Last night, David Gill (our Education Officer) and Jez Mallinson (our Education Volunteer) were talking all about the Wandle and our work on Croydon Radio.
The interview covered all sorts from our education work, Project Kingfisher, to our new project – Discovering the Source of the Wandle. It even included a wooly mammoth and a kingfisher.
Missed it? Never fear, you can listen to the whole session below.
The one with the long, long walk
Ravensbury Park is a lovely green space on the River Wandle, but hard work for a cleanup site! With limited vehicle access, we have to wheel barrow the rubbish all the way through the park to the road which, at the farthest point, is half a mile each way! Nevertheless, we were determined to tackle the park, and so we did.
On a sunny November morning, 48 volunteers gathered in Ravensbury Park for our latest Wandle cleanup, and at 11am we held the two minute silence to mark Remembrance Sunday.
Before we got started, we asked everyone to vote for our Aviva Community Project, to fund cleanups in 2017. Our Wandle cleanups are incredibly popular, and now we need extra support to keep up with the demand! If we are successful with this fund, we will be able to buy much needed equipment, including chest waders, gloves and wheelbarrows, as well as recruit and train volunteer Event Supervisors to help organise and run the events in 2017. You can still vote and help secure us funding for 2017 – just click the link below – and vote before November 18th.
Aviva: https://www.avivacommunityfund.co.uk/voting/project/view/16-2471
With plenty of volunteers from Friends of Ravensbury Park, Richmond International University and our usual keen supporters, we divided into 4 groups: wading, bank support, litter picking and tree maintenance (led by the Friends of the park).
Our waders headed into the park and starting hunting down rubbish. Surprisingly there wasn’t much in the main channel. Could this be evidence that we are making progress at this site?
As the waders got closer to the bridge at the far end of the park, we quickly found a concentrated amount of rubbish, including a trolley!
At lunchtime we were lucky enough to have the students from the Richmond International University bake for us – cupcakes and cookies, as well as a tray bake from Ann. Spoiled for choice! What amused us all were the unique cake boxes the students used, in the absence of Tupperware…
With the main channel completed, we headed to the far end of the park to tackle the back channel after lunch. This hadn’t been tackled for a while, and though it was easy wading, there were a lot of overgrown trees in the way, and blockages in the channel itself.
Progress was slow as the waders worked their way through the undergrowth, filling trugs and sending them up to our bank team who embarked on the voyage back the rubbish pile, a mere half a mile away.
We even found a rescue boat, but it wasn’t large enough to help the volunteers.
By 3 o’clock, we hadn’t quite completed the back channel, but we had made good progress and so we started to pack up the van.
So what did we find? ½ a garden pond, 1 bicycle wheel, 1 bicycle, 1 child scooter, 1 ironing board, 1 road sign, 1 push chair, 1 toy electric boat, 1 puppy teddy, 1 PC keyboard, 1 wicker baskets, 2 mobile phones, 2 shopping trolleys, 2 tyres, 2 licence plates, 3 coconuts, 6 metal poles, lots of wood and bags and bags of other junk.
Huge thanks to the Living Wandle Landscape Partnership for funding the event as part of the River Guardians projects, everyone who helped unpack and pack up the van during the event, Rosie for supervising the Event Tent, Wally & Helen for helping supervise the cleanup, Ann and the students for baking, and the Waste Team at Merton Council for organising collection of all the rubbish the next day.
Thank you to all our volunteers for coming: Alex, Andy B, Andy T, Ann, Bethel, Charles, Charlotte, Chris, Dave, Derek, Dyu-Sayaor, Ed, Gemma, Guy, Hailey, Hamai, Hannah, Ian, Isabella, James, Jamie, Jane Plant, Jane Porter, Joanne, Joe, Kayla, Kirk, Leah, Lesley, Lillian, Luisa, Lyn, Michael A, Michael S, Nick, Paniz, Per, Phil, Rose, Sara, Steve B, Steve M, Stewart, Theo, Tom, Wally and Wayne.
So what did I learn from this month’s cleanup? That our cleanup efforts are making a difference!
Our famous Wandle cleanups are incredibly popular, and now we need extra support to keep up with the demand! If we are successful with this fund, we will be able to buy much needed equipment, including chest waders, gloves and wheelbarrows, as well as recruit and train volunteer Event Supervisors to help organise and run the events.
