Environmental charity tackling dirty rivers crisis with help of National Lottery funding

A charity in East Sussex is looking to reverse concerning levels of water pollution in the River Medway after receiving £10,000 in National Lottery funding.

Friends of the River Medway has received this vital funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, to support its Revitalising Rivers project to help restore the Medway back to good health through community action and educational workshops.

The charity was launched last year as a river cleaning initiative following incidents of fly tipping and industrial pollution along the river, including industrial waste, machinery, domestic waste and even bicycles.

It has since held community walks and workshops that have helped to generate a greater awareness of the causes of river pollution in the community as a way of creating a long-term legacy of care and guardianship of the river.

The grant will support the charity to expand its activities beyond the Forest Row area of the Medway, to communities between Turners Hill and Hartfield. The charity will also use the funding to add to its team of 10 core volunteers, as well as the 80 volunteers that regularly get involved in clean-up walks and other activities such as invasive species removal.

Friends of the River Medway works alongside the South East Rivers Trust to run river surveys, water quality tests, and litter picks. It is also part of the Medway Catchment Partnership, a coalition of organisations that meet on an annual basis to discuss the projects that are taking place across the river.

Recent months have seen a stream of reports that have highlighted the problems facing the UK’s rivers, with figures from the Environmental Audit Committee showing that only 14% of English rivers meet good ecological status, with pollution from agriculture, sewage, roads and single-use plastics contributing to a dangerous ‘chemical cocktail’ coursing through our waterways.

The River Medway has been victim to incidents of contamination as recently as last month, when it was reported that a serious pollution event resulted in swans and other aquatic birds being covered in oil.

Zofia Page, Project Coordination Manager at Friends of the River Medway, said: “Rivers serve as the veins of the earth, they breathe life across the land, nourishing organisms, plants and animals with nutrients and water. If we continue to treat them as dumping grounds, not just for sewage, but for things like agricultural run-off, wet wipes and the chemicals in our household products, then we are essentially contaminating the system that keeps us, and the many other beings that inhabit this planet, alive.

“We ran our first community gathering of 2022 in the beginning of January, which attracted 20 people from both Forest Row and East Grinstead. Everyone left in high spirits and expressed their excitement for the next event, but also how beneficial they felt it was for their wellbeing. We would like to say a massive thank you to The National Lottery Community Fund and National Lottery players for this grant, as we will now be able to organise more gatherings and expand our engagement to other stretches of the river, helping more people live ‘river friendly’ lifestyles.”

The National Lottery Community Fund is a significant funder of environmental projects helping the UK reach net zero by 2050, ranging from largescale programmes with an explicit focus on sustainability and building resilience to climate change, to a multitude of smaller grass roots projects. Since 2016, it has awarded £397 million through more than 6,000 grants which involve environmental action involving food, waste and consumption, energy, transport, and the natural environment.

Friends of the River Medway is one of 55 organisations in East Sussex to receive almost £1.2 million of National Lottery funding over the past three months. Today it was also announced that almost £90 million of National Lottery funding was awarded to over 2,700 community groups across England during the same period.

Helen Bushell, Senior Head of Regional Funding for London, South East and East of England at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “Thanks to National Lottery players, this vital funding will have a huge impact on people’s lives across South East England. Now two years on from the start of COVID-19 pandemic and what has been an incredibly challenging time for people across the UK, groups like Friends of the River Medway are continuing to step up to help their communities build back stronger.

“We’re proud to support people to come together and build community spirit during a momentous year that includes the UK’s hosting of the Commonwealth Games and commemorating Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.”

National Lottery players raise over £30 million each week across the UK for good causes. The National Lottery Community Fund as a distributor ensures a share of this funding goes straight to communities, helping them to tackle important issues such as supporting young people into employment, mental health and climate action.

In the last 12 months it has given out nearly £600 million to 12,500 organisations, reaching every local authority and constituency in the UK.

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk