News
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22 July 2010
THAMES21'S RESPONSE TO 'BIG SOCIETY'.
The ‘Big Society’ needs to take advantage of local experience gathered by smaller organisations in the voluntary sector for it to be a success.

Utilising the experience and knowledge from the voluntary sector will be crucial in achieving David Cameron’s ambition to ‘put more power and opportunity into people’s hands’. In particular smaller voluntary organisations that have been regularly working with volunteers for a number of years will have an important role to play in connecting this vision with the communities the coalition government is attempting to reach.

Thames21 has been working with thousands of volunteers in London since its formation 16 years ago. Through tried and tested volunteering programmes of activity to mobilise and inspire local communities to take action, we are just one of hundreds of small voluntary organisations around the country that can help deliver this new vision.

The energy and the will of volunteers is inspiring. When people care about an issue, they’ll get involved and do something about it. Big Society must provide opportunities for the voluntary sector to play a key part in delivering these services.

19 July 2010
THAMES21 JOINS 'HEROES' CREATOR TIM KRING AND NOKIA'S 'CONSPIRACY FOR GOOD'.
A spectacular live event on London’s foreshore encourages others to give their time to improve the environment this August. Thames21, London’s leading waterways charity, joined the new social benefit entertainment experience, Conspiracy For Good (CFG) on Saturday 17 July for a live event in front of the Tower of London. Read more HERE.

16 July 2010
CLEANER THAMES CHALLENGE 2010: THURSDAY 12 - SUNDAY 15 AUGUST
Every year, Thames21 runs a special campaign to motivate hundreds of willing volunteers over four days to help clean-up the River Thames foreshore at different locations in London. This August, we will once again challenge Londoners to step outside, don some wellies and help improve the environment!Locations this year are as follows:

Thursday 12 August: Brentford
Friday 13 August: Isle of Dogs
Saturday 14 August: Fulham
Sunday 15 August: Erith

Full details and meeting points HERE.

12 June 2010
MS DYNAMITE PERFORMS FOR THAMES21'S WATERWAY CHAMPIONS!
Several hundred people were entertained by Ms Dynamite, The Correspondents and Drum Heads today in a gig for Thames21's young volunteers.

Since 2008, more than 1,000 young volunteers have helped to clean-up London's rivers and canals as part of Waterway Champions, Thames21's programme for 16-25 year olds. This three year project, supported by vinvolved, offers one-off events and training opportunities for young volunteers to help improve London's waterways. For information about future Waterway Champions events see www.waterwaychampions.org

26 May 2010
THAMES21 REVEAL THE NEW RIVER RESCUE LOGO!
Thames21's East London project, supported by Thames Water, recently asked schools in Newham and Tower Hamlets to help rename the project and help design a new logo. The result is River Rescue!

The name, and design (right) is a combination of the entries from the Phoenix School and Upton Cross Primary School. Both schools will be receiving special events in the coming few weeks to say thank you. The project will see various events taking place throughout the two East London boroughs for local residents and schools to get involved with. Find out more about the River Rescue project, or see the calendar for future events to take part in.

20 April 2010
RADIO 1 AND 1XTRA TEAM HELP CLEAN THE THAMES!
As part of their 'Local Hero' campaign, some of the Radio1 and 1Xtra presenters joined Thames21 on the foreshore in Woolwich to help clean-up some of the litter. DJ Tim Westwood and presenters Scott Mills and Gemma got stuck in with the 30 local volunteers. As well as shopping trolleys, traffic cones and tyres, they found a coconut, bike brake lever and a packet of once frozen peas! Watch the Local Hero campaign video and image gallery. See more pictures on Thames21's Facebook page.

16 April 2010
THE 3 RIVERS CLEAN-UP IS BACK!
Hundreds of volunteers (including Boris Johnson!) helped improve the rivers in South East London last year as part of the first ever 3 Rivers Clean-up, which also coincided with Volunteers' Week. Once again this year, volunteers will be able to lend a hand cleaning and removing invasive species (like Himalayan Balsam) from the River Ravensbourne catchment during the first two weeks in June. Events will be inLewisham, Greenwich and Bromley and the full list of events can be seen HERE.

