A BUDE-based charity which helps clean beaches and communities of litter has today added its support to a National Lottery campaign that highlights what some of the UK’s most cherished landmarks and venues could look like if we don’t start taking action against serious environmental issues and taking better care of our planet.

The 2 Minute Foundation, based in Bude, was set up by author and climate activist Martin Dorey after he witnessed the litter surrounding beaches and oceans in Cornwall and pledged to do a two-minute clean-up. The trend caught on, and by 2014, the first 2 Minute beach clean stations were set up.

To mark the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Martin and his Bude charity have teamed up with National Lottery-funded charities from around the UK and model and activist, Daisy Lowe, to visually highlight the scale of some of the environmental and climate change challenges we face in the UK.

The 2 Minute Foundation is looking to go further to help the environment, and thanks to funding from the National Lottery of over £70,000 received in March, they are making a difference.

Campaigns manager, Claire Ginner, said: “The National Lottery have been phenomenal. We can’t do what we do without support from big organisations.”

Claire, 35, has worked for the 2-Minute Foundation for over two years, and has experience setting up projects, including ones funded by the National Lottery, such as Guardian Angels and Beach School.

She said: “Guardian Angels are our people on the ground — we have clean-up stations all around the UK, including Northern Ireland, so we need local people to keep an eye on them, make sure they’re still being used and raise their profile locally.

“That allows them to be eco-champions in their towns, and our aim is for an ‘Angel’ to cover the entire UK coastline — that would be ideal.

“The Beach School was an idea I had after reading up about education. We were doing a lot of work with schools, but nothing formalised, so we set up our own.

“Our school is much more about seeing education and the environment in action.”

Over the last decade £2.2-billion National Lottery funding has supported environmental good causes such as the 2 Minute Foundation, providing a much needed and vital injection for our communities in the fight against climate change.

In the last year alone, over £60 million has been awarded to 730 green projects from community groups preserving natural habitats, to art installations educating young people on climate change, to full-scale landscape restorations. Thanks to this funding, these projects are leading the way in approach, technological innovation, and engagement as we collectively work to save the planet.

Ros Kerslake CBE, chief executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Chair of the National Lottery Forum, said: “While the world focuses on COP26, we must each focus on what we can do, as organisations and as individuals, to slow the rate of climate change.

“We ask that projects funded through The National Lottery each play their part, whether it’s small changes, such as introducing community recycling bins, to large-scale environmental projects restoring precious peatlands.

“Across the country, we are working together with the good causes we support to lead, inspire and raise awareness of how and why we need to change our behaviours to protect the future of our planet.”

National Lottery players raise more than £30-million each week for good causes.

If anyone has a great idea that can make a positive difference to the environment in their community, then why not look at the funding available from The National Lottery. Search ‘National Lottery Funding Finder’ for more information www.lotterygood causes.org.uk/funding