MacMoray litter team positive despite Elgin group’s seagull and wind setbacks, as Positive Action Group cleans Cooper Park
A raiding “horde” of seagulls and “relentless” winds meant unlucky litter pickers took three attempts to clean a public park after a music festival.
The Positive Action Group, which has volunteered to clear Elgin’s Cooper Park of rubbish after every MacMoray Festival, were already facing their most challenging mission yet.
Cally Smith said the bigger crowds at the recent MacMoray Summer Special meant “there was a little extra work to do,” she added.
Local residents Sarah Barber and Rhian Russel formed the Positive Action Group at the end of 2020, to set up group litter picks.
The founders handed Cally the reins in July, and the recent event was her first festival.
After the end of the first day, group volunteers descended on the park to prepare the ground for Sunday’s crowds.
The Positive Action Group worked into the night, with the stage lights kept on to help them spot litter.
But on Sunday, when confronted with another day’s worth of rubbish, the “shattered” team decided to leave their efforts until the next day.
On Monday, 20 volunteers rallied at the festival site and “mucked in together” for nearly seven hours to get a handle on the litter.
However, unfortunate surprises lay in wait for the Positive Action Group.
“On Monday, I looked up while litter picking and saw seagulls coming in and attacking my pile of binbags,” Cally said.
“They must have all come down from the High Street - there were hordes of them.”
The seagull raid meant that the group had to more dedicate even more time to clearing the park.
She added: “But if you want to stop the gulls, people should stop feeding them and take their rubbish home.”
However, on Tuesday, the group had to return to the park and tackle the litter for a third time after bags were hit by “relentless” winds.
Originally believing seagulls were to blame, Cally issued a social media call for group members to help.
“The biggest problem was the wind, which scattered everything,” she said.
“The bins were overflowing and the wind was just relentless.
“So, before they had been lifted, some of the bags were caught by the wind and blew down the field.
“It was heading towards the river, and just carried on towards the embankment.
“And I just thought: ‘Oh no, the river!’
“I was really worried, and we hurried to get there quickly and get it cleared up.
“That wind was a nuisance, but we got there in the end.”
Despite the double inconvenience, Cally said she was not interested in blaming anybody for the incident.
“It was just an unfortunate thing,” she added.
“The bins were so full and it just couldn’t have been helped.”
Going forward, however, the group leader said she was optimistic about the public taking better care of their local area.
She said that, each year, more and more festivalgoers have put their rubbish in binbags to make the clean-up effort easier.
“One thing we have noticed is that, each year, people have been getting better and better at bagging their waste,” Cally said.
“That meant we could just grab a lot of the litter.
“We really want to thank the public for actually making the effort, because they did make the effort for us.
“They didn’t have to go out of their way like that, so we really appreciate that from them.
“Obviously it’s difficult by the end of the night, when they are in the dark, they’ve had a bit to drink, and they’re down the front enjoying the headliners.
“You can’t eradicate all the rubbish, but certainly there are a lot of people who are being very responsible and tidying up after themselves.
“We do hand out binbags, and people were coming up to us and asking for binbags, so hopefully we’re managing to promote the area and encourage people to look after the area.”
Though Cally’s experienced some setbacks during first MacMoray clean up had some setbacks, the determination and hard work of the group’s members helped make it a success in the end.
“Thanks to all the people who helped, who were just relentless,” she said.
“They are all really hard workers.
“We just mucked in together.
“When we see something that needs doing then, within safety limits, we’ll crack on.
“No sense in just complaining about it, we can complain but nothing will change.”
The Positive Action Group has also been involved in local gardening projects, alongside their regular litter picks across Moray.
Cally said close friendships have developed between group members, who regularly meet after clean-up sessions.
She added that being a member also gives people a low-impact way to get outdoors and be active.
For more information, visit the Positive Action Group on Facebook, or Cally’s page Moray Communities.
The group are set to be picking up rubbish after next Easter’s MacMoray Festival - which could be the final chapter of the event.