5 March 2010: DEEP CLEAN 2010: IT'S A WRAP!
Almost 400 volunteers took part in our DEEP CLEAN events this week - massive thanks to everyone who came along and braved mud, grenades and reporters! Nearly 10 tonnes of litter has been removed in total from the four sites we worked on along the Thames.

See our Guardian gallery and Times feature. You can also see our report on BBC2's Newsnight.

There's still a lot more to be done however, so if you've been inspired to join us on future river clean-ups, or maybe you fancy have a go at some graffiti removal or habitat enhancement - see our calendar of events to see what's coming up near you.

2 March 2010: DEEP CLEAN: DAY ONE!
100 volunteers – including staff from Tesco, Waitrose and Asda, got stuck in this morning (Tuesday 2 March) to remove countless plastic bags - and a shopping trolley! – that were littering East London’s foreshore at the Isle of Dogs. This is part of Thames21's events to mark the lowest daytime tide in London in five years.

Vast expanses of river that normally remain covered on regular tides will be exposed for a brief period today and tomorrow, illustrating some of London’s worst affected locations for litter, including the plastic bag litter on the Isle of Dogs. 250,000 plastic bags have been removed from this site since 2001 by Thames21’s volunteers. Thames21 points out that while the attitudes of some have changed with regards to plastic bags – this must now extend beyond charity volunteers and the most major retailers, to all sections of the community.

A further 100 volunteers took part this morning at a second event in Fulham (cut slightly short by a grenade found and reported to the police!) with more expected to attend at events tomorrow in Hammersmith and North Woolwich. Photo: Gavin Parsons.

1 March 2010
ALL SET FOR THAMES21's DEEP CLEAN 2010:
Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 March
Several volunteers have contacted us in light of the heavy rain and localised flooding over the weekend. Please be assured that the DEEP CLEAN events over the next few days will still be taking place. For more information about meeting points, please see our EVENTS page.

11 February 2010
1,700 VOLUNTEERING HOURS BY BEXLEY RIVERKEEPER VOLUNTEERS
Thames21, London’s leading waterways charity, has mobilised volunteers tocontribute a staggering 1,700 hours to help improve the waterway areas in Bexley from October to December 2009, as part of the Bexley Riverkeeper Volunteers Programme. Supported by Cory Environmental Trust in Britain and the London Borough of Bexley, the Bexley Riverkeeper Volunteers give up their time to help make a positive difference to the local waterways of Bexley. READ MORE

28 January 2010
LEA RIVER PARK WINS PRESTIGIOUS INTERNATIONAL AWARD
The project to create the new Lea River Park has won the prestigious International Urban Landscape Silver Award! The award was presented this week in Frankfurt. READ MORE>>>

25 January 2010
THAMES21'S WATERWAY CHAMPIONS CALL FOR ALL LONDON STUDENTS
To mark Student Volunteering Week (22nd-28th Feb), Thames21 is inviting London's student community to get involved in a volunteering opportunity in Westminster. This event is guaranteed to be great fun, and an ideal way to meet other London students whilst doing something positive for the environment to help clean-up this Central London location.
Full details can be found on the Waterway Champions website.
DOWNLOAD AND SHARE THE EVENT E-FLYER.

21 January 2010
LANDLORDS HELP CLEAN-UP LONDON'S WATERWAYS
The National Landlords Association (NLA), the leading representative body for private-residential landlords in the UK, has raised £500 for London’s leading waterways charity, Thames21. Read more HERE>>>

21 January 2010
THAMES21 ANNOUNCE SPRING SEASON OF VOLUNTEERING EVENTS
Thames21 today announce a whole host of voluteering events to get stuck into this spring. We're planning orienteering activities and treasure hunts in East London, a singles mingle in West London for Valentine's Day and a wide range of foreshore clean-ups, including a two day mass effort to mark the lowest daytime tide in five years in March!
Full details and contacts can be found in the EVENTS CALENDAR

