Co Down village community shells out time and money to clean up rat-infested beach
Living in Millisle for over 40 years, Deborah was prompted by her husband Gary to post a notice on Facebook to organise a village beach clean.
Efforts to tidy the beach then moved on to improving the general surroundings, with John McLean (80) taking to weeding the surrounding area.
Overseeing the efforts, liaising with the council and providing well-earned drinks to volunteers is Deborah.
'It was actually my husband Gary Mann to prompted this, he has been litter picking for a long time,' said the Co Down woman.
'He enjoys doing it, loves being on the beach. On July 15 — he doesn't do social media — he said to me to stick it [the notice] on Facebook, because he was going down to start weeding this beach. The support he got was unbelievable. A lot of the other residents came to help, there must have been nearly 100 bags cleared.'
However, despite their good intentions to clean up the beach, they initially received pushback from Ards and North Down Borough Council.
Grievances were initially raised due to environmental issues and wildlife concerns.
'The beach is now infested with rats. Council kept saying it is not allowed to be touched because it is an environmental issue,' she said.
'About a week later a couple of the guys decided to get together and de-weed the whole Main Street, it was also cleared of rubbish. They tirelessly worked for hours.
'A few days after that, a few professional painters gave up their time and painted a couple of derelict buildings.
'I then started a GoFundMe, within two days it went from a £400 target to £3,400. Every single penny is going towards the cleaning and restoration efforts.
'The council has actually given us the bags now to help clean up. We have actually got DAERA onboard as well about this rat situation.
'We are painting gable walls, with permission of the landlords and on the derelict buildings.
'We plan to paint otters on them, seagulls, everything to do with a seaside village.
'Hopefully there will be benches, we have a joiner, he is going to do mock door frames and window frames. And we are going to put window boxes in as well.
'There will be a painting — the artist is costing around £200 per painting.'
With the council now onboard with their plans to clean up the small coastline, Deborah reflected on how the village used to be when she met her husband in 1984.
'This place was thriving. Now all we have is an off-licence and the Spar. You've got your chemists and your two pubs but there is nowhere to go to have a cup of tea and a traybake with friends.
'We don't have a community centre, and the population of Millisle is very low
.'
Pensioner John McLean is a key worker in making Millisle beautiful .
'When I started to do this, it didn't really enter my head the importance of what I was doing,' he said.
'About half a dozen hours I did on the Friday — two weeks ago — then on the Saturday I did nothing because of the bands and the marches.
'So, after church on the Sunday I started to get stuck in again, to finish the 100 yards to the entrance.
'I didn't for one minute think that I would be getting involved with this, I really appreciate it.'
Volunteer Edna Caskey said: 'The progress on the beach has been fantastic, this will be a continued effort by us to keep the beach clean.'
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