QWAG AGM, 15 March 2023

Report by QWAG Chair, Paul de Zylva and Secretary, Pamela Zollicoffer

Dedication: Sheila Peck and Paul Rainey – We are saddened at the unexpected deaths of long-standing members, Sheila Peck and Paul Rainey. QWAG is exploring ways to remember them.

Highlights

We helped secure a rare welcome win to prevent a threat to Metropolitan Open Land at the Willow Tree Riding Establishment, Grove Park. We submitted evidence in 2021 and, in March 2022, attended hearings into the developer’s appeal against Lewisham’s refusal of its scheme.

Having adjusted to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown we are used to change, but after years promoting the idea of completing the restoration of the Quaggy, and having secured both backing for our priority Quaggy Links project and funding for the first phase, we were looking forward to making progress in 2022 https://qwag.org.uk/get-set-for-the-last-major-restoration-of-the-quaggy

That did not happen mainly because the hoped-for involvement of Capel Manor College, which is located on the river, failed to materialise. Despite that set-back the aim remains to work with residents in the SE12 / Horn Park / Mottingham Lane / Dutch House stretch of the river which transcends Bromley, Greenwich, and Lewisham borough boundaries. We have re-grouped for 2023 to make up for lost time https://qwag.org.uk/get-to-know-your-local-river-25-26th-february/

Instead, more of 2022 was devoted to a project about flooding for Lewisham’s year as London Borough of Culture. This very different venture has led to new contacts and opportunities. We even launched a flood beer called Deluge. https://sites.gold.ac.uk/inlivingmemory/project-2/ We also helped publish David Sperlinger’s illustrated guide to Lewisham Natureman’s Stag Murals many of which are on the Quaggy and other local rivers https://qwag.org.uk/items-to-buy/

We changed to using DonorBox for receive membership subscriptions. We know some prefer to pay by cash, cheque, and bank transfer, which is still fine. We will review DonorBox in 2023.

We marked the 20^th anniversary of the Quaggy being restored in Chinbrook Meadows, which has helped catalyse improvements to the park https://qwag.org.uk/river-quaggy/happy-birthday-chinbrook-meadows/ and the 18^th anniversary of the restoration at Sutcliffe Park, which has also led to that park’s regeneration https://qwag.org.uk/river-quaggy/restoring-the-river/

In 2023, we will:

• Focus on involving residents in the SE12 area with the Quaggy Links project.
• Follow through on the Borough of Culture flood project including launching a ‘Virtual Museum’ and a Quaggy sculpture in central Lewisham near the rivers’ confluence.
• Check how Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham Councils are using their policies, activities, and powers to protect and restore rivers and freshwaters.
• We will run river walks, wades and clean up events for people to enjoy and learn more about our local rivers, including for the annual 3 Rivers Clean Up.
• We will continue to work with and support communities across the whole catchment.

Quaggy Links

As mentioned above, 2022 was due to see the start of the first part of Quaggy Links, our project for the last major restoration of the River Quaggy to make the existing successful restorations of the River Quaggy at Chinbrook Meadows in Grove Park and Sutcliffe Park in Greenwich work even better. There is also scope to improve public access on or near the river all the way between Grove Park and central Lewisham and Deptford.

In February 2022 the project secured Environment Agency funding for phase one focussed on the stretch of the River Quaggy flowing near Capel Manor College, Winn Road, Westdean Avenue and Jevington Way, and downstream along Mottingham Lane to the Dutch House, the A20 Sidcup bypass and the Great Meadow and Harmony Woods.

On 24 October 2022 we led Thames21 staff on a walk / wade of the Quaggy in the area to inform their assessment of ways to improve the river and riverbanks. In February 2023 we held initial meetings with residents for them to hear about the project and how they could get involved.

Quaggy Trail

Complementary to the Quaggy Links idea of improving public routes on or near the river, we continued to promote with Lee Forum the idea of a Quaggy Trail to extend public access along the Quaggy between Sutcliffe Park and Lee Green. QWAG has allocated £1,000 for a feasibility study, and that commitment helped secure funding from Greenwich Council to start the study.

Added context to the Trail is CPRE London’s Ten New Parks for London which includes a River Quaggy Trail and Sports Park as part of saving land near the river from development threats.

