Thames Landscape Strategy - Hampton to Kew -

Arcadian Diary February 2006

An important aspect of the Thames Landscape Strategy’s work is to ensure that the river environment is made accessible to a variety of different people. This can be done in a number of ways ranging from how the river is managed and restored through to fundraising and volunteering initiatives, publication of walking leaflets, good quality signage and more formal education initiatives. The most important thing to get right is safety – if we want people to visit the river it needs to be a pleasant place which means graffiti must be removed quickly and the towpath kept litter free.

The next step is to design certain features into any given restoration scheme. In this way areas of riverside formally out of bounds can be opened up to a whole new group of people. A good example of how this can take place is happening at Bridge House Gardens next to Richmond Bridge at the moment. As part of the Heritage Lottery funded ‘London’s Arcadia’ scheme variations in the design will have huge benefits to a wide range of people. The installation of ramps from Richmond Bridge and the towpath for example will make the gardens accessible to people in wheelchairs and parents with buggies for the first time.

Another way that the Arcadia project is engaging local people to access the river in different ways is through tree, hedge and shrub planting. At Bridge House Gardens a lovely new shrubbery is to be planted with the help of volunteers. Many families who would not normally come down to the river are to carry out much of this work. Anyone is welcome to join us on the 18th March at 10am to help. Volunteering has played a huge part in the success of the Arcadia project. Ambitious volunteer targets were set for the current financial year and these have already been doubled. This allows us to claim back an impressive £80,000 to match fund the Heritage Lottery monies.

Over the past six months, volunteers have planted hundreds of new trees – many more in fact than have been removed. Most of these trees have been sponsored by local people, and all for a variety of different reasons. For instance, a magnificent oak was planted on the Terrace Field to celebrate a 35th anniversary, whilst a young couple marked their wedding day by planting a native lime tree. In Bridge House Gardens, a pink flowering cherry has been sponsored to celebrate the christening of a lovely baby girl, and in Ham a length of hedge has been sponsored by a local company (whose employees actually came out and helped plant!). Without this help Arcadia would not happen.

One group of people who are extremely important to engage in our work are young people. This month we will be launching the Arcadia Education Programme. To deliver this programme we have teamed up with Orleans House Gallery in Twickenham who have appointed a full time Heritage Education Officer. In this case heritage is taken to mean – natural, cultural and historic so encompassing all areas of the Thames Landscape Strategy’s work. The programme extends over three years and been developed to link to other activities especially the local bio-diversity partnerships and museums. .

To celebrate the launch we have established a series of outreach schools activities to take place between now and Easter run by local resident and freelance environmental educator Joe Pecorelli. Joe has planned many activities for the schools to enjoy but my personal favourite involves teaching the children about the life cycle of the eel (all eels are born in the Sargasso Sea in the Caribbean and swim as tiny elvers to our European rivers where they mature until swimming back across the Atlantic to breed – fascinating!). To tell this story to a young audience, Joe has made a family of eel like glove puppets that the pupils will be able to use in order to construct a story about their incredible journey.

At last November’s draw-off (the month where the river is at its lowest) we carefully collected a box full of treasures representing the different things that can be found on the riverbed. These included mussel shells, intricate bits of driftwood, medieval and Roman pottery, clay pipes, unusually shaped lumps of iron and even a piece of Richmond Palace. These items will form part of a discovery pack for the children who will be able to handle all of them and imagine what life was like in a Royal Tudor palace or who was the Roman that dropped their pot into the river.

In another initiative a school is to be asked to create their own river creature including what it eats, where it lives and what sort of habitat it would need in order to survive. They will then be asked to think of the sorts of things that could harm their creature such as pollution, rubbish, vandalism and sewage. In the past when we carried out a similar activity the class was split pretty much down the line between boys and girls. The girls made a splendid dragon fly with beautiful wings whilst the boys created a robotic man-eating shark that stalked the river looking for suitable prey. I expect things will be no different this time.

Another group of pupils is to be asked to create their very own riverside park. The park must include areas for wildlife, activities for children, places for adults to enjoy, places to eat, places to access the river and measures to help the environment. They will also be asked to describe how this park has changed with time. Was it a Royal park for instance or maybe a disused factory site?

A selection of the pupil’s work is to be displayed in the Thames Landscape Strategy marquee which we put up at the local summer fairs. The best entry will form an integral part of the Thames Landscape Strategy marquee at the Hampton Court Flower Show in July.

Many local schools will be distributing one of our walking leaflets – The Kraft Picnic Walk and activity sheet. It is hoped that the pupils will take the leaflets home to their families and encourage family walks along the river during the Easter holidays. In addition, two formal walks have also been arranged. On April 1st, a walk around Brentford is planned and for families an ‘Easter Parade’ is arranged for 2nd April. Meeting at Orleans House gallery on Sunday 2nd, families will be able to join us for a short stroll down the river to Richmond Bridge and back up the river to Ham. Crossing over again to Twickenham via the ferry the fun will conclude with an Easter egg hunt in the gardens of Orleans House. It should be great fun.

If you would like details of these walks, volunteering opportunities or on how to sponsor a tree just contact us at Holly Lodge in Richmond Park or phone Tasha on 020 8891 7399 or book a space for the Easter Parade with Orleans House Gallery on 020 8831 6000.

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