Our cleanups make a big difference to the river. In 2015 alone we removed 33 tonnes of rubbish, clearing 6.6 km of the Wandle. Without this additional support and equipment, our cleanups won’t be funded for 2017, and running these popular events at our usual level will be much more difficult. The river cleanups will be open to all and, over the year, we expect to engage over 420 volunteers giving 1600 hours to clear 30 tonnes of rubbish from 1.2 km of the Wandle.
None of this can be achieved without the support of our wonderful local volunteers and the Aviva Community Fund. So please vote for our project and help us and the whole Wandle community make a positive difference for south London’s very own urban chalkstream in 2017!
We’d really appreciate it if you could place your 10 votes for the Wandle Cleanups, it will only take you 2 minutes.
Voting closes on the 18th November 2016 – so don’t miss your chance!
Why not share this link with your friends, family and colleagues? The more votes we get, the more likely we are to receive the funding!
If you have Facebook or Twitter, help us further by retweeting and sharing our posts.
Thank you from everyone at the Wandle Trust!
The one with moped, after moped, after moped, after moped… you get the idea.
For April’s cleanup we were back at Trewint Street, a trusty location for some big rubbish items. This month’s cleanup was kindly supported by Seymour Green Estate Agents, and the Living Wandle Landscape Partnership Scheme, funded through the National Lottery Heritage Lottery Fund.
We kicked off the cleanup in the usual style and divided into 4 teams. The first team were in charge of removing two motorbikes from the river I had spotted the week beforehand, so armed with grapples and crow bars they set off.
The second team were also wading, but downstream of Trewint Street bridge where there was a fresh batch of rubbish to remove.
The third team provided the usual much needed bank support and finally Team 4 headed off to tackle the large pile of fly tipping on the Wandle Trail. And with almost 60 people at our cleanup – we were ready for a busy day.
No sooner had everyone got started, the motorbike team were pulling out mopeds with some pace. Turns out there were more than just the two spotted the week before. By lunchtime, 8 had been pulled out of the Wandle and we called the local police in to check the number plates.
Our fly-tipping team were making a huge difference, removing junk wood, household objects and building waste from the large pile on the Wandle Trail. They even found a trolley which came in handy when moving the bikes.
Just before lunch, the Mayor of Wandsworth, Stuart Thom, came to visit all the volunteers and see the enormous amount of rubbish we were finding.
By coffee time, everyone was ready for a break. The rubbish pile was already huge and it was clear we were going to break a record at this cleanup. This month’s cakes were baked for us by two new volunteers – Ida Nyander Soderhielm and Tatiana Von Gaisberg.
The afternoon saw yet more rubbish and more mopeds….
So what did we find? 1 ladybug toy, 1 trolley (classic), 1 set of Christmas lights, 1 bowl, 1 radiator, 1 extension chord, 1 umbrella (not much use now), 1 mermaid painting, 1 scooter, 1 sports bag, 1 TV, 1 football, 1 orange tilt, 2 prams, 5 rugs, fencing panels, wooden pallets, 3 chairs, 3 tyres, 9 mopeds, loads of wood and around 80 bags of rubbish.
Huge thanks to those who helped me pack up and unload at the end of the day and to Jamie who kindly came to the garage with me; Tatiana and Ida for catering for our volunteers; Wally and Chris for helping supervise everyone on the day and the Waste Management Team at Wandsworth Council for organising collection of all the rubbish the next day.
Thank you to all our volunteers for coming: Aaron, Adele, Aimee, Carol, Charles, Charlotte, Chris, Colin, Daniel, David H, Derek, Diana, Geroid, Hannah, Howard, Ida, James, Jamie, Jason, Jo, John N, Kate, Lea, Leigh, Luisa, Marco, Margie, Mays, Mhairi, Mike, Nicky, Oliver, Penny, Per, Pip, Richard, Rob, Russell, Sarah, Serena, Simon, Sue, Sumi, Tatiana, Tia, Victoria, Wally, Wayne, Will and William.
So what did I learn from this month’s cleanup? That you never know how many mopeds are lurking in the Wandle waters.
