On 27th November, the Sailing Club and Kayak Club did a great job of hosting the beach and River Clean-up at their clubhouse and put on some welcome hot food and drinks for the 60 volunteers who turned out to take part. 61 bags of rubbish – and a few exotic items like a barbecue – were collected and later taken away by our local team of Highland Council’s Community Services. The volunteers were joined by two local artists who also organised the art workshop on 4th December and the competition and exhibition.
The Art is Rubbish prize giving and exhibition took place free of charge at WASPs Artists Studios in Grant Street on Sunday 8th January. Pieces were put together by people who had taken part in the Beach clean-up using rubbish collected from the beach or river. Local Artist and University Lecturer Shaun MacDonald judged the entries and selected a winner from two categories – 16 & over and under 16. The winners, Helena and George, will be getting a free taster sailing session provided by Nairn Sailing Club. Commodore Ken Killham did us proud, donating and presenting the prizes.
This was a great collaboration between us, the Sailing Club, Kayak club, the artists and WASPs (Workshop and Artists’ Studio Provision Scotland). We all felt so positive about the whole experience that we have agreed to try and put a similar event on in late March before the sailing season gets underway. We’ll put exhibits from the competition on display in the Sailing Club window and publicise the dates as soon as these details are agreed.