Sunday 25th February
Report written by Kash
The recent heavy rains made the waters of River Brent high enough to put in question wading litter-pick in the river in Pitshanger Park, organised by the leader of Clean Up River Brent (CURB), Ben. The original event, planned for Sunday, did not happen. Did it curb Ben's appetite for a river clean-up? Certainly not! He decided to change the location to the river banks by Perivale Park Golf Course - a place which soon might be closed to create a new regional park.
Today's task had a model setup when it comes to GoodGym modes of transport:
All three arrived at the golf course car park to do a different kind of sport, not quite golfing! Instead of golf clubs 🏌️, Cathy from LAGER Can handed them litter pickers. In place of the holes 🕳️, there were hoops for the bin bags. And rather than golf balls ⛳, the GoodGymers were supposed to put litter - into the bin bags.
The teams from CURB, LAGER Can, Green 'S' Welfare Force Wing and GoodGym spread between two river banks. The GoodGymers chose the road-side of the river, far away from the danger of flying golf balls on the golf-course-side. That strategic move also meant that dropping the full bags along the road was much more convenient than taking them out of the golf course!
What we found:
What we didn't find (out):
CURB was founded by Ben Morris in October 2021 in response to a significant pollution incident on the Lower Brent, and is part of a growing movement to regenerate the UK’s badly degraded rivers. CURB, working in association with Thames21, and together with local volunteers including LAGER Can has removed around 100 tonnes of rubbish from the river – including over 500 car tyres – has initiated an invasive species replacement programme, planting hundreds of reed and rush rhizomes, reports regularly to Thames Water and the Environment Agency on pollution, is building connections with other volunteer groups throughout the Brent Catchment, and is currently trialling a self-started network of water quality sensors with the support of the Environment Agency.
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Help run drop-in service on a Friday where homeless can get free clothes and wellbeing services