Just after I left the village of Southerness, Dumfries & Galloway on 2nd October 2015 with my parents and the dog back to Dumbarton after a 5 day holiday, I wrote to the Dumfries and Galloway Standard newspaper an article about my litter picking in a car park and on the beach. This has also been featured on the Project Schone Schie Facebook page. Unfortunately the article, which was broadcast in The Galloway News on 14th October 2015, has since been deleted from Press Reader so I am going to have to describe the e-Mail I sent to the Dumfries and Galloway Standard.
"Dear readers,
If you were wondering, "who on earth is that lad cleaning up the car park?", then I have news for you: it was me! For those of you that don't know me, my name is Jonathan Rainey, I am 21-years-old, an Environmental Science Student at The Open University and I have High-Functioning Autism (or Asperger Syndrome). I already have been volunteering in clearing away litter up Overtoun Estate Woods and on the beach beside Levengrove Park in my hometown of Dumbarton, West Dunbartonshire. After I pick up the litter collected for the day, I then post my results onto Social Media (including Facebook, Instagram, PIRIKA (a Japanese Environmental Social Networking App) and Twitter) using the following Hashtags:
#CleanUpOvertounWoods
#CleanUpLevengrovePark
#Litterati
#CleanUpYourArea
From Monday 28th September to Friday 2nd October 2015, I had been staying in the 41 Criffel View Caravan in the Parkdean Holiday Park inSoutherness with my parents Christine and Ralph Rainey along with our hyper & very friendly 4-year-old English Springer Spaniel Molly. I loved staying here not only for the sheer remoteness & quietness of the location (I am hearing sensitive, by the way! It's a shame that I did not manage to actually get a mobile phone signal with Three UK.) but also for the fact that I could get more time to pick up any litter around me compared to the average 1 hour I get to pick up litter in the said locations in Dumbarton. I tend to find picking up rubbish very therapeutic. I picked up litter in the car park beside the 19th Hole Pub in 2 parts for the Tuesday & Thursday I stayed in Southerness, on Wednesday I picked up litter on the beach including a large green net and put it in one of the large bins in the Caravan Site and on Thursday, I picked up lots of litter on the beach going directly past the village's lighthouse which included an empty blue fuel can and grey barrel.
I have to say, though, that I was disappointed with the behaviour of 2 particular families of children (one was Scottish and the other were from the North of England) who deliberately left their nearly empty plastic drinks cups and sweet packets on the beach just as I was finishing using a lot of my muscles to get the blue fuel can and barrel to the closest bins possible away from the beach; either because they are lazy & just don't care about what damage they cause to the environment around them (is this how you'd want your children treating the beautiful environment in the village with respect?) or because they knew that I would be collecting their rubbish after them simply because I am a litter picker. I did get quite a lot of sympathy from passing beach goers both from Scotland & across the border, though, when they overheard me moaning about it so a big thanks to them for supporting my efforts to keep the beach clean enough to attract more tourists for your area. I would also like to thank those who live in Southerness who were very welcoming of my efforts to keep their village clean.
Most of the litter I collected consisted of cigarette butts that were dropped both alongside the many roads in the Parkdean Holiday Park and in the car park opposite the JJ's Fish and Chip shop. I say this about the holiday park because when I walked back along the road and entrance I came through, the cigarettes were there again (except at the entrance)! While I do thank everyone who supported my interest in clearing their place up, I do have to say some staff at the Holiday Park were (silently) less accepting of my litter picking than others, especially when I had to use their reception telephone to phone up the Council about the large items and full bins since I did not have a mobile signal but still, that won't stop me from cleaning up Mother Earth.
I posted up my results using the Hashtag #CleanUpSoutherness. I hope any of you reading this article will take after me in taking pride in your area and put the rubbish where it belongs - in the bin AND a landfill site/ recycling centre!"