Environmental Day at Widemouth Bay: Team Spirit Meets Coastal Care

On 13th August, Rob, Tim, Paul, Mark and his partner and El & her family took part in our twice-yearly Environmental Day—a chance to step away from screens and spend meaningful time together while giving back to our local area.

This time, we headed to Widemouth Bay, just down the road from Akumen HQ in Bude, for a beach clean. With Tim and Paul both familiar faces along this stretch of coastline kayaking, swimming and walking, it felt natural to pitch in and help clear the plastics and waste that regularly wash ashore. Widemouth Bay is a bay, beach and small village on the Atlantic coast of North Cornwall, about 3 miles south of Bude. This stretch of coast is steeped in the smuggling history of times before, and not far south of the bay there are many little inlets and coves, a favourite with holidaymakers in summer.

We are strong believers in leaving the beach as we found it—or better. In just a few hours, we filled seven large sacks with rubbish, including fishing line, bits of rope, plastic sheeting, bottle tops, and abandoned sea fishing gear. The award for strangest find went to Rob, our CEO, who discovered a one-handed banana man that looked like he’d time-travelled from the 1980s.

After all that hard work, we’d earned a good meal. Rob took charge of the afternoon BBQ, sourcing local meat and home grown veg to fuel our efforts. It was the perfect way to round off a rewarding day—connecting with each other, caring for our coastline, and sharing a few laughs along the way. Tim did a great job of entertaining the children with stories of smugglers which made for lots of conversation on the journey home!

Here’s to more days like this: good company, good causes, and maybe a few more mystery beach finds