Families fume at island closure

FAMILIES who have used a summer campsite in Shiplake for generations fear the tradition could be at an end.

Plot-holders at Shiplake Lock Island are worried that the closure of the camp by the Environment Agency could be made permanent and destroy a community which has come together each summer since Edwardian times.

They have started an online petition to save the camp, which has had more than 1,400 signatures since it was launched on August 1.

The camp, which was established at the end of the 19th century, has 18 plots, each with a large canvas-covered ridge-pole tent and a shed. There is no electricity in the camp beyond a central shower and toilet block.

The families use the island to maintain and restore historically significant boats, including rare Victorian whiffs, wherries and punts, and fear that their boating heritage could be lost if the campsite is closed permanently.

The island has been owned by the City of London since 1914 and it is managed by the Environment Agency on a long lease.

Families with plots come from across the country and are given licences each year by the agency to camp between April 1 and September 30.

Last year, the cost of the annual licence was £1,300.

Danny Prior, 51, became an “islander” when he married his wife, Phillipa, 50, whose family have a plot.

He said: “I met my wife at university in 1992, so I have been an islander for 30 years but am quite a newbie in comparison with the island’s history.

“I was struck by it immediately, it’s incredible. You get to the island and there are people from all over the country. All the kids with different backgrounds mix together.

“We all feel like we belong there and the locals think we are a part of the community. We have long relationships with the post office, the village shop and the butcher as we see them every year. We’re aware it’s a really special place.”

The couple, who live in Shepherds Bush, have four children who have grown up on the island, Jemima, 20, Arthur, 19, Malachi, 14, and 11-year-old Eliza.

Mr Prior said: “This is the first summer in 50 years that my wife was not able to camp on the island, apart from covid.”

The islanders were only informed by the Environment Agency that they would not be able to camp this year in March, just weeks before the camping season began.

The agency has closed all its campsites at River Thames locks for the year but Mr Prior argues that Shiplake Lock Island is a special case.

“It’s not a temporary campsite, ours has a long heritage and is part of the local community,” he said.

Mr Prior claimed there had been a lack of communication from the agency and that attempts to find an alternative solution had been met with little response.

He was also concerned that as a result of the island being unoccupied this summer, the camp was damaged.

Mr Prior said: “As we could not camp this year out huts have been vandalised.

“Our hut and four or five others were broken into in about late June. The door was forced open and
damaged and fishing rods and things were taken. There has been fly-tipping as people have dumped fridges and other items.

“The lock-keeper is doing her bit but it’s looking unkempt. The metal frames we use for the tents are an eyesore in comparison to when the tents are up.”

Traditional boating is an important part of island life, with the islanders sharing a close relationship with the Wargrave and Shiplake Regatta.

Mr Prior, whose father-in-law, David Hawkins, is the current president of the regatta, said: “Seven islanders won at the regatta this year and every punting race we entered we won. Punting is a sport under threat on the River Thames as fewer people are doing it.

“Islanders not only make up 20 per cent of regatta entrants but also 20 per cent of finalists and semi-finalists.”

Mr Hawkins, who has been coming to the island for 66 years, said: “It’s what we bring to the local community. The people nearest to the lock look forward to us being there in the summer.

“We create something nice to look at and renew friendships with local traders at the pubs that we use.

“We bring a lot as far as the regatta is concerned, not just as entries but the committee membership we help with. We’re good at boat maintenance and skills.

“But what happens if we’re not there? We don’t cause any problems. We know how to behave ourselves and have done for 150 years.

“There is no friction between us and the locals but there will be if the Environment Agency opens it up to the public with people casually camping. There would be all sorts of problems.

“We’re having problems with getting the Environment Agency to sit down and talk to us. They say they are too busy with the boating population.”

Mr Hawkins, who lives in Dorset, started camping on the island when he was 11. Three years later, he met his future wife when her family moved into the plot next door.

He said: “I didn’t take her out until I was about 21. There have been a few marriages and romances, it’s that sort of a place — a wonderful place to bring up children and introduce them to things around them and the river and dangers of the river. We’ve never had any loss of life, we’ve never had a fire.”