Development pressures and local policy

QWAG influences the policies and activities of the boroughs in the catchment. In 2022 QWAG:

• Suggested ways to improve Bromley Council’s Parks and Green Spaces Strategy to include rivers and waterways more than earlier drafts appeared to.
• Fed in to Lewisham Council’s consultation on its A21 Framework for the road and river corridor from central Lewisham to the border with Bromley borough via Ladywell, Rushey Green, Catford, Bellingham, and Downham. The Framework was originally presented to us as being a way to improve and restore the River Ravensbourne as new housing and development occurs. But QWAG had to push for this because the draft seemed to value the river mainly as a visual backdrop to new development. This will be tested when the Council issues its Local Plan for consultation in 2023.
• On 2 and 3 March 2022 QWAG attended a planning inquiry into a developer’s appeal against Lewisham’s refusal of a development at the former Willow Tree Riding Establishment on Ronver Road, Grove Park. QWAG had submitted evidence in 2021. The development appeared to be for a Trojan Horse for a later larger scale scheme on this Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) and Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC). Although the River Quaggy was not directly affected the proposals would have affected drainage and biodiversity in the area with possible consequences for the groundwaters and the river. The site is also part of the Grove Park community’s aims for a Grove Park District Park. Helping with the planning appeal was as much about showing QWAG’s support to others, but it did involve a fair amount of work. The developer’s appeal was turned down by the planning inspector in a pleasing but all too rare win.

Lewisham Under Water project for Borough of Culture 2022

2022 was Lewisham’s year as London Borough of Culture. QWAG was chosen by Goldsmiths’ University of London as one of six local community groups to produce a people’s post WWII history of life in the borough. We worked with Marcus Gayle, Lewisham Council’s flood manager, on the 1968 floods and how we can all help reduce flood risk now. https://qwag.org.uk/remembering-lewishams-1968-floods-and-lessons-50-years-on/

• We gathered people’s recollections of the flood from photographs to audio and written recollections. These will go into a ‘virtual museum’ (see below).
• We launched a flood beer called Deluge on 19 October at Brockley Brewery. We produced 4 beermats with different photos of flooding (Catford Bridge railway station, Ladywell, central Lewisham, Manor Park) as a new way to engage with people about flooding as an issue today, not just from over 50 years ago.
• We also started work on a ‘virtual museum’ which people will be able to enter to explore both the materials and contributions gathered during the year (as well as anything else we want to say about the River Quaggy. This will be an ongoing way for us to show people the river and the issues and opportunities. In that sense, it means the borough of culture year does not end as 2022 becomes 2023.
• We ran a Public Art Commission and selected the winning artist whose sculpture will be sited near the confluence having gained planning permission in January 2023.

The project has worked on many levels beyond what QWAG would normally do and has opened more contacts with people at Goldsmiths’ who are keen to work with us more. One of those projects already existed – the Quaggy Soundwalk – but this may be expanded because of the interest raised by the flood project.

The idea of the Soundwalk originates from our last meeting before lockdown in January 2020 when we heard from our guest speaker, John Drever, Professor of Acoustic Ecology and Sound Art at Goldsmiths’ University of London. We discussed some potential idea for joint work. In summer 2021 John, Emma Jackson, Goldsmiths’ urban sociologist and ethnographer, Louise Rondel, and others captured sound recordings of the river from the dawn chorus to people in and near the river talking about their relationship with the Quaggy. You can hear the recordings by clicking on the coloured dots here: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/sounding-the-river-quaggy_679393#13/51.4542/-0.0202

As a result of QWAG’s involvement with the project we are looking to add to the Soundwalk including making it part of a ‘virtual museum’ of the many other materials we have gathered which will enable people to explore the river as though they were in it, without needing wellies or waders.

2022 speaker meetings and events

Speaker meetings during the year:

• Nature’s recovery in Bromley, Greenwich, and Lewisham – Paul de Zylva (19 January)
• Amazing eels!! and removing barriers – Philippa Nicholls, Thames21 (16 March AGM)
• 1968 flood images collected for QWAG’s In Living Memory project – Paul de Zylva (20 July)

Events held / attended during the year:

• Stall at the Manor House Gardens Festival (18 June)
• 3 Rivers Clean Up (3RCU) from Chinbrook Meadows to Mottingham Lane (22 June)
• 3RCU at the confluence of the Quaggy and Ravensbourne, central Lewisham, (2 July)
• 3RCU with 12^th Lewisham North Scouts from Manor Park to Manor House Gardens (9 July)
• River walk for London Rivers Week from central Lewisham to Sutcliffe Park (15 July)
• River clean up with the Friends of the Ladywell Fields (5 November).

Online presence

We used our website www.qwag.org.uk to promote our events and our amplified this through our presence on our twitter, facebook and instagram social media channels, which we also use to engage with others locally and beyond. Our ‘following’ on different platforms is:

Governance + membership

QWAG’s Trustees and Committee members meet every other month (April, June, August, October, December, and February) to plan events, review finances and ensure we comply with the law. These meetings are open to all.

Maria de Jesus, QWAG Treasurer, and Pip Spratt of Made You Look researched a new, easier way to members to renew and record their membership, and for new people to join. We started using the new system, called DonorBox, in March 2022.

Thanks

QWAG members for continuing to support QWAG’s aims.

