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Some of the volunteers who turned up to clean Tikapa beach, near Ruatoria on Saturday.
When Graeme Atkins put out a call for volunteers to help with a beach clean-up, he was hoping he might get a crew of a dozen.
100 people showed up.
They ranged from newborns carried on parents’ backs, to kuia and kaumatua in their 80s. They came from all walks of life. There were Māori, there were Pākehā, there were locals and there were some who drove for hours to get to this beach at Tikapa, near Ruatoria.
Atkins and his whānau have been cleaning rubbish from this beach (they call it “the forgotten beach”) for about 25 years. It’s usually an annual gig, but can be more often if warranted.
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This year’s clean-up took place on Saturday. Atkins put word out in late January asking for helpers.
In the bluntness he’s well known for, Atkins used capital letters in his Facebook page to tell prospective volunteers: “DON’T BE ONE OF THEM THAT SAYS THEY’LL HELP OUT AND DOES A NO SHOW ON THE DAY”.
The people listened and as Atkins waited at the road end for volunteers to turn up, he saw them come in droves.
It’s a good thing he was wearing sunglasses, he said.
“I might have had a wet eye. It was pretty emotional. If you’d told me a few days ago that 100 people would show up, I’d have said you were bonkers. I was stunned by the turn out, couldn’t believe it.”
The crowd set about their work, scouring 8km of log-covered beach for the piles and piles of rubbish, most of which had likely washed down the Waiapu River.
Local contractors Blackbee and Sons Contracting cleared logs and reinstated a road to allow vehicle access to the beach and local Eddie Clarke donated the use of a skip bin, meaning volunteers didn’t have to make as many 50km round trips to Ruatoria with cars and trailers filled with rubbish.
“After three hours the skip bin was overflowing with rubbish and you couldn’t squeeze any more into it,” Atkins said.
Among the volunteers were numerous cars that had driven nearly two hours from Gisborne, and one car local that had driven more than four hours from Hawke’s Bay.
Gisborne District Council and Mitre 10 Mega chipped in with equipment and a barbecue, and two of the local forestry companies helped out too.
“Numerous logs and other related industry waste ends up on our beach. So good for them to see what we have to put up with in regards to their activities,” Atkins said.
Many of the volunteers stayed on after the cleanup for kai and a bonfire.
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“It was unreal. Thanks so much to everyone who helped. Our ‘forgotten beach’ might just be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world now,” Atkins said.
He said he expected to find a lot more rubbish after Cyclone Hale.
“All this rubbish is locally derived. So keep getting those important messages out there whānau.
“Stop throwing your rubbish out the car window. Put it in the rubbish bin when you get home and stop using our awa as your private land fill you lazy bastards.”
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