Eel tally: 4
The one with 200 car tyres
So March saw us return to Poulter Park in Sutton for a spring clean. Our event was supported by the Big Green Fund, with 48 volunteers attending to litter pick, wade and plant trees in the park. It was a busy busy day!
With so many jobs to do we divided into 3 teams: waders and their support, litter pickers and tree planters. Peter Wilkinson (BGF Project) led the tree planters armed with spades (which I have learnt are different from shovels) and over 200 tree saplings to the chosen sites marked out with paint.
Meanwhile litter pickers were dispatched and waders hopped in the Wandle with team leader Theo. Pretty soon our wading team discovered a shocking number of tyres in the Wandle. It started with 5 being pulled out, which was crazy enough. But every time I came back to check on everyone there were more and more. The total at lunch was close to 60!
As well as tyres we found other car parts including 2 car seats, a dashboard and licence plate. Which gave us an idea….
The litter pickers had their work cut out with bottles, cans and crisp packets carpeting the undergrowth in the park. By the time we stopped for lunch the rubbish pile was already one of the biggest yet and the park was looking much cleaner already. Sally made us a delicious Easter cake with mini eggs on top and Jana brought a homemade ginger cake and cupcakes; all of which we were very grateful for. And one of our volunteers was prepared with a Chinese takeout for their lunch!
After lunch we got right back to it. The tree planters finished off their third area having planted a total of 210 saplings. They then joined to help shift all the tyres we were finding. We never got an exact count but it was over 200! We all had different tactics to get the tyres to the rubbish pile. Some used wheel barrows, some carried two like body builders and some rolled them all the way there.
Although the tyres were the star of the day, we made several other discoveries including a set of 3 silver trophies!
By 3 o’ clock we were exhausted and ready for home so we packed up the van and left the huge rubbish pile and 200 tyres for Sutton Council to collect in the morning – many thanks to them for organising this for us.
So what did we find? 1 net, 1 table leg, 1 coffee machine with instructions, 1 boat oar, 1 diving shoe, 1 pram, 1 gas meter, 1 car dashboard, 1 watering can, 1 bucket, 1 tool kit minus the tools, 1 traffic cone, 2 stuffed animal toys, 3 trophies, 4 car seats, several bits of scaffolding, lots of random metal and piping, fencing, 50 bags of other rubbish and a record breaking 200 tyres!
Huge thanks to Michael who met me in the morning to load up the van; Sally and Jana for catering for our volunteers; Theo and John for helping supervise everyone on the day and the Waste Management Team at Sutton Council for organising collection of all the rubbish the next day.
Thank you to all our volunteers for coming: Aaron, Abi, Alan, Alex, Barry, Bruno, Charles, Chris, Claire, Dave, David, Derek, Elliott, Gearoid, Helen, Ian, Jamie, Jan, Jana, Janet, Jason, Joe, John B, John L, John N, Ken, Lauren, Lloyd, Mark, Michael B, Michael H, Nicola, Per, Rob, Rose, Sally, Stewart, Theo, Tom, Tony and Victor.
So what did I learn from this month’s cleanup? That you never know what surprises the Wandle will have in store for you.
Eel tally: 1
You have the chance to have your say in how the Wandle is managed in the future.
The Environment Agency has published draft River Basin Management Plans for every river in the UK and they want to hear your opinion!
To help you get involved and add your voice, WWF have created an easy way to make your opinions heard.
Got a couple of minutes? Answers these quick 5 questions.
Got a bit longer? Give us more detail on what you value to be important to your local river here.
Share this with your friends and family – #SAVEOURWATERS
There’s a great article about the Wandle river restoration story in the latest issue of The Angler, the Angling Trust’s new-look magazine, which has been dropping through members’ letter boxes over the weekend.
The Angling Trust was instrumental in helping the Wandle Trust to negotiate the 5-year Living Wandle project funding for the river’s restoration, after the notorious pollution incident in 2007, and its Fish Legal team are constantly negotiating and fighting court cases on behalf of other rivers and their local residents.
If you’re already a member of the Angling Trust, keep an eye out for the article. And if you’re not a member, but you enjoy fishing the Wandle and other rivers, we highly recommend joining the Trust and supporting one of the great forces for good in the conservation world!
