Keep Britain Tidy Spring Clean 2018 – training for Rivers Trusts
A little bit out of the Borough, but some of you might find this training interesting! (Thanks to the Rivers Trust for the information)
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
The Rivers Trust is joining Keep Britain Tidy in assembling an army of #litterheroes for a UK wide mass clean-up as 80% of plastic in the oceans comes from land, and rivers are a significant pathway for it to get there.
To do this, they are calling on as many Rivers Trusts as possible to get behind Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean 2018 and hold a river cleanup volunteer event, to help highlight the importance of keeping our rivers clean.
To help Rivers Trusts hold a river clean up, we’re offering Rivers Trust members FREE accredited training for up to 12 Rivers Trusts who wish to hold a cleanup event over the weekend of the 2nd – 4th March.
This 2-day NCFE accredited course, called ‘Leading a Waterway Cleanup,’ is run by Thames21. The course will help you confidently plan and run a safe, effective and enjoyable waterway improvement event with volunteers.
They are proposing to hold the 2-day training event in Manchester (venue tbc) on Thursday 15th Feb – 16th Feb @10.30am – 3.30pm each day.
Day 1 will help you plan a waterway clean up event, covering urban waterway issues, processes and considerations involved in planning, identification of locations and recognising potential risks.
Day 2 will help you lead a successful cleanup event and will take you through the methodology for planning and running practical volunteer events, health and safety, and positive leadership behaviours and techniques.
In order to become certified, trainees must attend the 2 days and complete two assignments.
3 Rivers Clean Up 2018
Our first 3 Rivers Clean Up planning session will be taking place later this week. We hope that by the end o it we will have confirmed the dates for this year’s festival. We hope that will be able to overlap with London Rivers Week. This will be the 10th year that we have been running this project so look our for some fun anniversary events and celebrations.
The 3RiversCleanUp is a three-week long intensive annual volunteer campaign to improve the rivers Ravensbourne, Pool and Quaggy in South East London.
Take your family, your friends or just yourself on an urban wilderness adventure this summer and discover the rivers and the nature they support. Join others in removing harmful rubbish and invasive plant species so as to improve the habitats for both flowers and animals. Learn about nature, about the quality of water and why it’s important and also join in with other associated events such as wildlife habitat management, pond dipping and nature walks, most of which will be suitable for all ages. All events are FREE.
If you would like to get involved have a look at the events calendar over the coming months to find out details of event locations and contact details of the event organisers. Events will start to be populated once dates have been finalised. If you would like a bespoke event for your company, please free to contact us and we will do our best to arrange something.
Events are free but some require pre-booking. If there is heavy rain an event may be cancelled at short notice due to the risk of flash flooding. Please check with the event organiser if the weather is bad.
CaBA Workshop – London, 30 January 2018
Location: National Council For Voluntary Organisations, All Saints Street, London N1 9RL, United Kingdom
Date: January 30, 2018 10:00am—4:00 pm
Booking: Via Eventbrite
Joint the Rivers Trust for a CaBA (Catchment Based Approach) Workshop in London to cover a range of issues including the 2018 benefits, evaluation and monitoring reporting, monitoring for catchment management encompassing water quality and the effectiveness of Natural Flood Management, CaBA and the 25-year plan, Km Enhanced and more.
January – March 2018 RBSM programme
The new Rivers and People programme is now available. Join us for our Tuesday sessions where tasks will include the removal of invasive species, litter picks, pond work and clearing of the river banks. If you have any questions about our sessions, please visit the Rivers and People page on this blog.
Swifts & Enhancing Urban Biodiversity
An illustrated talk by Edward Mayer of Swift Conservation
22 February 2018, 19.00 to 21.00 Lewisham Council Chambers – Booking via Eventbrite
This talk should be useful for planners, developers, architects, bird-watchers, nature lovers and anyone with an interest in how we live in our towns and cities.
Swifts are our fastest bird in level flight, and by far the most acrobatic and exciting. They bring amazing aerial displays to even the grimmest city centre.
By encouraging and supporting this bird urban skies can be transformed, and in turn, urban biodiversity and its many benefits promoted. We urgently need to support and enhance urban biodiversity, not just for our own health, but also for the health of the planet.
Edward will show the reasons for the Swift’s decline plus what we can do to save it. Topics covered will include basic biology, habitat and nesting requirements, with examples of easy, cost effective nest place projects.
We have choices when creating urban environments and providing places to live, work and relax in. We can tackle many of the problems with the right motivation and vision, armed with research and examples, using our altruism, and resisting the pressure to “race to the bottom”.
“Green” estates and “leafy suburbs” are the places people want to live, where they are healthier and less of a burden on the NHS and other taxpayer-funded welfare services, and which hold their value, while the “concrete jungle” alternatives quickly decline and end up being demolished.
Starting with Swifts, Edward will run through the basics for providing a richer urban biodiversity, also showing examples of mistakes, “what not to do”, as well as examples of successful schemes.
Rivers and People 