Thames Landscape Strategy - Hampton to Kew -

Arcadian Diary March 2004

Saturday mornings for me no longer mean a good lie in or a trip to the shops, instead I am usually found up to my knees in mud down by the river helping a group of volunteers. One of the great achievements along the Thames in recent years has been the establishment of these volunteer groups and this was recognised last week at the National Waterways Renaissance Awards, held at Madame Taussauds

Dubbed the ‘Waterway Oscars’, the evening recognised the very best in UK waterway conservation and regeneration. Southwest London was well represented both by the Thames Landscape Strategy and by the London Wetland Centre at Barnes. Out of the six categories, The Thames Landscape Strategy was nominated for the Partnership award, the toughest of the six areas of expertise. The competition was stiff and in the end we were awarded a special commendation (effectively second place) behind the Kennet and Avon Canal Partnership Trust. Although we didn’t take first place, the award was still a great achievement particularly considering that the winners had completed their project last year enabled through a £28m Heritage Lottery Fund grant awarded in 1996.

Our award was presented by The Rt. Hon. Alun Michael MP, government minister for inland waterways. The judges had been impressed in the way that the Strategy had brought together 14 diverse riverside managers into a single partnership and was now really beginning to implement many of the Strategy’s policies on the ground. In particular, the judges were delighted in the way that the project had engaged the local community in volunteer work along the river during the preparation of the London’s Arcadia project.

These volunteers are increasingly playing much more of a central role in the management of the riverside environment working alongside the Council, Service Team and other statutory managers. This concept is quite normal practice in many parts of the world, especially in the United States but is only beginning to be recognised in the UK as a major force, even though the UK has such a wonderful ‘voluntary history’ in the running of amenity societies and a whole host of voluntary services.

What ‘London’s Arcadia’ has achieved however, that sets it apart from other environmental volunteer programmes is to fully integrate volunteer work into the day-to-day management programme carried out by the Council. In this way, the limited resources of the Council are maximised, whilst the work carried out by volunteers has a greater long-term impact. This said, volunteers do not substitute the work of the Council but carry out the variety of tasks beyond the scope of the modern river manager and the best thing about it is that almost anybody can take part.

Opportunities to volunteer range from outdoor manual work such as litter picking or scrub clearance to the more detailed production of architectural drawings for riverside schemes. Much of the practical work is organised for us by the UK’s national conservation body BTCV (the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) who first introduced conservation volunteering to the UK. Arcadia now employs a member of staff on their team to carry out our projects. Without these volunteers, this important work would simply not happen and significantly as London’s Arcadia is a Heritage Lottery funded scheme, every hour of work carried out by a volunteer counts as match funding and, with over £1m still to raise that really counts.

An increasing amount of volunteer work however, is being initiated by local people and groups, who are working under the umbrella of ‘London’s Arcadia’. Notable amongst these are the Ham and Petersham Association, the Asgill House Trust and the Environment Trust for Richmond upon Thames. Their volunteer base ranges from a wide background of local people of all ages. One of most satisfying elements of working with volunteers is this diverse base of people – retired people, parents with their children and young professionals who want to put something back into the local environment.

It is this, more than anything that motivates people to come out and help. The desire to contribute to the future of their splendid riverside environment – for many the reason they moved to the area in the first place. Volunteering does not always mean early starts, wellies and a broom in hand however! Through Arcadia, professionals in the fields of design, event management or hard landscaping can get involved too and as with the practical work, every hour spent volunteering counts as match funding for lottery money.

In addition to the opportunities offered by Arcadia a host of different organisations also use volunteers the environmental and heritage sector. At Ham House, a small army of tour guides and gardeners keep the National Trust property open, whilst down on the towpath the River Thames Society has a warden scheme to monitor litter (now integrated into the on-going Council management regime) and in Richmond Park, stag beetle monitors carry out surveys for the local bio-diversity action group.

It is hoped that Arcadia will expand the scope of our volunteer work with time and to a wider range of locations. For example, the possibility to teach volunteers re-pointing skills on the crumbling riverside walls, horticultural techniques in local parks or carpentry skills mending broken seats is currently being explored. Volunteering is making a real difference and it is fun and extremely satisfying stuff. It can be as much or as little as you accommodate, outside or inside, hard labour or envelope stuffing.

The special commendation awarded to the Thames Landscape Strategy last week at the Waterways Awards was in recognition of all these dedicated volunteers who regularly give up their time. Although there is still such a long way to go, a real renaissance in our riverside and open spaces is taking place at the moment and much of it is being achieved on the ground by local people facilitated through schemes such as London’s Arcadia and the Thames Landscape Strategy. If you would like to get involved why not come and join one of the many voluntary groups. All you need do is contact us. For more information contact Paul Clay on 020 8831 6150 or Ken MacKenzie on 020 8891 7309 who will be able to point you towards the appropriate group.

RIVER FACT
Over the past year 1,500 volunteer days have been carried for the London’s Arcadia project. Each of these can be used as match funding for the Heritage Lottery Fund bid.

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