Philippa Pearson-Miles’s family have camped on the island for 29 years after her mother Christine Sorseie, who was born in Wargrave, secured a plot.

She said: “We are handing down some of the traditional boat skills, which are being lost. The Thames Punting Championships were cancelled last year due to lack of entries. We help out at Wargrave Boat Club teaching boat skills.

“The community centres a lot around the regatta. We’d gather there a week before, frantically practising. After the regatta we gather as a community, we move lots of tables together and have a big barbecue and celebrate.

“There’s lots of stories and singing of traditional songs. Then at 10pm we get into our boats and go down by the river to watch the fireworks. This year felt really weird. We just left after the prize-giving, thinking, ‘What are we going to do now?’”

Mrs Pearson-Miles, 57, who lives in West Sussex, said the camp was a “unique set-up” with its traditionally constructed tents.

“Some families have been there for 100 years as the plots have been passed down through the generations,” she said. “There are very strong connections with the local community. My mother’s friends are the older generation. In the winter they’d arrange to go on winter walks so they stayed strongly connected. My generation has deep friendships and our children grew up there.

“There’s no electricity so they can’t be on their screens and they play cards and kick the can. For them, it’s a magical place. They just love it.

“My two sons, who are now 27 and 22, grew up there. Children have got to keep a lifejacket on and they’re not allowed in a boat without someone else until they can swim to the other side of the river and back. We teach them about respect for wildlife and the kingfishers and the swans and the egrets.” Mrs Pearson-Miles is worried that the camp may never re-open.

“We’d be devastated, bereft,” she said. “My poor mother, she’s 86. It’s in the Shiplake neighbourhood plan to protect the campsite as it’s of unique and important heritage of this very old style of camping and we’ve had a lot of traditional boats. My family have a mahogany punt which we preserve and look after.

“The young adults were very tearful when they heard about this. For them, this is their family and the sense of heritage and community is extraordinary.”

She said the reasons they had been given by the Environment Agency for the camp’s closure involved health and safety, including the keeping of gas canisters, the management of public money and the legality of the original lease.

However, the details were not shared with the islanders who claimed the agency was reluctant to meet them.

Nick Horne’s family has had a plot on the island since the Second World War. His grandfather, who had been a fireman in the East End of London during the Blitz, built the butcher’s shop in Shiplake.

He said: “I’m the third generation. My son, Harvey, just won the under-15 dinghy at the regatta — he’s fourth generation, so we’ve been here a while.

“My grandad was in the regatta, my mum competed in the regatta, I competed and now my son and it’s all through the island. I learnt to row there, my son learnt to row there.”

The family, who live in Bishop’s Stortford, would spend every other weekend between April and September at the camp.

Mr Horne said that if the camp was to close permanently it would be “devastating”. “Last year we were there when there was frost on the ground,” he said. “My son loves it. We do feel privileged to have access to it but it’s the history and what as a collective we’ve given back to the community too.

“It’s the focal part of our summer. I’ve grown up with everyone on the island. My best man was an islander. It’s a really unique, tight-knit community.”

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: “At the start of March we informed seasonal plot holders that we would not be opening the Shiplake campsite for the start of the camping season.

“We then informed them that we would not be opening the site this year at the end of April.

“We have closed the campsite for several reasons, including meeting our health and safety obligations at the site and compliance with the Public Health Act.

“We are aware of the heritage and history of camping at the island and were also aware that the seasonal plot holders would be extremely disappointed by our decision to close the site for this year.

“However, we had to take the difficult decision to close the site for the above reasons.

“This isn’t a permanent decision and we are currently looking at the options for camping on Shiplake Island in the future.

“We have been working with a small group of seasonal pitch holders who represent the wider group and will continue to do so.”

A Thames Valley Police spokesman confirmed the force had received reports of burglary, criminal damage and theft of fishing equipment at the camping huts on June 24. He added: “The reports were filed pending further information coming to light.”

To sign the petition, visit www.change.org/p/save-shiplake-lock-island-after-150-years