‘A considerate tornado’ – with a positive impact.

Just over six years years ago, I walked side by side across the sand with my sister, Sara. The bright South African sun was beating down and Sara was excitedly telling my son Jacob about all the different marine life that could be found just offshore. Later that evening, over a glass of red wine, we laughed together as she told me about her latest adventure. She was planning to document a voyage across the Atlantic with two friends recording plastic pollution and raise awareness of its impact on the oceans.

Sara always thought people could work together to achieve change. She had a passion, energy and thirst for life that was contagious, and this adventure suited her desire to live life to the fullest.

The journey started well, and Sara had prepared us for the fact that she would not be in contact frequently. But, on 1st July the contact stopped completely. Sara and her friends were caught in a storm that overwhelmed their boat and, tragically, claimed Sara’s life. The impact on myself, parents, family and friends was profound. Through the months of pain that followed, I felt truly heartbroken for Sara herself. She had so many aspirations and she was striving to achieve every single one of them.

A considerate tornado

Born on 30th June 1986, with a shock of black hair and beautiful blue eyes, Sara was “a considerate tornado” – bubbly, outgoing, captivating, funny, silly at times (no, a lot!) and simply like no other.

My dad and Sara had learnt to dive together in Australia and the Red Sea, and this had been a spark for Sara’s interest in the oceans. After completing a degree in Zoology at Leeds University, she travelled the world through her work in international development and conservation. She was notorious for making friends in every place she set foot. Her final move was to South Africa, a place she instantly fell in love with. It was here she met several people who inspired her to take on her own projects, and from here that she set off across the South Atlantic Ocean to record the presence of microplastics.

Saras work

Anyone who knew Sara knew her spark. Her energy was infectious. She had such passion for those she loved and the wonders of our natural world - especially our oceans. She dedicated her career and much of her personal time to the preservation of oceans and coastlines in several countries, often working with local communities in these areas, to educate and empower them to do the same.

’Sara King believed that hands on research and data collection should not only be done by those in academia, government and industry; but that active citizen and the dedicated youth also had a role to play.’ Explains, Dr Holly Nel, a research fellow at The University of Birmingham, who worked closely with Sara. ‘This she believed could be done by coming together in our shared love of nature - to create research projects that allowed citizens and scholars the opportunity to be a part of the story.’

Sara was working in South Africa because she believed in the value of the projects she engaged with. She worked closely with Cape Radd, a marine field station that serves as a platform for researchers in Cape Town, which runs a range of educational citizen science days and courses for ocean enthusiasts. The team are passionate about marine conservation and educating others through snorkelling and diving experiences, theoretical workshops and much more.

The Sara King Ocean TaSKforce (SKOTF)

Anyone who has lost someone will understand the strong urge to channel the pain of a significant loss into something positive. For me, I am proud that in 2021 this resulted in the set up of The Sara King Ocean TaSKforce – a growing team of people who strive to continue some of the incredible work that Sara was involved in.

The SKOTF’s overall aim is to raise awareness of the ocean plastic crisis and we decided a perfect way to do this was to work alongside a charity called The 2 Minute Foundation. They aim to “empower, educate, inspire and enable individuals, groups and businesses to make simple changes or take part in simple actions that will contribute to the planet’s wellbeing”. They promote the message that we can all clean up the planet 2 minutes at a time to make a real impact. For further information please take a look at their website, https://2minute.org and their IG/FB pages, @ The 2 Minute Foundation/ 2minutehq.

Sara’s legacy has inspired so many people to get involved in whatever way they can, and she continues to have an amazing impact on people to this day. This is evident through the amount we have raised, 4338 pounds of our initial target of 4120, over the past three summers for The 2 Minute Foundation. The funds that have been raised for The 2 Minute Foundation have enabled the SKOTF to adopt a beach clean station In South Devon and support the recruitment, training and equipment of two Guardian angels for one year, who inspire local communities and look after up to ten of the #2minutebeachclean cleaning stations.

They have ensured the funds raised have been put to areas that Sara was particularly passionate about, such as educating our youth and raising awareness among the wider community and have been so committed to supporting the project and continuing to keep Sara’s memory alive.

In addition to the funds raised by SKOTF, Sara herself motivated hundreds of people, either who knew her personally or have been inspired by her story, to carry out beach and street cleans. You can see many beautiful pictures of from the #. skbeachclean2021 #. skbeachclean2022 and #skbeachclean2023 on our social media pages and also on this just giving page.

You can also visit our previous fundraising page, to see all the beautiful messages from people who donated since the SKOTF was set up in 2021.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/inlovingmemoryofSaraKing

#Skbeachclean2024 and this year's SKOTF fundraising

This year, we want to share the love and fundraise for another charity that was close to Sara's heart, Surfers Against Sewage.

Here is a little more about the amazing work that they do

About SAS

We're a charity of water lovers campaigning to protect the ocean and all it makes possible, by taking action on the ground that triggers change from the top. For people to thrive and live life to the fullest, the ocean must thrive too. And so we need to confront the plastic pollution, and Sewage pollution that threatens it. From the beachfront to the frontbench, pavements to the hilltops, we're creating inspired, motivated Ocean Activists everywhere, each one of us committed to the exact same thing: protecting the ocean and all it makes possible. We gather the evidence and give voice to the issues that hold leaders to account. Today, we're more than surfers. It's more than sewage. We're here because of the ocean. Let's fight for it.

Plastic pollution campaigns that funds raised could be supporting

12 million tonnes of plastic is dumped into the ocean every year. 80% of all studied marine debris is plastic. Surfers Against Sewage is a leading voice in the battle to eliminate plastic pollution, mobilising and empowering a nationwide network of Ocean Activists to take action and make a difference. We connect people power on the ground with businesses and changemakers to set policies and pass laws that focus on reducing, reusing and refilling, to shift our broken consumerist economy into a model that is sustainable, responsible and clean.

We are working with over 700 communities up and down the county to rid their local communities of plastic by becoming a Plastic Free Community. Over 2,400 schools are now signed up to become a Plastic Free Schools with the next generation leading the way. Over 140,00 ocean activists are out and about every week cleaning up our beaches, river banks and parklands with our Million Mile Clean. We've removed almost 400,000kg of plastic pollution from the environment. And we are pressuring government to adopt new policies that will stem the tide of plastic washing into the ocean and rivers. Each Million Mile Clean kit comes with a citizen science opportunity so people can submit the results of the plastic collected on their cleans, and this data feeds into to our annual 'Dirty Dozen' report, which exposes the worst offending plastic polluters. This data helps us hold the dirty polluters to account, and enables us to up the pressure with our government and call for schemes like the UK Deposit Return Scheme, to help reduce plastic pollution from entering the ocean.

Sara's legacy will live on through the SAS ocean-saving work, and all the donations we raise will go towards their campaigns, from beach clean programmes, to their water quality protests. Just to give you an idea of what Sara's in-memory donations could go towards, one beach clean kit for 30 people costs around £45. So the money you raised could fund over 30 beach cleans, for over 1,000 volunteers. Even if each of those volunteers cleaned only a mile, the total distance cleaned would be nearly double the length of the South West Coast Path.

What you can do to help

If you would like to help us honour her memory, grab something yellow to wear, do a beach/park/street clean and tag us on instagram and Facebook @Sara King Ocean Task Force (FB) / saraking_oceantaskforce (IG) using the #skbeachclean2024

You could also donate to the SAS via the SKOTF Just Giving page. It doesn't need to be a large amount, think of it like buying her a birthday card or a beer :)

Thank you , from Kirsty and the SKOTF

Miss you always my beautiful big sister 💛🐳💛