A fundraiser launched as a thank you to a council beach cleaner caught on camera as he battled against a tide of litter at Margate Main Sands in June has raised £700.
Pizza pop-up business owner Jools Moore 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 came up with the fundraiser to buy the worker and his cleaning crew colleagues a few pints.
The funds have now been handed over to the hard-working crew.
Margate dad-of-one Jools said: “It was nice to meet Luke and the team from TDC’s beach clean squad and present them with the money raised by the local people. These guys do such a great job and it’s amazing how the town got behind this fundraiser to buy them a drink! They are the unrecognised heroes of Thanet and I’m very happy to have been able to put a smile on their faces.”
Cllr Reece Pugh, Deputy Leader of Thanet District Council said: “I would like to extend my thanks to our brilliant beach cleansing team for their continued hard work and dedication in often challenging conditions. The response from the public has been overwhelming and I know how touched all our operational staff have been by the appreciation. A big thank you to Jools and everyone who contributed so generously to the fund.”
What a lovely gesture! Well deserved too.
Hopefully it was shared out between them all as they do a good job in a bad situation locally. Should buy them all a few beers. Well done for this.
My husband was chatting to a street cleaner in central Ramsgate the other day who said he quite regularly receives abuse or bullying whilst doing his job. Such as people shouting at him to get out of their way as if he’s some kind of untouchable. So awful – they deserve thanks, not intimidation. We’re lucky to have them and I always feel grateful when I see them. Our rubbish bags didn’t get collected the other day so our seagull bag had to stay out on the street for an extra day waiting to be emptied (we don’t have a garden so the council asked us to leave it on the street). Early next morning I heard it being opened and thought a seagull might be fishing around in it but was surprised to see a street cleaner taking random pieces of rubbish out that pedestrians had dumped in there. He obviously knows that the refuse trucks won’t touch our rubbish bags if there is unbagged rubbish in there so I thought how kind it was of him to do that. Just silently going about their business and actually caring about keeping our streets clean!
Fair play to them, and to Jools for organising this. Makes me wonder where the “litter cops” have got to…
I wouldn’t call them the unrecognised heroes of Thanet. That title is reserved for the army of volunteers who do this all the time for no money or recognition. Although the street cleaners work hard, they do actually get paid for doing it.
I think it’s shameful that TDC committed such a faux pas as not to mention these volunteers in their quote. If it wasn’t for the volunteers the area would look even more like a giant rubbish tip.
I’ve recognised several of the volunteers.
Great, they do a marvellous job when others are enjoying themselves.
Many thanks to the early morning litter pickers on ramsgate main sands, heck they do a great job getting the beach area ready for the visitors.