London Rivers Week 2025: Tales from the Kyd Brook – A story-sharing workshop in Petts Wood

As part of Thames21’s London Rivers Week 2025, residents of Petts Wood are invited to join urban sociologists from the University of London for a workshop to share their stories of being next to (or in!) the Kyd Brook.

As part of an ongoing study of the social life of London’s smaller rivers and how people live alongside and interact with them, urban sociologists Emma Jackson and Louise Rondel invite Petts Wood residents to share their tales from the Kyd Brook. The creative workshop will involve story-telling and mapping techniques. It will offer an opportunity to reflect on how we live with urban rivers, how they shape the neighbourhoods in which we live, how we impact on them and how they impact on us. We will also talk about the other places to which the Kyd Brook connects.

Through story-sharing and mapping, the materials created during the workshop will be collected together to form a digital archive that will be made publicly available as a Google folder. If participants give permission, we will audio-record short oral histories to include in the archive. The stories we gather during the workshop will also contribute to a future research project along the length of the Kyd Brook and River Quaggy that we will be developing.

Please book in advance, there are 20 places available. This is a FREE event. Tickets will be available from 9am on Sunday 4th May.

Book your place here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tales-from-the-kyd-brook-a-story-sharing-workshop-in-petts-wood-tickets-1299194599019

Venue: Petts Wood Memorial Hall

For more details about the venue and accessibility see here:

https://www.pettswoodmemorialhall.co.uk/about-our-venue-petts-wood-orpington.html

Soft drinks and snacks will be provided. Weather-dependent, we can go on an optional walk to the Kyd Brook after the workshop.

For more information, please contact Emma and Louise talesfromthekydbrook@gmail.com

Dr Emma Jackson (LSE) and Dr Louise Rondel (Brunel University of London) live further downstream along the River Ravensbourne in Catford. We have recently worked on the project ‘Place-making and the Rivers of Lewisham’ and previously on ‘Sounding the River Quaggy’. For both of these projects, we gathered different stories from alongside and in the rivers to create audio-maps, podcasts (Confluence episode 1 Lower Sydenham to Catford and episode 2 Lewisham to Deptford Creek) and articles.

All U18s must be accompanied by an adult.

With thanks to the Petts Wood and District Residents’ Association for their support.