Management Team Support with Lewisham Council's 3 Rivers Clean Up Initiative

On Wednesday 8th July the Lewisham Management team jumped into the River Quaggy to support Lewisham Councils annual 3 Rivers Clean Up Initiative.

Working with the Nature Conservation Officer and the Project Manager - Nature Neighbourhoods, Nature Towns & Cities team. We supported them cleaning a section of the River Quaggy at its confluence with the River Ravensbourne in central Lewisham. Alongside doing a litter pick we were also tasked with clearing invasive Himalayan Balsam. The Environment Agency were also present to support with the clean up and help educate the team about the ecology around the river.

By the end of the 2 hour session

• Over 9 large bin bags of rubbish were collected
• 1,000 invasive plants were removed
• 2 shopping trolleys and a child's bike were among some of the larger items fished out of the water.

The team at Lewisham Council were impressed at how hard the team worked in the heat and the speed and efficiency in which we managed to clear so much of the Himalayan Balsam. We spoke about working together again in future as well as working with them to promote future volunteering opportunities in the borough to our leisure centre users.

Catriona from Lewisham council said "Thank you very much to you and your team for volunteering and working so hard in that heat! You are a fantastic group of people."

The members of the council we worked with, and the environment agency were impressed that we volunteer on initiatives like this around the borough and thought it was excellent that a local business/employer is keen to volunteer and support with council objectives. If you are looking for volunteers to support with tasks like this in the borough then reach out to us.

This annual initiative supported by other organisations such as Thames21 and encourages residents to look after the 3 rivers that run through the borough (Ravensbourne, Pool and Quaggy). To find out more about the work these organisations do and to sign up for next year visit https://natureconservationlewisham.co.uk/how-to/3-rivers-clean-up/