Sir, It was so heart-warming to see the scores of volunteers flocking to our beaches last week to help support the efforts to have Tenby accredited with plastic free status. Hats off to the committee of organisers who clearly did a great job of raising awareness and stirring community conscience.

The event was a great success, with not only the immediate, physical impact of cleaner beaches, but also (and possibly more importantly) the longer term benefits of engaging with the volunteers that attended. I’m sure I wasn’t the only volunteer to walk home from the event with a renewed level of energy around recycling and a determination to continue to support and make a difference.

I must add before I move on that it was also great to see the Tenby Observer recognising the unsung heroes who are down at the beach foraging for rubbish ‘every day’ and not just our few hours in the mist.

So you can imagine how frustrating and infuriating it was to return to the beach last Sunday (as I usually do with Bella the ‘naught but nice’ Beagle) to discover what can only be described as a complete tip! I exaggerate not. The South Beach was quite literally a dumping ground.

You could be forgiven for believing that fly-tippers had visited the beach with six, still smouldering fires surrounded by, what ended up being seven bin bags of rubbish. The discarded items included alcohol and soft drinks containers, food and snacks packaging, sweet wrappers, plastic bags and so on. It was a devastating sight.

Let’s rewind 12 hours then to the evening before when my wife and I (and yes Bella) headed down to the beach for a stroll. At the time, three of the fires were already burning and youths between the ages of, I would guess, 16 and 20 were already gathering in large numbers. Many were carrying boxes and bags of alcohol, food containers and snacks.

So the conversation started and the debate began… “We were young once,” my wife said. “I remember building fires on the beach and meeting my friends,” she went on. “Not sure I can remember clearing up afterwards either,” she countered, as I questioned what may be left behind in the morning. The previous week had been a similar story with open fires and mounds of rubbish.

After some debate and probably a little staring long at the past through extremely rose tinted spectacles, we decided that we, whilst not completely void of lack of thought for others and indeed the environment, would have made some effort to leave the beach, more or less as we had found it.

This begs the question, this spoil, this lack of consideration for others and the environment, can it be excused and just chalked up as part of the folly of youth? I say no! I’m sorry, but I struggle with excusing members of our community, of ‘any’ age, that are having such a counter-productive impact on the commendable efforts of the wider community that clearly possess stronger moral fibre and a desire to make a positive difference. These young adults (in a lot of cases) can do better. They need to be urged to do better. We as parents can do more to ensure we are engaging with our children around this issue as a good number of these I recognise from the local area, our families.

Before I get branded some old grump who takes issue with children, I can tell you nothing could be further from the truth. I have a few children of my own and, no, they are not perfect. I would like to think, however, and I have taken steps to assure myself that they would not be comfortable with walking away from the mess that these groups of youths did last night.

I remember last Saturday, at the beach clean on South Beach, chatting to a gentleman from the Sea Cadets who was accompanying a group of young people who had turned up to support the effort. They had just rolled a tractor tyre all the way from Giltar Point. This was no easy feat, but they persevered nonetheless. They had also collectively cleared bags full of rubbish from across the beach.

This got me thinking about the difference between the two sets of teenagers. They will be from similar backgrounds and demographic, but one group with a framework of organisation and instilled environmental values and one possibly without the benefit of these things. One making a positive difference and one having a completely opposite and frankly, negative impact. All good kids in the main, just different persuasion.

Therefore, if I could ask for just one thing, if your reading this and thinking this could be my child, then please encourage them to take greater responsibility whilst enjoying their time at the beach.

Rant over.

Chris Thompson

Tenby