as you havent a clue what’s in it.
Now if it was a lovely meadow fine , but its not it’s just a lenght of uncut grass.
I have no issues with leaving the grass to grow in more places as long as it’s the fined meadow grass which allow wild flowers to grow. But just to leave thick grass sward to grow is nonsense.
You have to choose the right areas and just doing a blanket no Mow may was madness.
What I find madness is this blanket no cut. We are a seaside town that needs visitors. Areas that visitors use should be neat and tidy. You couldnt use Albion Gardens it looked a mess uncared for area. How are families might to use the gardens with grass uo around your knees ?
This world is going mad it’s all art and long grass and save a weed tree.
We have to work together and just doing a blanket no mow may was not the correct. We need to pick the areas that it suits, high tourists areas for me are a no no, they have to look cared for etc.
I like the way that, although much of the grass along the Eastcliff prom has been mown, clumps of poppies have been left at the edges. Some areas in Boundary Road rec. have been left uncut, especially round trees. I think this is a good compromise for a heavily-used public space.
Isn’t it TIME we ousted these self serving incompetent officers that make up TDC? Things never ameliorate……roads haven’t been swept for YEARS, YEARS!!! We have insufficient litter enforcers, bins and collections in hot spot areas in and out of high season. All I see is trash …. Margate could be so beautiful but the officers inertia and “couldnt care less” attitude is really starting to resonate with people. We have no public toilets….no working lifts….you can fool some people some of the time but you can no longer fool ALL of us! TDC officers are a disgrace…litigation costs against accusations of bullying. Expensive NDA’s will cost us all a pretty penny which will most probably top a few million pounds whilst residents at the same time can’t even get the council to fulfil basic services like street cleansing and sweeping citing “insufficient funds”!! Time for CHANGE….
No comment from Checksfield he must be on holiday
No comment from Checksfield he must be on holiday
Donna Garfield only sees trash, so she says. What a shame that she is so blinkered. There are so many positives here in Thanet which she is missing out on.