WATER YOU WAITING FOR? DIVE INTO NEWRY’S BLUE SPACES THIS AUGUST
Live Here Love Here’s Healthy Oceans Healthy Minds campaign is returning to Newry and the surrounding area for its sixth year, with events planned to take place across the region throughout August, sponsored by Belfast Harbour and supported by The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).
The Healthy Oceans Healthy Minds programme of events includes a broad range of activities encouraging people to get out and experience just how valuable a resource Newry's local blue spaces can be to physical health, to mental wellbeing, and to bringing communities closer together.
One of the highlights of this year’s Newry and surrounding areas programme is the Marine Mammal Discovery Day at Cranfield Beach, Kilkeel, on Thursday 20 August at 11am, inviting families to learn more about the seals, dolphins and porpoises found around Northern Ireland’s coastline. Led by Enspire Learn, the fun, hands-on session will explore these fascinating marine animals and what we can all do to help protect them and the coastal environments they call home through a range of fun and interactive activities.
The campaign aims to highlight how important Northern Ireland’s waterways are to communities in a bid to encourage people to protect them from pollution, particularly litter.
Live Here Love Here’s Marine Litter Report 2025 includes litter survey information from 12 beaches across Northern Ireland and has highlighted that the region’s shores are still awash with discarded waste. 26,442 items of litter were recorded and 85% of the litter found was made from plastic.
Lynda Surgenor, Community Engagement Manager at Live Here Love Here said, “Litter, no matter how small, can have significant consequences for marine wildlife and our environment. We are fortunate that Northern Ireland is home to outstanding natural beauty and all of us owe it to future generations to look after these areas and protect them. Sadly, as our latest Marine Litter Report shows some people are not playing their part. Many of our community groups litter pick across a broad range of waterways from beaches to rivers to coastlines, all to improve our marine areas, and their work is essential. Healthy Oceans Healthy Minds aims to empower more people to connect with the benefits of nature in hopes that it inspires them to want to look after it, and ultimately improve it.”
Jenni Barkley, Communications Engagement Manager at Belfast Harbour said, “Year after year Healthy Oceans Healthy Minds continues to highlight the various ways people can positively engage with and celebrate our wonderful waterways and reiterates how important it is to look after them. In partnership with Live Here Love Here, we can continue to educate people on the better choices they can make to protect our seas and waterways from further damage and pollution.”
Live Here Love Here is also partnering with individuals, community groups, businesses, local authorities, schools, and charities across Northern Ireland to create their own events to enhance the 2026 programme.
Lynda concluded, “We are incredibly grateful to Belfast Harbour, DAERA, our wider partners, but most of all to the hundreds of community groups across Northern Ireland who look after the places where they live for the enjoyment of people and to ensure biodiversity can thrive. Live Here Love Here runs on people power – and by merging doing good for the environment with connecting people across their own communities, the movement continues to have a huge impact. It’s incredibly important that we continue to engage people across the region, young and old, environmentalists and those new to stewardship, to ensure that together we can all create lasting positive change for generations to come.”
Over half of this year’s Healthy Oceans Healthy Minds events are completely free to attend. Any proceeds from paid-for events will support the work of Live Here Love Here to connect people and nature.
For more information visit www.liveherelovehere.org/healthyoceanshealthyminds