Sunday, July 10, 2016

Cleaning the Wandle July 2016

Wimbledon. Sunday 10-July-2016

A lovely day to go paddling in the River Wandle. Very early on I found a duvet and a complete bed base. The latter was a bit of a bugger to get out as it was well buried in the silt. Lots of teamwork and heaving and grunting eventually got it out. Shortly after I found the mini-trampoline you can see behind it.


Unfortunately I managed to puncture my waders on the bed-springs and ended up with some very soggy jeans. Fortunately I have a spare repair patch kindly given to me by Polly the organiser.


There was the obligatory bicycle, but only one this time.


Meanwhile further downstream the others found a washing machine. At this point the concrete channel is a couple of metres high so more teamwork was required to grapple the beast up onto the bank.


Hurrah!


And this is why we do it. A couple of tons of rubbish cleaned out of the river.


It is a great way to spend a lovely Sunday. Most satisfying!

The Wandle Trust is an environmental charity dedicated to restoring and maintaining the health of the River Wandle and its catchment. They hold community river cleanups on the second Sunday of every month, up and down this unique urban chalkstream – pulling out everything from shopping trolleys to shotguns, and improving the environment for birds, fish, insects and local people. For more visit: http://www.wandletrust.org/.

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