16 December 2009
THAMES21 VOLUNTEER SELECTED AS VODAFONE 'WORLD OF DIFFERENCE' PARTICIPANT
One lucky individual has been selected to work with the Thames21 team for two months in 2010 as part of the Vodafone World of Difference programme. Find out who HERE>>>

3 December 2009
VOLUNTEER AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED
The Thames21 volunteer awards seek to recognise individuals who have shown consistent committed volunteering with our projects and programmes throughout the Greater London area. Read who won HERE>>>

27 October 2009
LONDON 2012 BLOG: READ THAMES21'S STORY HERE>>>
Much has been made of the regeneration that the 2012 Games are bringing to East London. The ever-changing skyline of Stratford is proof that at least physically, London is changing as a result of hosting the Games.

However as the Community Engagement manager of the new Lea River Park (a soon-to-be green corridor, located in the lower Lea Valley just south of the Olympic Park), I'm interested in the further-reaching changes that could happen around here...
READ MORE

23 October 2009
'WHAT'S MY NAME?' COMPETITION LAUNCHES.
Thames21 is calling for primaryschools in Tower Hamlets and Newham to help name an exciting new environmental improvement project taking place in the area, made possible by funding from Thames Water.
To find out more CLICK HERE.

14 September 2009
THAMES21 ENTERTAINS THE CROWDS AT THE THAMES FESTIVAL WITH MUSIC MADE FROM LITTER!
We were joined by percussionist Kevin Hathway and The Elastic Band musicians to help bring litter to life at this year's Thames Festival.

The musicians - helped by willing members of the public - used litter items that were found on recent Thames21 volunteer clean-up events along the River Thames. They included plastic bottles, shopping trolleys, cones, bins, beer kegs and a saucepan (!) and were all used to entertain the thousands of festival-goers at Potters Fields between City Hall and Tower Bridge. For more pictures of the weekend, CLICK HERE.

10 September 2009
KIRSTIE ALLSOPP CLEANS GRAFFITI WITH THAMES21 FOR THE BIG TIDY UP
TV star Kirstie Allsopp has been getting her hands dirty to encourage the nation to join the Big Tidy Up campaign!

The Location, Location, Location presenter joined Thames21 and local volunteers at the canal bank in King's Cross, central London in a bid to get the whole country tidying their corner of the community. Find out more about the Big Tidy Up national campaign HERE.

20 August 2009
NEARLY 100 VOLUNTEERS TAKE PART IN THE FIRST FLASH MOB THE FORESHORE IN FULHAM
A big thanks to all who turned up and got involved this morning in Fulham. For those who missed out, why not join us on one of our three remaining FLASH MOBS clean-ups across London this weekend.
Where are they? Find out HERE.

13 August 2009
LOCATIONS ANNOUNCED FOR THE FLASH MOB THE FORESHORE EVENTS!
To mark the fourth annual Cleaner Thames Challenge we are going to clean-up four locations on the River Thames over four days, starting next Thursday (20th).
See where the locations are HERE.

13 August 2009
FORESHORE FUN DAY!
Thanks to everyone who joined us on the beach by the Oxo building on the south bank for our Foreshore Fun Day.

6 August 2009
VOLUNTEER YOUR WAY INTO EMPLOYMENT THIS SUMMER WITH THAMES21
Thames21 announces one-day training opportunities, and one-off events this summer. Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, commented: "I applaud Thames21 for organising these excellent volunteering opportunities specifically designed to give Londoners a helping hand in finding a new or different job.”
Read more>>>

5 August 2009
THE CLEANER THAMES CHALLENGE 2009: FLASH MOB THE FORESHORE
Find out more about this year's Cleaner Thames Challenge: FLASH MOB event taking place from Thursday 20 August. The locations will be announced on Thursday 13 August.
Read more>>>

21 July 2009
JOIN THE BEXLEY RIVERKEEPER VOLUNTEERS!
Thames21’s award-winning Bexley Riverkeeper Volunteers programme is welcoming new people interested in getting involved in the valuable work we do.
Read more>>>
Who are the Bexley Riverkeeper Volunteers?

