Barn Utd kids praisedfor beach clean effort

The young footballers did their bit to help make the beach at Carrickfergus Castle a cleaner, more welcoming and safer place to visit.

Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Councillor Paul Reid, praised the youngsters saying: “It is fantastic to see young people making their borough a more beautiful place to live in.

“This clean-up activity will hopefully give them a real sense of civic pride for the area they live in.

“I would like to thank all the children for their hard work and effort.

“They have done their bit to make Carrickfergus more attractive for all the community as well as visitors to the area and tourists.”

Ryan Morrison of Barn United Youth Football Club said: “I am delighted to see the boys and girls give up some of their precious holidays to support this event.

“It was also great to see staff from McDonald’s in Carrickfergus getting stuck in to help make Carrickfergus beach litter-free.”

Ciaran Copeland, assistant ,anager of McDonald’s, Carrickfergus, added that the litter pick was all part of the Live Here Love Here campaign.

He said: “Mid and East Antrim Borough Council supported the event by providing litter pickers and environmental information for all volunteers.

“Children and staff learned how littering can affect tourists and local wildlife and also what everyone can do about it – for example, not flushing anything other than toilet paper down the toilet and taking your litter home after having a picnic.

“Everyone had fun picking up litter, especially unusual items like a washed up iPhone 6.

“They managed to clean the beach of litter in an hour and international tourists were looking on appreciatively.”