Fantastic Funds For a New Wave of Volunteers on World Ocean Day 2016

£100,000 from players of People’s Postcode Lottery will help us clean up even more beaches

We are delighted to have been awarded an incredible £100,000 by People’s Postcode Trust to grow its highly effective network of marine conservation volunteers around the UK. Thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery, these funds will enable SAS to expand our current team of Regional Reps to a further 50 beaches and coastal locations, expanding the network to 125 communities.

Our Regional Reps team is a committed group of volunteers who share a passion for protecting our oceans, waves, beaches and marine wildlife. From humble beginnings, the network has grown to cover some of the country’s most iconic beaches and surf spots, working at a grassroots level on local conservation issues and activities such as beach cleans, through to promoting national campaigns and environmental initiatives.

The team of Regional Reps converge regularly for training and community events, joining marine conservation experts, charity professionals, activists and industry leaders to gain the knowledge they need to protect the beaches they represents. SAS Reps take a holistic approach to the protection of their local area, running beach cleans, delivering citizen science projects, undertaking community surveys and running education and advocacy work with schools, colleges and community groups. Their tireless efforts have helped mobilise over 15,000 beach clean volunteers in the last year alone, inform thousands of school children on the latest threats to our marine environment and engage communities on issues from marine litter to climate change.

We are extremely proud of the inclusivity of the Regional Reps programme, which includes people of a diverse range of ages, backgrounds, skills and abilities. The team has included everything from shark scientists to pro surfers, schoolteachers to Olympic athletes. They all share a common deep blue connection with the ocean and have an active role at their local beach on a weekly basis. Their very powerful relationship with the sea drives them to unite in the protection of our oceans and beaches for everyone.

SAS Regional Rep for Northern Ireland, Alix McDaid says: “Having grown up close to so many beautiful beaches both north and south of the border, my family has always been passionate about the ocean. This love, combined with joining Surfers Against Sewage as a Regional Rep, has inspired me in my pursuit of becoming a Marine Biologist. Having witnessed the devastating impact marine pollution and litter has caused along our breath-taking beaches and coastline, I want to try my very best to educate others on the ways of preventing this and to take action against the already existing problem. This is where the Reps programme comes in and I am so excited to be a part of it as it develops and expands ensuring this message reaches more people.”

If you’ve been inspired by this you can send in your CV and covering letter to SAS’s Regional Reps coordinator Jack Middleton at [email protected].

Over the coming months, SAS will be making a series of exciting announcements related to the expansion of the Regional Reps programme. Please see www.sas.org.uk for further details

To find about more and to be kept up to date with all of the exciting announcements drop the SAS team a line at [email protected] or call 01872 553001.