Thames21 announce first ever national public training day

** supporting Keep Britain Tidy's Big Tidy Up Campaign **

Monday 24 November 2008
10am - 4pm
FREE

Fishmongers' Hall,
London Bridge,
LONDON
EC4R 9EL

Thames21 – London’s leading waterways charity – will deliver its first training day this November to individuals from every corner of the UK.

The training day will seek to equip all attendees with the necessary skills, knowledge and inspiration to make a difference to their local waterways. The day has been made possible by the Keep Britain Tidy ‘Big Tidy Up Campaign’ and will be FREE to all attendees.

With over 14 years of experience in running volunteer clean-up events, Thames21 is considered by many to be the natural authority when it comes to encouraging community engagement with local waterways, regularly working with around 4,000 volunteers each year on London’s waterways. This training day will provide an opportunity for the very first time for Thames21 to share with others the knowledge and expertise gathered over this time.

Staff and supporters of Thames21 will be delivering sessions throughout on the day that will cover the following areas:

• Site selection
• How to select a site with reference to access requirements for volunteers and for the debris removal
• Risk Assessments
• Ensure that you have carried out a full risk assessment for your clean-up event, accounting for all appropriate risks
• Health and Safety
• How to brief your volunteers, prepare for events and deal with any emergency procedures necessary
• Leadership and promotion
• How to promote your event, appeal for volunteers and motivate them during the clean-up

Additional sessions throughout the day will include involving disabled volunteers, art workshops using recycled materials and wildlife habitat protection and creation.

Debbie Leach, Chief Executive, Thames21, comments:
“Thames21 coordinate around 4,000 volunteers every year at around 100 one-off as well as on-going projects in and around London. This Training Day is a fantastic opportunity for us to share our experience and knowledge gained from these events with people from all over the UK. We hope that the training day will inspire people to replicate the work we do in waterway areas across the country, not only improving them for wildlife but also making them areas for people to enjoy and appreciate.”

Louise Marsden, Keep Britain Tidy, comments:
“Keep Britain Tidy fully supports the fantastic work being done by Thames21 to clean-up our waterways and we are delighted to be working with them as part of the Big Tidy Up. This training day is a great opportunity for volunteers to gain the skills needed to organise a safe and successful clean-up. The Big Tidy Up has so far been a huge success and people can still get involved and organise their own clean-up by registering at www.thebigtidyup.org.”

Anyone interested in helping regenerate their waterway areas, regardless of location in the UK, are encouraged to register to attend the FREE Thames21 Training Day online HERE>>>

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Media enquiries and images: contact James Aldous on 020 7213 0166 or 07827 352675 or james.aldous@thames21.org.uk