Surfers Against Sewage and wood fired pizzas

Summer 24 has been full of sensational adventures, from watching the sun go down over Padstow estuary to dancing through the night in Penhallow woodland.

We have chatted with many new customers and have started building relationships with local businesses. This summer has been exhausting and exciting, and the Luma staff deserved to celebrate.

With so many memories owed to the beauty of Devon and Cornwall, our first Luma Social needed to set the precedent and to give back to the local community.

Surfers Against Sewage and Great British Beach Clean Week:

SAS provides a brilliant online service of allowing anyone to register a beach clean, advertise it to the public, and provide the equipment needed for FREE!

Beach cleans are a great social activity with growing popularity. We felt this would be a worthy focus for our Luma social, and something we could continue to make a regular event. 

Choosing to host our Luma Beach Clean Social on September 21st also coincided with the Great British Beach Clean week. Another brilliant service offering access to organised beach cleans. 

Why did we choose Black Rock beach, Bude:

Black Rock is a beach for exploring.

Year round dog friendly, endless rock pools and the brilliant Black Rock cafe, it was the perfect place to host the first Luma Beach Clean Social. It is also a secret favourite for the surfers in our team; few crowds and lifeguards to hand, it is one for list.

How much can you fit into a beach clean social?

Quite a lot it turns out!

To thank everyone involved this Summer, and the many members of the public who joined the clean, we arranged the team with new roles for the day

Creative Director and pizza chef extraordinaire, Jo, fired up the wood burning pizza ovens for some fresh pizza snacks

Marketing Manager and farmhouse baker Lucy handpicked local blackberries, apples and eggs to cook up a feast of traditional farm treats.

Luma Founder Will kept everyone entertained with beach games and activities such as rounders, rugby and Nerf darts.

Alex, our events-coordinator, ensured everyone was chased into the sea for a Cornwall refresh and wave jumping. 

And the whole team worked together to keep our friends, family and beach clean helpers fully equipt and enjoying the day.

How did the day go?

Beautiful, warm sunshine throughout the day, topped off by the upcoming September Equinox, it was a dream. Black Rock beach was filled with people all day, dropping in for a chat and to help out. 

The kind car park attendant allowed the team to park for free and golden hour truly was golden. We were also visited by hungry, on duty Lifeguards! They loved the idea of encouraging beach cleans as a social activity and left topped up with cakes, pizzas and sunnies. 

To complete our day and celebrate a year of hard work and growth, we toasted with the delicious, Cornwall grown champagne, Camel Valley!

Local businesses who supported the clean

Devon and Cornwall is filled with expert and specialist businesses, all working to provide locally sourced produce. They have a shared love for the places they live in and the same need to protect the environment. 

Sandford Orchards:

‘Proudly independent and family run. We only ever use fresh juice from the best locally sourced cider apples and every drop is made in Britain’s oldest working cider mill in the heart of Devon.’ 

The lovely Jess at Sandford Orchards kindly arranged a generous donation of their delicious Devon Red, Devon Mist and their new Devon Red 0%. We were very excited to see the Sandford Orchard van arrive to drop them off and sent the driver back donning Luma sunnies.

Firebrand Brewing:

‘Forged Firebrand in 2012 in a converted milking parlour on the untamed edge of Bodmin Moor, North Cornwall. The idea was born from our passion for beer made from all-natural ingredients, Cornish spring water, and American hops.’

Our customer success Manager is a long term fan and advocate of Firebrand. He introduced Luma to their marketing man Phil who provided us with boxes of Summerleaze and Helles beach! Colourful designs and flavourful contents to match, thank you so much.

Fever Tree:

‘Since we put the lid on our first bottle of our Premium Indian Tonic Water, we haven’t wavered in our single-minded mission to bring quality, flavour and choice back to mixers. Innovation remains at the heart of Fever-Tree and we've developed a range of tonic waters that perfectly complement the varied flavour categories of gin.’ 

Although Fever Tree is not a local business, many of their staff are. They support protecting the local environment in any way they can and provided large amounts of soft drinks for everyone.

The next beach clean:

Luma Eyewear will be travelling around Devon and Cornwall, hosting beach cleans every few months.

Exploring coastlines, hiking through woodland and spending time outdoors is what drives the Luma team. Protecting these special places is what makes Luma. 

See you all at the next one!