LET’S FIGHT FOR A HAPPY ENDING
SISTER’S TRIBUTE TO TRAGIC KAYAKER Writer backs drive to bin plastic straws
Craig McDonald A children’s author is backing our campaign to banish plastic straws.
Ellie Jackson wrote Duffy’s Lucky Escape to try to ra i s e awareness among youngsters about the issue of plastics waste and the damage it does to our wildlife. The book was edited by her tragic brother D om Jackson who died in a kayak accident in Portsoy, Aberdeenshire last year. Now Ellie, 38, is donating dozens of copies to schools in the area as a thank you to the way communities responded to the family when Dom, 35, went missing.
Duffy’s Lucky Escape is dedicated to his memory.
Ellie, of Looe, Cornwall, said: “Dom went out kayaking near Portsoy last year and drowned. It was terrible for us all but we will never forget the way the community tried to help.
“Dom helped edit the book and had a big input and influence on it. I am passionate about the issue of plastic straws. The book is my way of ttrying to bring the message tto young children in a way I fefeel they will understand and is appropriate for them.
“I’m giving copies of Duffy’s LLucky Escape to all the schools in the area – it will be about 770 copies in total and we are aabout halfway through at the mmoment.”
Ellie wrote her book about a turtle she encountered in AAustralia which was rescued, rehabilitated and released back into the ocean after having swallowed plastic.
Meanwhile, volunteers will today stage a beach clean event in memory of Dom at Lunan Bay, near Arbroath, from 10am to 3pm.
They will be picking up plastics at the shoreline and bagging rubbish for recycling.