Just recently, Sally Ann Symis, volunteer and keen amateur photographer of Wandle cleanups, won a photography competition run by the Cotswold Outdoor Clothing Company and the Wandsworth Guardian. The brief was to capture a scene of outdoor adventure in the London Borough of Wandsworth, so Sally Ann submitted her photograph of our wonderful volunteers hard at work cleaning up the river at Trewint Street.
Not surprisingly, she emerged the winner and went along to the new Cotswold Outdoor Clothing store in Southside’s shopping centre in August to collect her prize – an Aquapac case to keep her camera dry and some vouchers to spend in the store – very appropriate for someone who has trekked to Everest Base Camp and Machu Picchu in the last two years!
Pictured alongside Sally Ann is runner up Orla Higgins whose photograph of her son won second prize:
and the winning photograph:
Update: this story has now been reported in the Wandsworth Guardian!
We’re delighted to be able to tell all our friends and supporters the great news that the Wandle Valley has just been awarded the Heritage Lottery Fund’s first ever urban landscape partnership grant.
The Living Wandle grant is worth £1.9 million over the next 4 years, and will help us start delivering many exciting projects recently identified via the Wandle’s new Catchment Plan, including river restoration in Ravensbury Park, a new River Guardians scheme, invasive species management and river-based education programmes.
The full bid has involved lots of hard work from many people across Wandsworth, Croydon, Sutton and Merton Councils, as well as the National Trust, Groundwork London, London Wildlife Trust, the Wandle Valley Regional Park Trust, the Wandle Valley Festival, the Wandle Piscators and ourselves at the Wandle Trust.
Click here to download the HLF’s full press release – and watch this space for more news as this historic grant starts bringing the Wandle’s rich heritage to life for everyone to enjoy!
With three rousing cheers and a final farewell, the last of this year’s trout swam off into the waters of the Wandle.
Three Wandle Valley schools – plus about 10 staff and volunteers – congregated in the lovely Morden Hall Park on Thursday 18 April. This being only my third visit to the park, I’m more convinced than ever that it is one of the top parks in London. Much of this is owed to the river itself which casts a magical spell on the surrounding areas.
The gods played their part with their timing of the weather. It was a perfect April day – with bright, warm sunshine but followed by the most torrential rain we’ve seen all year. Fortunately, by the time the rain arrived we were safely inside the National Trust café with our tea and scones, celebrating a successful release and another successful year of Trout from the Classroom to the Wandle!
It was particularly inspiring to see the young children from Greenmeads Primary School in Putney, some of whom had arrived in wheelchairs. They greatly enjoyed getting into the water, and they had also integrated the trout brilliantly into their classroom with displays on the school corridors. A trout demonstration is planned for school assembly next month. Well done to them!
Two Sutton schools took part this year: Orchard Hill College and Culvers House Primary School. Chris from Orchard Hill has done a fantastic job of looking after the fish this year, ending up with around 60 fry, one of the best tallies in what has been a tough year for some of the schools. Chris’s pride in the achievement was, understandably, very tangible!
Culvers House Primary have had a hard year in raising their fish this year with a number of fish kills drastically reducing their numbers. And yet the enthusiasm from the children and the teachers has just been incredible and has never faltered.
When I visited Culvers House to give a presentation on the subject to the assembly, the attention of the young people over 40 minutes was extraordinary – as were the number of intelligent questions they put to me and Chris from Penta Consulting, which generously supported the programme in the school. The core team of children who looked after the tank brimmed with ideas, curiosity and energy – which was brilliant to witness.
We also had a very special guest at our Morden Hall Park event – George Monbiot from the Guardian newspaper. Although I didn’t let on at the time, he is something of a personal hero with his incredibly insightful environmental writing and I was a bit stunned in seeing him turn up. It was also not without some apprehension – knowing that he doesn’t pull his punches.
However, the piece that he wrote was extremely touching and personal and is a wonderful piece of writing. A fly fisherman himself when time allows, it was clear the project had a genuine impact on him. A big thanks goes to Mark and Nick of Project Dirt for setting up the connection.
So well done to the students this year. It has been a fascinating year of learning and experiencing the outdoors on our doorstep – for myself included – and I can’t wait to do it again!
(First photo: Theo Pike / Urbantrout. All others: Mike van der Vord)