1 July 2009
RARE SEA LAMPREY FOUND ON THAMES21 EVENT IN FULHAM
One of the most ancient creatures on earth was found this weekend on one of Thames21's volunteer clean-up events in Fulham. Chris Coode, Thames21's River Programmes Manager said: "We have only found one or two in the 15 years we have been cleaning up the Thames. The lamprey was dead, but it is not a bad thing - because they die immediately after spawning. The fact they are coming back is a really good sign"
Follow this link to read the BBC News Online report

23 June 2009
THAMES21 AND APPLEJACKS ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP
Thames21 and Applejacks Health Food Shop have formed a unique partnership aimed at encouraging more people to be aware of plastic bag litter in East London.
Read more>>>

4 June 2009
BORIS JOHNSON GETS STUCK IN WITH THAMES21 IN NATIONAL VOLUNTEERING WEEK
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, rolled up his sleeves today to help clear up a London river as part of a new drive to celebrate and encourage volunteering in the capital.

During the event Mr Johnson commented: "Volunteering is good for individuals and great for London in tough economic times. By giving your time, whether a one-off few hours or a regular commitment, we can both help to make the capital a more civilised, pleasant place and reap the rewards of putting something back into the communities in which we live."
(Image taken by James O Jenkins)
Read more>>>
See our picture gallery from the 3 Rivers Clean-up HERE>>>

19 May 2009
MAKE YOUR MARK ON THE PARK: local community invited to view developing park plans in East London.
Residents and businesses throughout Bromley by Bow and East India Dock Basin will have the opportunity to see the emerging plans for the new Lea River Park at special events this May and June.
Read more>>>

7 May 2009
THAMES21 HELPS LAUNCH DEFRA'S 'MUCK IN4LIFE' CAMPAIGN WITH NEW PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION
This morning, Defra minister Huw Irranca-Davies joined us on the foreshore along the South Bank to launch a new photography competition to find the first Conservation Volunteering Photographer of the Year.
Read more>>>
Listen to Huw Irranca-Davies audio interview with inSE1 HERE

8 April 2009
THAMES21 AND PARTNERS JOIN FORCES FOR THE '3 RIVERS CLEAN-UP'
A week-long focused volunteer effort to clean-up and remove Himalayan Balsam from the Ravensbourne River system, flowing through Lewisham, Greenwich and Bromley this June.
Read more>>>

19 March 2009
LONDON 2012 INSPIRES COMMUNITY SPIRIT WITH THAMES21
London 2012 CEO Paul Deighton today joined over 50 volunteers in East London to launch ‘London 2012 Changing Places’, a programme aimed at securing lasting environmental and social benefits for the communities surrounding the Olympic Park and other Olympic venues.
Read more>>>
Read more about 'Changing Places' on the London 2012 website here>>>

12 March 2009
THE LONDONIST PUBLISHES PICTURE STORY ABOUT THAMES21'S DEEP CLEAN
See it here>>>

6 March 2009
BILL BRYSON BACKS CAMPAIGN TO CLEAN UP THE GRAND UNION CANAL
Bill Bryson, best-selling author and President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) is urging the people who use the canal in Hayes to tackle the problem of litter on the waterways.
Read more>>>

6 February 2009
THAMES21 WINS AT GREEN GUARDIAN AWARDS!
Thames21's Riverkeeper Volunteers in Bexley were the recipients of the prestigious Green Project Award last night at the Green Guardian Awards 2008, held at the IndigO2 in Greenwich.
Read more>>>

13 January 2009
LAUNCH OF THE ANGLING TRUST WITH YOUNG PEOPLE FROM CATCH21
The merger of six angling and conservation bodies creating the Angling Trust, the new voice of angling, was completed to plan on Monday, January 5 2009.
Download the full press release HERE (PDF)

CLICK HERE FOR NEWS ARCHIVE

for media enquiries please contact:

James Aldous, Marketing Manager
email: james.aldous@thames21.org.uk
tel: 020 7213 0166 / mobile: 07827 352675 (weekends and evenings)