This year’s Big Dee Day, which took place on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 September, has been hailed the biggest and best yet.
The annual clean-up, which is coordinated by Flintshire County Council, Cheshire West and Chester Council and Natural Resources Wales, reached as far as Bala into the Snowdonia National Park this year, for the first time ever.
Across the region, hundreds of people took part, and hundreds of bags of litter have been collected. In Flintshire, the efforts are coordinated by the Council’s Coastal Rangers and Streetscene service. Coastal rangers have also been working with community groups and businesses to plant trees along the county’s coastline including at Greenfield Dock, with the help of volunteers from Kingspan. In Talacre, Gronant Community Primary School helped the BHP Billiton land manager on Friday to clear rubbish from the beach, and Talacre Beach Caravan Park provided the children with snacks. At the Presthaven Sands Holiday Park, the North Wales Wildlife Trust and the Coastal Ranger were litter picking among the dunes.
Natural Resources Wales and the Environment Agency removed eight tonnes of waste, including 50 black bags of general litter (which included a paddling pool, a sand pit, a gas fire, six tyres, and a small plastic shark!).
All involved worked hard to clear the river and marine litter that washes up along the River Dee and paint and care for the special places along its banks and coast, from the Welsh mountains to the coastal habitat of the Dee estuary.
The venue for this year’s Big Dee Day breakfast launch was the former Connah’s Quay TS Tuscan Sea Cadets building in Dock Road. Coastal rangers and volunteers from the Quay Waterman’s and Recreation Association (QWRA) and the Dee Wildfowlers worked hard to clean up the building in time to host the launch.
Another first this year was the Big Dee Day Awards which were presented on Friday as a partnership between Flintshire County Council, Cheshire West and Chester Council and Natural Resources Wales. There were four categories, with a total of eight awards available (four in Wales, four in England). The categories are for community groups, individuals, businesses and conservation groups, and have been awarded to those who have shown their outstanding support for the Big Dee Day.
In Wales, the winners are:
- Business award: Kingspan
- Community Group award: Holywell Scouts
- Conservation award: Dee Wildfowlers
- Individual award: Judith Wright, Keep Wales Tidy
Councillor Bernie Attridge, Cabinet Member for Environment and Deputy Leader of Flintshire County Council, said:
“This year’s Big Dee Day has been a resounding success, and I’d like to thank all our partners for their hard work in making it happen. We’ve been running the Big Dee Day for six years and each year is bigger and better than the year before. Rubbish knows no borders, and neither does our environment and the River Dee, so it’s particularly pleasing that this has been such a successful cross-border partnership.”
Councillor Carolyn Thomas, Chair of the Council, said:
“Congratulations to our worthy award winners, who have been outstanding in their support for the Big Dee Day. I’d also like to thank the many people – individuals, community groups and big business – who all played their part on both sides of the border, by rolling up their sleeves, grabbing a litter pick and a bin bag, and cleaning up. I was amazed to discover that there were around 400 volunteers taking part! Over the two days, it was wonderful to see people pulling together to make such a positive impact on our local environment.”
Tim Jones, from Natural Resources Wales added:
“The Big Dee Day is a great example of how a community can pull together and make a big difference to their local environment.
“Its success over the years has been down to the tireless efforts of volunteers who give up their valuable time to clean up and restore the banks of the River Dee.
“These awards give us an opportunity to officially recognise the hard work of these volunteers and the contributions they have made to make the area a better place for us all to enjoy.”
Photograph: Pictured with Cllr Carolyn Thomas and Tim Jones of Natural Resources Wales are the Welsh and English winners of the Big Dee Awards.