Fellow QWAG’s Trustees and Management Committee members: Maria de Jesus (Treasurer), Mike Keogh (Vice Chair), David Larkin, Pippa Bampton, Sheila Peck, and Lawrence Beale Collins.

Pip Spratt www.madeyoulook.co.uk/ for web and other technical support.

Quaggy Links – Thames21’s Lucy Shuker, John Bryden and Philippa Nicholls at Thames21.

Quaggy Soundwalk – John Drever, Emma Jackson, and Louise Rondel.

Lewisham Under Water – In Living Memory – Will Cenci, John Price, Michael Eades, and Benjamin Prideaux of Goldsmiths’ University of London, for advice, support, training and more on the project for Lewisham’s 2022 year as London Borough of Culture.

Special thanks to Marcus Gayle of Lewisham Council, our In Living Memory / Lewisham Under Water partner, and to Kellie Blake and all involved in We Are Lewisham. Thanks also to Brockley Brewery for brewing Deluge flood beer and hosting a launch event at their Brockley Tap.

Special thanks to Dima Karout, for making the River Quaggy and QWAG’s activities part of the Internal Landscapes project https://www.wearelewisham.com/internal-landscapes-by-dima-karout/

QWAG AGM, 16 March 2022

Report by QWAG Chair, Paul de Zylva and Secretary, Pamela Zollicoffer

Highlights

2021 was a busy and productive year as we fully adjusted to the second year of lockdown and rules to protect public health from the Covid-19 pandemic.

QWAG continued to play its part in protecting public health having adopted what has become known as ‘hybrid’ working since we cancelled our March 2021 AGM and moved to online meetings. We actively opened our bi-monthly speaker meetings to other groups.

During the year, speaker meeting covered topics as diverse as wild swimming, local flood risk, action to green southeast London, how natural disasters can cascade and exacerbate other issues, and the Perseverance Rover’s search for water on Mars.

2021 was the year of tangible progress with the Quaggy Links priority project. A wade and walk of the route in January 2021 identified what actions could be taken at different points of the stretch of the river between Chinbrook Meadows in Grove Park and downstream Sutcliffe Park in Greenwich. The resulting scoping report was shared with others and informed plans to secure funding.

Allowing for lockdown rules and hygiene needs, we held some limited physical activities and events such as river wades and clean ups including for the 3 Rivers Clean Up.

We advised on and worked with Goldsmiths’ University of London on Quaggy Soundwalk, an audio record of the Quaggy and people’s relationship to it – listen here. And with Goldsmith’s and Lewisham Council we drew up ideas for a watery angle to Lewisham Borough of Culture 2022.

Cooperation across the catchment

We continued to support action across the entire river catchment covering Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham plus part of Croydon via the Ravensbourne Catchment Improvement Group (RCIG). Quaggy Links is a priority project for the catchment. We also offered help to develop a ‘storymap’ to highlight action across the catchment, not just ours.

We met and briefed Environment Agency Director Harvey Bradshaw and Deputy Director Sally Harvey on 6 October. Lawrence Beale Collins met and briefed them at Brookmill Park, and Paul de Zylva met them at the confluence of the Quaggy and the Ravensbourne, and briefed them on what works, what does not, what’s needed to improve things, and how QWAG can assist the EA aims.

Quaggy Links (QL)

The year saw a major leap ahead for Quaggy Links (QL) our project for the last major restoration of the River Quaggy. The beauty of QL is that it would make the existing successful restorations of the River Quaggy at Chinbrook Meadows in Grove Park and Sutcliffe Park in Greenwich work even better.

Instead of individual restorations dotted in places, restoring an entire 2-mile stretch of the river between the two sites would increase the river’s own role in cutting flood risk and boosting wildlife in the river and on its banks. QL could also mean new public access along an extended blue-green corridor and improved Green Chain Walk and the Capital Ring strategic routes. Imagine being able to walk near a restored River Quaggy all of the way between Grove Park and Greenwich.

We hosted an initial consultation and feedback event on 3 March 2021 to share the scoping study with individuals and interests along the river. We worked with Thames21 to identify how to start the project in earnest and decided to focus on the stretch of the River Quaggy flowing near Capel Manor College, Winn Road, Westfield Avenue and Jevington Way, and downstream along Mottingham Lane to the Dutch House, the A20 Sidcup bypass and the Great Meadow and Harmony Wood.

In December 2021 a bid for Environment Agency funding of phase one was lodged for this first phase and in February 2022 we heard that this had been successful.

Quaggy Trail

Complementary to QL, we continued to explore with Lee Forum the idea of a Quaggy Trail to complement and extend QL by extending public access along the Quaggy between Sutcliffe Park and Lee Green. That could mean that a new river-related route between central Lewisham and Grove Park via Sutcliffe Park.

