Beckenham Place Park River Ravensbourne Volunteering Programme
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.
Get to know your River Ravensbourne in Beckenham Place Park!
We’ll be hosting a range of activities in the river and along the riverbanks. When events are confirmed they will be advertised below so please check back here for updates or join our mailing list to receive links to our free river related events sent directly to your inbox. Sign up by contacting Beckenham Place Park Community Engagement Officer, Catriona Ross, by email BPPRiver@thames21.org.uk.
Our wade and conservation sessions are across five-hours and you’re welcome to join for part or all of the session, whatever works for you, just let us know when booking. Unless we are doing specific conservation work, our volunteering sessions are family friendly and we adapt each session depending on the ages of booked participants, due to high water levels in some parts of the river. We provide adults and children with waders, gloves and tools required for the sessions.
You can book your free place by clicking on the link next to the event, which will be visible two weeks before the event date.
SEPTEMBER RIVER EVENTS
Saturday 21st September, River Ravensbourne Festival 11.00-16.00
- Join us for a celebration of the River Ravensbourne in the improved Beckenham Place Park (BPP) East.
- Explore, learn and play by the river, taking part in free activities for all ages
- Please view the event page here to see what you can expect from the day, and to book onto free activities. Residents living in Downham, Bellingham and Whitefoot will be given priority for bookable activities.
September – December 2024, River improvements volunteering sessions
- The river interventions will kick off at the River Ravensbourne Festival followed by weekly weekday events running until the improvements are complete, with the aim by early 2025. If you would like to join our group of local volunteers at the Thames21 sessions, please have a chat to us on 21st or contact Catriona by email BPPRiver@Thames21.org.uk or call 077439 27796.
River Action Group BPP
Get involved with other locals by joining our new community group to celebrate and help improve our River Ravensbourne. Follow the River Action Group BPP Instagram here to keep up-to-date with activities, news and upcoming events.
Training
- We are continuing to offer local residents free NCFE accredited training on our flagship course Leading Action for Healthy Rivers, which will qualify you to organise your own river events, empowering you to work with the local community to improve the River Ravensbourne. A huge thank you for eight volunteers who attended our first two-day course in May. We will be offering a second course this Autumn, if you are interested to know more please email Catriona BPPRiver@Thames21.org.uk.
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.
