Living in the Park
Get Involved
Big Waterways Clean Up 2012
The Big Waterways Clean Up 2012 (BWCU2012) is an Olympic-inspired partnership and campaign to improve East London’s waterways, and in particular those around the Olympic Park, by summer 2012.
The campaign is being led by Thames21 with support from the Legacy Company. Thames21 is one of the country’s leading waterway charities working with communities across Greater London to improve London’s rivers, canals, ponds and lakes.
We want to make sure people and wildlife get the most out of their rivers and canals well into the future and the BWCU2012 is the perfect way to get involved and help out. Thames21 is seeking people of all ages to get involved in this mass volunteer-led initiative to inspire community activity and produce a lasting legacy for Londoners and their local neighbourhoods long after the London 2012 Games.
This is an opportunity to ensure the valuable waterways, which characterise the Olympic Park site and surrounding area are seen as places we love, respect and enjoy, highlighting London’s commitment to sustainability and social inclusion. And to make sure that your hard work is recognised into the future, individuals and community groups will be offered free training, allowing you to deliver your own waterway improvement volunteer events wherever you are.
The Legacy Company is a funding partner of the Big Waterways Clean Up 2012 as it helps us support excellent partnership working to deliver significant environmental, social and community benefits through the waterways in and around the Olympic Park. This project forms the pilot of a volunteer Timebank model that the Legacy Company hopes to establish across the whole Park after the Games.
By establishing this pilot through the Big Waterways Clean Up 2012 we are able to start encouraging and delivering some of the long-term benefits even before the Games have taken place and establish important community foundations for continuing these benefits long after the 2012 Games are over.
For more information about the Big Waterways Clean Up 2012 campaign and to sign-up to get involved, please visit the BWCU2012 section on the Thames21 website:
www.thames21.org.uk/project/bwcu2012/
You can also download the BWCU2012 programme of volunteering events below:
Download the BWCU2012 events programme
You can also view the Thames21 online calendar for up-to-date details of events taking place:
http://www.thames21.org.uk/events/
And here are some of the activities you could get involved with:
- Get stuck in: Help us clean-up dirty rivers and canals
- Make a splash: Learn how to kayak and litter-pick at the same time
- Take a lead: Benefit from training so you can lead your own waterway improvement activities
- Pretty rubbish: Get involved in art projects, making use of plastic waste collected
- Regenerate: Help remove weeds and invasive species from waterways and riverbanks, allowing native species to flourish
- New homes: Help create wildlife habitats.
Alternatively, you can tell us how you would like to get involved as well as what you would like to see happening on your local waterways.
To do so, please contact Ben Fenton on the details below with your ideas:
Ben Fenton
Big Waterways Clean Up 2012 Campaign Coordinator
Tel: 020 7515 3337
Mob: 07920 230 970
Email: ben.fenton@thames21.org.uk
Thames21 welcome people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds so please get in touch if you have any access or other requirements to make your contribution possible.
For more information on Thames21, visit their website:
For more information on the Big Waterways Clean Up 2012 campaign, visit the relevant section on the Thames21 website:
http://www.thames21.org.uk/project/bwcu2012/
The Big Waterways Clean Up 2012 is made possible through a unique partnership between:
The Inland Waterways Association
London 2012 Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games