Charlie is ‘littlest litter hero’ in NI

Charlie is ‘littlest litter hero’ in NI

5 April 2017

A FOUR year-old Crossgar toddler has been named one of Northern Ireland’s youngest litter heroes for his ongoing campaign to clean up local beaches.

So impressed is the environmental charity, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, with Charlie Hamilton-Cooper’s litter collections on the beautiful east Down strands, they have named him their Littlest Litter Hero.

Charlie has visited Killyleagh, Ballyhornan and Minerstown beaches in recent weeks to gather rubbish after hearing his mum and dad discussing how plastic in the seas is killing wildlife.

The life-wire youngster was so interested in the conversation he decided he wanted to do something about it so the family came up with the idea of collecting litter on the beaches.

So far they have collected three bin bags at Killyleagh beach, three at Ballyhornan and on Saturday managed the fantastic total of eight at Minerstown.

Charlie’s dad, Jonathan, is delighted his “outdoorsy and adventurous” son has developed such a keen interest in protecting the environment.

“Charlie has only been cleaning the beaches for a few weeks,” said Jonathan. “He overheard my wife Catherine and I discussing a report of how plastic in the seas is killing wildlife and he became very interested.

“The council doesn’t clean the beaches throughout the winter and the rubbish builds up so it seemed like a good place to start. It doesn’t take much to get involved so we began to visit the beaches,” he added.

Ballyhornan and Minerstown were the worst two beaches the family have litter picked on so far and they plan to return in the near future to gather more rubbish.

Charlie’s efforts have come to the attention of Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful and on Saturday community development officer, Nicola Fitzsimons, joined Charlie and his family in Minerstown for the morning.

She congratulated Charlie on his efforts and presented him with his own litter picker, hi-viz vest and gloves.

Nicola explained how the charity got to hear about the local child’s environmental protection efforts.

“Charlie’s mum Catherine contacted Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful to tell us he is doing a beach clean throughout this spring and summer,” said Nicola. “She said that Charlie understands that all the rubbish and litter harms and kills wildlife and sea life and he wants to do something about it to help them. 

“We are all delighted by Charlie’s fantastic efforts to clean up our beaches. His desire to protect the birds and sea life by litter picking is an inspiration to all; he has even inspired us to create a Littlest Litter Hero section in our monthly Live Here Love Here newsletter,” she added.

But the litter pick in Minerstown on Saturday had an element of drama when Charlie discovered abandoned flares, which had probably been discarded by a fishing boat in the Irish Sea.

“We were not long onto the beach when Charlie alerted his parents that he found a strange object,” explained Nicola. “None of the group touched the item and when I saw it I identified it as a flare. I quickly alerted the family to move away from the objects and rang the Coastguard to report the find.

“Whilst on the phone another one was found and by the end of the short clean up a third had also been found.”

Newcastle Coastguard team was sent to the Minerstown followed by an army bomb disposal team who destroyed the flares with a controlled explosion.

Nicola praised Charlie for not touching the flares, even though he did not know what they were, and had advice to other groups planning to take part in beach cleans.

“When planning a clean up we encourage groups to read our Clean Up Hints and Tips Guide which is available on our website www.liveherelovehere.org and gives advice on what to do if you find any suspicious objects during a clean up,” she said.

And Charlie has no plans in slowing up in his environmental campaign. He is planning to continue cleaning the local beaches and will continue even while on his holidays — in Portstewart.