Friday 25 July 2014

A very active and successful month for Friends of Redcar (FRED)



Our biggest compliment has to be this picture. This wasn't possible the month or even a year before because of all the building material

Dear Friends,

This has been a busy month for our group as we gear up towards our first year AGM and we have the most fabulous news regarding our beach rubble complaint.

We held two litter picks on the beach one at Majuba and the other next to the Regent Cinema. The latter being a celebration to the welcoming news that the Environment Agency's decided to return following FREDs 10 month campaign to remove building materials left from the sea defence work.

Our two litter picks saw 60 volunteers which included Friends of Borough Park, Lifeline, RCBC amongst others. We'd like to say a massive thank you for all their help and continued support.





The EA brought a crew of ten men and a JCB. Although they didn't dig down as deep as we would have liked they are committed to return in February after the winter storms rreveal more of what has been buried.

We were not happy with Balfour Beatty (BB) who sub contracted their effort and we were less than happy with the work done on their part. There are still building felts half buried (we now know these are called Geotexture and do belong to BB.) The EA have assured us that they will ensure Balfour Beatty clear these shortly during snagging work.


FRED are currently holding an art competition with local schools and these are displayed in cafe's and libraries around Redcar. 

We are also holding a "Friends Together" event to celebrate the efforts made by Redcar's community action groups.

This is in association with the Rotary Club and Friends of Zetland Park and sponsored by Federation of Small Businesses on the 10th August 11am to 5pm at Redcar Rugby Club.



The EA return


The EA cleared this from the Zetland end




"WHO IS FRED?" Art displays are all over Redcar





"WHO IS FRED?" Art displays are all over Redcar thanks to Coatham and St.Benedict's Schools and are found at -  

The Beacon Caf'e
TunedIn Cafe
Hub Gallery Visitor Centre
Roseberry Library
Laburnum Library
Dormanstown Library
Jac's Fish & Chip Caf'e
Sophellies Cafe
Kirkleatham Museum Cafe (Sophellies)
Anna Turley's office. 

Thank you to all who helped get this together 

Go see for yourself and take a pic of your favourite :)





















































Friends of Redcar August 2nd 2014 Litter Pick





FREDs next litter pick is from opposite the Park Hotel to the Stray. Please print off and display wherever applicable and share with your online community. Thank you


Friends of Redcar

*** Thank you to all those who volunteered and cleared 20 bags of rubbish. Well done everyone

Wednesday 16 July 2014

FRED campaign fruitful on Zetland beach



Look what FRED achieved at Zetland through our campaign.

Although Environment Agency didn't dig up the rubbish left by Birse, they did promise to keep coming back after the winter storms. 

Speaking with residents and specialists FRED have to be aware this is an site of special scientific interest (SSSI) that is not commercial but for wildlife to flourish. 

Bearing that in mind look at the photos. Quite satisfied and equally the residents who live there are too. We'll keep revisiting it



Well done EA and FRED volunteers it's looking so much better. Still no sign of Birse Balfour Beatty whose absence is an utter disgrace and we shall be highlighting this everywhere. Instead of coming back they sent a useless subcontractor who did less in two days than FRED volunteers do in two hours. 

Shame on you Balfour Beatty! We will certainly pass on our disgust to our council and hope this has an affect on any other tender bid you put in for the region.

Now we are going to meet with First Choice skips who also want a beautiful beach and L&C skips who are both going to help us resolve the Coatham issue. No more sweeping this under the carpet RCBC. We want the best beach in the North East - together we can achieve it too. :)