After a long day clearing up little bits of plastic and wool from a beach in East Devon, I sat down with a cup of tea to watch Tom Price's DVD Burn on the Bayou - a documentary of how Burners Without Borders came to be.

It shows some terrible scenes from New Orleans and the surrounding area. I cried. Not just because of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. But also at the generosity of the burner community.

The reason I volunteered to promote BWB in the UK was because of my desire to see the values and community spirit of Black Rock City spread out into every day life.

There were a couple of hundred volunteers on Seaton beach today. Amongst them - as far as I am aware - just one burner - me. But I connected with that same community spirit that I found at Burning Man. People of all ages, from many different backgrounds, finding common ground and working together to create something positive. Building community around a collaborative effort.

I was accompanied by the 16-year-old lad that I'm currently fostering. He was bored stiff - but worked hard none-the-less. Thanks dude!

So that's two of us, with two bags of litter. Its a start. And BWB UK is here to stay! I'll be working on as many new projects as I can. And we'd love you to join in.

Thanks to the combined effort of all the volunteers, the people down at Seaton now have a clean, safe beach. There are more beach clean events planned throughout March and more coming along throughout the summer. Please get in touch if you'd like to take part.

Thanks,

Russ

P.S. Here's some pics...

Russ (with beard) and James - BWB volunteers ready for action!

Beach clean in full swing.

The result of all the hard work. Just some of the oily rubbish collected.