Award-winning Californian wine brand, Barefoot Wine, has teamed up with Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) to help keep Britain’s beaches ‘barefoot friendly’. The 2011 Barefoot Friendly Beach Rescue tour will visit 14 beaches around the UK between May and September, collecting litter and returning the beaches to their natural state.

Britain has the thirteenth longest coastline in the world and our beaches provide a fantastic day out for everyone, and it’s easy to do your bit to keep them clean but currently a piece of marine litter is found on average at least every 30cm. In addition, marine plastic litter is responsible for the deaths of over 1.5m marine mammals and seabirds each year. To date, thousands of volunteers have helped Barefoot Wine and SAS clear many tonnes of litter from Britain’s beaches, and 2011 will see the project’s biggest ever year with an incredible money-can’t-buy reward available to all volunteers.

To celebrate the fourth annual ‘barefoot friendly’ Beach Rescue Project from Barefoot Wine and SAS, hotly tipped rising star Ben Howard will be performing an exclusive invitation-only acoustic set at three of the beach clean ups, only for volunteers.  Ben will be supporting a cause close to his heart; “I grew up in south Devon and so the coast has always played a huge part in my life – I still surf when I can. Barefoot Wine and SAS’s events this summer are a great idea – it will make a huge difference in keeping as many beaches as possible barefoot friendly. I’m really excited about getting involved and looking forward to meeting as many volunteers as I can over the summer”.  As well as enjoying a recent run of sold out gigs, Ben has already been tipped by the likes of Zane Lowe (Radio 1), Dermot O’Leary (Radio 2) and Lauren Laverne (6Music).  His debut album will be released in September through Island Records.

In an age of austerity and budget cuts, our natural habitat needs our help to protect it more than ever.  Government spending becomes harder to rely on so Barefoot Wine is asking everyone to donate just a couple of hours of their time to help make these beautiful locations as clean, safe and enjoyable as possible. As a thank you, all volunteers will receive a free organic Barefoot Wine/SAS volunteer t-shirt, and then be invited to a beach BBQ, hosted by Barefoot Wine and SAS, accompanied by wine samples from the award-winning Barefoot Wine range.  In addition, Ben will be performing at Porthtowan, Cornwall (June 26th), Kingsbarn, Fife, Scotland (July 9th) and Whitley Bay, North Tyneside (August 26th) – volunteers from any of the clean ups will be welcome to come and see these special performances.  Volunteers should remember to dress appropriately for the weather.

“We’re very proud to be supporting SAS again and playing our part in keeping Britain’s beaches ‘barefoot friendly’ for the fourth year in a row”, said Barefoot Wine representative Alistair Feest. “2011 will be our biggest and most exciting year so far, and all of our Barefooters are really looking forward to helping out at the clean ups and then thanking all our volunteers with a well deserved glass of Barefoot Wine.”

The Barefoot Friendly Beach Rescue project originated in the United States, with Barefoot Wine working alongside the Surfrider Foundation, organising a series of clean up and restoration events on American beaches. The concept was launched in the UK with SAS four years ago and has brought local communities together to help remove unwanted litter from beaches and reinstate Britain’s coastline to its former natural glory.

Speaking of the Barefoot Wine beach clean up tour, SAS Director Hugo Tagholm said “We’re delighted to be organising an increasing number of events with Barefoot Wine, who are very supportive of our campaigns. These beach clean ups are a great way for people to take positive, direct action to tackle the problem, so please join us and Barefoot Wine to help protect even more beaches this summer”.

The full list of dates is below and details of all beach clean ups can be found on www.sas.org.uk and information on the brand’s wine portfolio can be found on www.barefootwine.com. In addition to the ‘barefoot friendly’ beach clean tour, Barefoot Wine supports a series of community events, charity fundraisers, music festivals and sporting events.

The Barefoot Wine range has a RRP of £6.49 and the 6 varietals are Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc. Moscato, Merlot, Shiraz and White Zinfandel. Barefoot Wine is now available through Tesco, Co-Op, Asda and Sainsbury’s and across the convenience sector.