Beach clean: Kirkcaldy barbershop rallies 150 volunteers to tackle rubbish on shoreline

The High Street shop held its first beach clean back in April 2019 with owner Mark Reynolds making it a regular event thanks to the enthusiasm of the local community.

Now, three years later, Mark and his team have smashed its biggest challenge yet by cleaning-up the shoreline from Dysart to Burntisland.

The volunteers collected 120 black bags of rubbish from Dysart, Kirkcaldy, Kinghorn, and Burntisland beaches before linking up at Revolution Barbershop to enjoy sushi provided free from Koku Shi, and live music performed by Billy and Tyra Reekie.

Mark said: “We had a great turn out last Sunday with over 150 people joining us to help with the beach clean-up – it was a great day.

"There were around 70 rugby players from Kirkcaldy Rugby Club and the Wee Blues who held their practice on the beach before hooking up with us.

"After the event, Koku Shi Kirkcaldy, came along to Revolution Barbershop with their food truck to feed everyone who took part, and we were treated to some live music as well.”

Mark and his mammoth team of volunteers split into four groups to tackle each separate beach filling a whopping 120 bags of waste.

"We definitely covered a lot of ground on the day,” he said.

“Once you get the teams organised and as long as there is someone handing out the bags and litter pickers everything else just falls into place.

"We never found anything weird this time, apart from a pair of granny knickers and lots of fishing stuff like creels and ropes.

"These events are great for the community as it keeps our coastline litter free and it also keeps me busy.”

Mark adds that he and his team have plenty more projects in the pipeline.

"We’ll be focusing on our Christmas clothing drive for homeless people in Edinburgh next, and I’ll also be cutting homeless people's hair on Christmas morning.

"I want to thank everyone who volunteered to help out, especially, Koku Shi, Fife Waste Group, Kirkcaldy Rugby Club, Kirkcaldy Golf Club, the guys from Betty Nicol’s, Billy and Tyra Reekie, and lastly the community for caring so much about their beaches.”

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