An afternoon in the mud!

About 15 volunteers from Thames21, London Broncos – as well as Buck their large furry mascot – Hounslow Recycling Team, a few of local residents (including the landlord of the Watermans Arms), Andrew Dakers, Diana Hardie and myself from BRAG descended onto the muddy banks of the Thames whilst the tide was out. We pulled out two skips full of rubbish which had been dumped in this small stretch – including the obligatory shopping trolley, tyres, car batteries and old boots, but also an ZX Spectrum computer and two cassette players!

The Thames is an international success story; as recent as 1950’s the river was biologically dead, and now it is a wildlife super highway.

The tidal Thames is the cleanest city estuary in Europe with 119 species of fish. However, the thousands of tonnes of litter blight it. The efforts of Thames21 and the Adopt A River scheme, aimed at litter clearing on the river, directly contributes to this success story.

Douglas, BRAG Treasurer.