Beckenham Place Park River Ravensbourne Volunteering Programme

The architect’s sketch showing the vision of the east side of Beckenham Place Park

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 is working in partnership to deliver a community engagement volunteer programme of river and wetland enhancement activities, to enable and empower local individuals and communities to manage their blue-green spaces better.

The aim is 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, woodlands and new pond habitats.

Volunteering

Do you live locally? Would you like to find out more about your River Ravensbourne and how we can work together to improve its health? Thames21 are offering a variety of opportunities from litter picking wades, practical conservation work in the river and riverbank planting to becoming a citizen scientist by helping with our monitoring plan throughout the improvement works and beyond.

Everyone is welcome.

We’re planning the next six months of activities for our volunteering programme so check back here in May for the next event dates or email BPPRiver@thames21.org.uk to be added to the mailing list to be the first to know when we’ll be back in the river and on the riverbank. In the meantime, please join us on Saturday 27th April for the Love BPP Community Day where you can visit our Thames21 stall and get involved in river related activities.

Training and Downham River Action Group

We are offering 30 local residents free NCFE accredited training on Thames21 Leading Action for Healthy Rivers course. The two-day course will qualify you to organise your own event empowering you to work with the local community to continue improving the River Ravensbourne.

Become a member of our Downham River Action Group to help look after your river with other locals.

If you would like to join a river wade or hear more about the River Action Group and the volunteer’s programme please email or call Catriona Ross, Beckenham Place Park Engagement Officer at BPPriver@thames21.org.uk / 077439 27796.

Click here to read in more detail about the BPP vision.

You can read more and keep up to date with the Beckenham Place Park improvements by visiting their website.

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.