River clean-up and picnic on the meadows close Big Green Week

A GROUP of nine took to the River Thames on paddleboards on Sunday to collect rubbish as part of Great Big Green Week.

Departing from Val Wyatt Marine in Wargrave at 3.30pm, the group returned just over an hour later with three 10-litre white containers full of plastic bottles, nets and a container of paint.

Organiser Lynne Lambourne, 50, said that although there was less rubbish in the river than on previous litter picks, people shouldn’t ignore the issue of pollution in waterways.

She said: “For us, even though there wasn’t a massive amount of rubbish, seeing the wildlife was a reminder of why it is so important to keep the river clean.

“We saw ducklings, fish, minnows, so many dragonflies — it was beautiful — and the water lilies at this time of year are amazing, so it’s a kick up the backside for people to remind them how beautiful the river is. It’s nice in one respect to see there is not much litter but I have just come back off three days off an island in Scotland clearing ocean waste and I know the problem is huge.

“We might be in a very sheltered position here and there may not be much rubbish in the river but I know that the real reality of the global situation is very different.

“Packaging is the main problem, we’re a packaging society and we have got to go to a refill. There is no point looking for alternatives which are so called recyclable or recycled material, ultimately, we need to stop using so much.”

Nick Judd, of paddleboarding company Go with the Flo, said this was the cleanest he had seen it.

He said: “The stretch from Shiplake College to Hambleden Lock, in terms of litter, was quite clean.

“We found a pot of paint, which was probably the most interesting thing we found today, but previously we have found bikes, bedsteads and garden furniture.”

Angi Pianta, from Checkendon, joined the litter pick for the first time, having never previously been on a paddleboard.

She said: “I met Lynne last year and she has really opened my eyes to a lot of stuff in terms of sustainability so I try and support and get involved as much as I can.

“The river is so beautiful but it is just so sad to see how people just don’t take their rubbish home.

“I think sometimes people don’t do it intentionally but the thing is sometimes you could be a little bit more careful about the rubbish around you. Obviously, it gets windy around here so of course things do blow away.”

Meanwhile, volunteers from Greener Henley held a picnic in Mill Meadows. where residents were invited to write a pledge, chosen from one of nine categories including travel, food, money, energy, fashion, stuff we buy, nature, speak up, and river, on a pink, heart-shaped sticky note.

They could then pin the note on to one of the nine green heart-shaped cut-outs lined up in Mill Meadows.

Volunteer Becks Fern, 33, said: “My pledge has been greening my travel, so I have just booked to do my holiday via train, we have used route planners and that kind of thing.”

As well as sticking their pledge to one of the hearts, residents can register their pledges on the Greener Henley website, where they can also see how many other residents have made the same pledge.

Kate Oldridge, executive director of Greener Henley, said that this will make people aware of their collective impact. She said: “Users will be able to see, for example, 875 people made ‘use eco products in my home pledge’.

“That is really important information because the biggest barrier to people taking action is thinking, ‘well, I’m just one person, what is the difference?’

“What we have tried to do with these pledges is to meet people where they are in their journey with it. We have tried to include ones that are really quick and easy to do and then ones that require more attention. The idea is that we are trying to make it easy for people.

“I’m going to pause on plastic, I have been wanting to do it for ages, and I am going to start going to a refill shop.”

Deputy Mayor Ian Reissmann pledged to start a compost heap.

He said: “We’re trying to get 5,000 people to pledge, that’s thought to be a viable number, and trying to make as many people as possible aware.”