The London Walking Festival Podcast series

Ep. 36 London Rivers Week

London Rivers Week is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and to mark the occasion we sat down with Liz Gyekye, Communications Manager at Thames 21, to talk about the festival, the state of London’s rivers, and why getting involved matters more than ever.

Liz Gyekye from Thames 21 talks rivers

Let's Walk a Million Miles in May

London Rivers Week runs from 23 to 31 May as part of the London Walking Festival, with around 40 events spanning guided walks, talks, cultural activities, citizen science surveys and family days out. Events take place right across the capital, from creek wading in Deptford to elver watching at twilight along the Ravensbourne, and from foreshore cleanups on the Thames to wildflower identification along the Silk Stream. Many events are already fully booked, so check the Thames21 website for waitlists and new additions.

Thames 21 is an environmental charity that works with local communities to protect the River Thames and its tributaries. The charity engages around 7,000 volunteers each year. When it launched in the 1990s, the focus was on pulling shopping trolleys, car tyres and large items out of the river. Today the work spans scientific river restoration, water quality monitoring and citizen science data collection.

In this episode, we talk about:

  • The 10th anniversary of London Rivers Week and what to expect from this year’s programme
  • How Thames 21 has evolved from hands-on litter removal to large-scale scientific restoration
  • The role of citizen science in gathering water quality data and lobbying for change
  • The successful campaign to ban plastic wet wipes, backed by five years of foreshore data and 142,000 wet wipes collected by volunteers
  • Wildlife in the tidal Thames, from otters and eels to herons, crabs and oysters
  • Favourite London rivers, including the River Wandle (a chalk stream) and the Hogsmill River
  • The water vole reintroduction project near Tolworth, which features during London Rivers Week
  • Community collaborations along rivers like the Lea and the Ravensbourne
  • Chinbrook Meadows wetland restoration in Lewisham
  • Thames 21’s Welsh Harp Centre reopening in north London
  • What individuals can do to protect London’s rivers

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Discover Things to Do

We’re curating a dynamic programme of things to do — from walks and talks to workshops and cultural activities — all in and around our pop-up Visitors Centre at 80 Mortimer Street. These activities are run in collaboration with a range of partners, both big and small.

For the latest list of upcoming activities, visit:
nationalparkcity.london/events

To find out more or discuss running your own event, contact Louis Rutherford at
louis.rutherford@nationalparkcity.org.

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