Beckenham Place Park River Ravensbourne Volunteering Programme

 

BPP East, November 2023.

The River Ravensbourne, a tributary of the River Thames, runs through the east of Beckenham Place Park in the London Borough of Lewisham (LBL). The River Ravensbourne can be a place of beauty, but like many London rivers it can suffer from many challenges, including road runoff pollution, plastic pollution and misconnections.

LBL is delivering a landscape-scale restoration in the east of Beckenham Place Park, including a complex of new nature ponds, wetlands and river restoration with the aims to:

  • reduce flood risk in the River Ravensbourne catchment
  • create a better river environment for people and wildlife
  • deliver wider public health and community benefits through nature-prescribing and volunteer programmes

Thames21’s aim was to involve the local communities in the delivery and management of river restoration and training activities, working with volunteers in and alongside the River Ravensbourne throughout the works to improve the environment of the river corridor and new pond habitats. Read about the improvement works by clicking here.

Thank you to everyone who has joined us and taken the time to get to know the River Ravensbourne in Beckenham Place Park!

River clean up and balsam bashing wade

Volunteering

Since June 2023, hundreds of residents close to the park in Downham, Bellingham and beyond have participated in Thames21 volunteering sessions, engaged in water quality initiatives, seeing what Riverfly lives in the river, and taken part in riverside events. 

A heartfelt thank you to all our incredible volunteers of all ages who dedicated their weekends to improving the river. Your efforts in litter pick wades, removing Himalayan Balsam (an invasive plant), and managing riverbank vegetation have been vital in preparing for upcoming river improvements. 

Thank you to park users, especially the park’s dog-walking community, who stopped by to chat with us at our water quality pop-up events. 

Summer celebration – Learning about riverfly

We’ve loved welcoming visitors to the river for a variety of non-environmental activities co-hosted by our partner, BPP Lead Ranger James from Lewisham Council. These events have not only raised awareness that there is a river in the park but also encouraged children to enjoy playing in nature by the water.

The inaugural River Ravensbourne Festival on Saturday 21st September 2024, marked a significant transition for the project, bringing together volunteers and new visitors to explore, learn, and play by the river. Attendees enjoyed a variety of free activities in the beautifully enhanced park ending with the river blessing. Thames21 Restoration team kicked off the river enhancements which is now the project’s focus this winter with more opportunities to get involved.  

 

Rubber duck race May heats

Sign up for free weekday river enhancement sessions  

The team will lead hand-on weekly volunteering working to restore and improve the natural river processes. Volunteers will have the opportunity to help manage vegetation, construct dead hedges, and work directly with the river to build in-channel deflectors and brash berms. These efforts will enhance habitat diversity, reduce riverbank erosion, and limit sediment flow downstream, all of which will benefit the river’s ecosystem. 

It’s fun wearing waders to experience the various depths of the Ravensbourne without getting wet!  

 

Find our more and sign up now by clicking  here. 

If you would like to join a session but have some questions first, please contact Catriona by email BPPRiver@Thames21.org.uk or call 077439 27796. 

River Ravensbourne Festival, river blessing honouring river deity Mama Osun.

River Action Group BPP 

Get involved with your park community by joining our River Action Group! Together, we can continue the physical improvements and support our monitoring plan once Thames21’s project is complete. 

We’d love to welcome more residents from Downham and Bellingham to join our sessions! Please help us spread the word to anyone you know in these areas of Lewisham. Thank you! 

Training 

We are pleased to continue offering local residents free NCFE-accredited training on our flagship course, Leading Action for Healthy Rivers. This course will qualify you to organise your own river events, empowering you to work with the local community to improve the River Ravensbourne. 

Thank you to our eight trainees who participated in our first two-day course in May. We’re excited to announce that we will be offering a second course this winter. If you are interested to know more, please email Catriona Ross at BPPRiver@Thames21.org.uk. 

Follow River Action Group BPP on Instagram here to keep up-to-date with activities, news and upcoming events. 

Downham Men’s Group conservation session
Clean up wade removing items from the river.

This programme is designed for the community, to engage the local public with the River Ravensbourne and not for corporates. If you are interested in a bespoke corporate volunteer day, please visit our website here.

We would like to thank our partners for all their support. The improvements to the east side of Beckenham Place Park are supported by the Mayor of London through the Green and Resilient Spaces Fund.