Beached Art, the annual celebration of Cumbria’s sea life and coastline, takes place on Saturday 10 August, from 11am to 5pm at St Bees beach. It’s a day of fun, free activities for all the family, and a great way to learn more about marine wildlife and conservation.
Organiser Melanie Shears is Apprentice Conservation Officer at Cumbria Wildlife Trust: “Beached Art is always a popular event for all the family and this year we’ve added some new attractions to make it even more fun. We’re creating a dramatic graffiti mural on the promenade with Young Cumbria, a youth group based in Workington. Their mural will tackle a big issue of today: plastics in the oceans. We’ll also have kite-flying, face-painting, rock-pooling – all the usual fun for all the family, along with the popular sand sculpture competition. It’s a chance to create marine-themed sculptures out of sand and other natural materials found on the beach and this year our prizes are bigger and better than ever!”
A team of young people are running the event. Melanie and the Young Cumbria youth group will be joined by Jade Allen, another Apprentice Conservation Officer and Lydia Tabrizi, Marine Futures Intern who will run rock-pooling activities. Isaac Johnston, former apprentice at Cumbria Wildlife Trust and now a Ranger at John Muir Trust, will lead bird-watching walks.
Melanie says: “Like lots of people our age, we’re all passionate about the environment and protecting our wildlife for future generations to enjoy. As well as a really fun day out, Beached Art is a great chance for people to find out why our sea life is so special – from little critters in rockpools to majestic seals and porpoises – and learn what we can all do to help protect these amazing creatures.”
Ian Alcock, Project Worker at Young Cumbria said: “We’re finding that more and more young people are taking notice of the growing problem of plastic pollution. Through our street art workshops, we encourage young people to learn more about ocean plastics and then facilitate the creation of street art murals that raise awareness in eye-catching and thought-provoking ways.”
Plan of the day:
Rock-pooling: 12pm–1pm & 2pm–3pm
Guided Walks: 11.30am–12.30pm & 3.30pm–4:30pm
Sand Sculpture Competition: 2.30pm–4.30pm - judging taking place 4pm–4.30pm
Sea Watching: 11am–12pm & 1pm–2pm
Face painting: All day
Art and crafts: All day
Mobile Rock-pooling: All day
Kite-flying: All day
Young Cumbria Graffiti Art (to watch not take part): TBC
Please note booking of sand sculpture plots is advisable (£3.00 per plot). To book, contact events@cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk or 01539 816300. Dogs are welcome on leads.
Beached Art is part of National Marine Week, with activities from 27 July to 11 August across the country.
