Brighton's Churchill Square shopping centre needs volunteers for its beach cleans

Brighton shopping centre Churchill Square is looking for volunteers to help clear Brighton Beach of litter and other discarded items.

This Sunday (May 1) and the first Sunday of each month until and including September, volunteers are invited to offer a couple of hours of their time, from 11am, to help free the stretch of beach from British Airways i360 to Ohso Social of plastic litter and other debris that could negatively impact the beauty spot and marine wildlife.

The shopping centre started the beach clean events back in 2019 and since then have collected 257.45kg of rubbish in total – the approximate weight of a giant squid or a bull shark – no mean feat when the most popular things collected include feather-light items like empty bottles, crisp packets, cigarette butts, polystyrene fish and chip containers and plastic straws.

Mark Buchanan-Smith, centre director at Churchill Square, said: “We’re now in our fourth year of hosting our popular litter-picking event and we feel very proud of everything we have achieved.

“Each month throughout spring and summer we bring the community together to care for our beautiful coastline.

“Last year we saw 130 different volunteers get involved, all helping to redirect litter away from the sea. We’re hoping to build on that further in 2022.”

Litter pickers, high-vis jackets and gloves will be provided and all volunteers will be given a briefing before they spend two hours on the beach.

Volunteers will also be offered perks, including discounts at some of Churchill Square’s food outlets including Boost Juice, Millies Cookies, Costa Coffee, Bubble CiTea and Auntie Anne’s as a thank you.

Anyone who wants to get involved will need to register and should head to the What’s On page at www.churchillsquare.com

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