I know what some readers' first question may be: what is sea glass exactly? Something the sea produces?

Well, the answer is, confusingly, yes and no. 
So far, so clear? Good. We'll come back to that in a second.
Beachcombers come in all sorts of varieties. Some like collecting shells, some prefer scanning beaches for driftwood, fossils, pieces of pottery, or 'mermaid's purses.' Some look for odd items, like messages in bottles, that may have floated halfway across the world on the ever moving tides. For me, it's the daily change to the beach that every tide causes that piques my interest. The beach you walk on today will be different from tomorrow's. To be the first to walk on a newly laid beach after a storm or any high tide can reveal a beach-scape (I may have invented a word there) never seen before.
My mother, Adrienne, a Felixstowe resident, is one of very few, or so I thought, people who are a little bit obsessed with sea glass. Sea glass can be old pieces of glass from Victorian bottle-making factories, discarded generations ago, tumbled in the surf for decades, and thrown back onto dry land in smooth and pretty shapes and shades. It sometimes hides well amongst the endless pebbles, but it's there. You just have to get your head down and look. Sea glass can also be merely broken bottles, thrown into the sea by irresponsible beach-goers having a beer, and being a little further from a rubbish bin than they'd have liked. 
When a piece of glass of any kind is in the sea for a length of time, its once-jagged edges are smoothed into eventually pebble-like shapes, pleasing to eye that beholds them and the hand that holds them. The action of the waves, over time, rolls the glass around until rubbing against stones and sand creates rounder edges and a polished or frosty appearance. If a piece of found glass is still as yet unsmoothed by the waves' action, it is considered 'uncooked,' and usually removed from the beach.
When sea glass is suitably 'cooked' though, it can, and is, used to create jewellery, or artwork using many different mediums. Smoothed pieces of pottery are sometimes used too, to compliment glass in artwork.

When Mum told me that she was going to start a group on Facebook for sea glass hunters, I, as sensitively as I could, suggested that as far as I knew, she might be the only person who regards sea glass as collectable. Her attempt at uniting a community of like-minded enthusiasts would, I feared, end in disappointment, and possibly the realisation that she was alone in her interest in sea glass.
Well, I was wrong. Very, in fact. The group she started, called 'Sea Glass Hunters UK,' attracted quite a bit of interest. It's been going for a few years now, and to this very day, it's still gaining momentum. She regularly wakes up to a couple of hundred new people looking to join, sometimes from all over the world. She is still the sole administrator of now well over 31,000 members. I believe there is only one group larger, but I think eventually, Adrienne's will eclipse it. It's a very good natured and welcoming group, with members sharing their hauls and the wonderful art they create with it. Also, one rule of the group is, that you don't have to share the pictures of your hauls, but if you decide to, you're expected to disclose the location of its discovery, if asked. This courtesy has led to members meeting on beaches, making new friends and finding new places to search for the object of their obsession.
If you're already a beachcomber, or already interested in sea glass, maybe you could ask to join the group. Just look up Sea Glass Hunters UK on Facebook to meet some of your kind.
Honestly, some of the creative ways some of the members use to display their sea glass collections may lead to the uninitiated to re-evaluate their understanding of the word 'treasure.'