QWAG had already earmarked £1,000 toward a feasibility study, and we are pleased to report that in early 2022 Lee Forum secured funding from Greenwich ward councillors to proceed with the study. We also continued to support CPRE London’s Ten New Parks for London including a River Quaggy Trail and Sports Park as part of concern for the way land near the river is being mistreated or threated by land owners on this section.

Development pressures

For many years QWAG has engaged with, and provided feedback on, plans for Catford. In 2021 Lewisham Council launched its vision for Catford being London’s greenest town centre, including by some thoughts on restoring the Pool and Ravensbourne rivers and adding more greenery to the town centre area.

We fed back that the ambition is fine but the plans require robust detail with less reliance on artists’ impressions of amenity grass, trees planted among paving slabs and other gimmicky greening measures of questionable benefit to nature, and more foundation in credible assessments of what is needed to bring nature back including the role of properly restored rivers and how they can support other aims, such as learning, recreation, health and climate change, and how they relate to the rest of Catford.

Local planning and other policy

We engaged local councils on various policies and submitted responses to consultations including:

• Bromley Council on its green spaces strategy.
• Greenwich Council on its parks and green spaces plans.
• Lewisham Council on its waste management and air pollution strategies, both of which have a bearing on the conditions of local rivers and the places they flow through.
• We also responded to consultation on Lewisham’s draft Local Plan, the masterplan for the area’s development, and on the A21 – Ravensbourne corridor study of how to accommodate housing and development along the route from central Lewisham to Ladywell, Rushey Green, Catford, Bellingham and Downham. We called for the study to deliver on promises to improve and restore the River Ravensbourne.

Special projects

Quaggy Soundwalk – In January 2020 QWAG’s guest speaker was John Drever, Professor of Acoustic Ecology and Sound Art at Goldsmiths’ University of London. We discussed some potential idea for joint work and summer 2021 saw John, Emma Jackson, Goldsmiths’ urban sociologist and ethnographer and others recording sounds of the river from the dawn chorus to people in and near the river and talking about their relationship to the Quaggy.

The resulting Quaggy Soundwalk was launched beside the river in Manor Park on 13 November, as part of the Being Human Festival, and you can hear the online audio recordings by clicking on the coloured dots here: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/sounding-the-river-quaggy_679393#13/51.4542/-0.0202

London Borough of Culture 2022 – We were approached by Lewisham Council to develop joint ideas for In Living Memory, a post WWII People’s History project by Goldsmith’s for We Are Lewisham 2022.

Quaggy Links Natural capital – parallel to Quaggy Links, Imperial College has been looking into the ‘natural capital’ of the Quaggy and the wider catchment. The project is due to report in 2022.

2021 meetings and events

Pamela Zollicoffer, QWAG Secretary, organised a fascinating set of speakers for meetings in 2021:

• Bromley Glassmill Millpond: Past, Present and Future – Jeff Royce, Chairman of the Friends of Bromley Town Parks & Gardens (20 January 2021)
• Greening southeast London – Catherine Ashcroft (17 March AGM)
• Natural hazards and risk – Bruce D. Malamud, Professor of Natural & Environmental Hazards, King’s College London (19 May)
• Flooding and flood risk – Marcus Gayle, Flood Risk Manager, Lewisham Council (21 July)
• Perseverance rover and rivers on Mars – Sanjeev Gupta, NASA and Professor of Earth Sciences at Imperial College, London (15 September)
• Wild Swimming – Christopher Woodward, Director, Museum of Garden History (17 November).

Events held:

• QWAG’s 6h Great Quaggy Duck Race was postponed for a second consecutive year
• Pamela Zollicoffer led a 53rd anniversary walk on the 1968 Lewisham floods (19 September).
• We ran two events for 12th Lewisham North Scouts: a river wade and session identifying aquatic species between Manor Park and Manor House Gardens (5 July), and a bat watch in Sutcliffe Park (7 October).
• We held a river clean up event with the Friends of the Ladywell Fields (11 November).

For the 3 Rivers Clean Up 2021, we held several events on the Quaggy and Ravensbourne:

• At the confluence of the Quaggy and the Ravensbourne in central Lewisham (29 May) – this was the first time we or anyone else had been in the rivers here since the Lewisham Gateway development had opened.
• In Sutcliffe Park (3 and 12 June)
• Behind the Lee High Road near Lidl (8)
• Mottingham Lane / Dutch House stretch and the Little Quaggy along the A20 (15)
• Ladywell Fields, Ravensbourne Park and at Catford Green with the Friends of Ladywell Fields (19).

Online presence

We used our website www.qwag.org.uk to promote our events and our burgeoning social media presence to promote our activities and engage with others locally and beyond. Our following on different platforms is:

Governance + membership

QWAG’s Trustees and Management Committee members meets each other month (April, June, August, October, December and February) to plan events, review finances and ensure we comply with the law. These meetings are open to all. We have 51 individuals and 11 members from 10 households. Total of 62 people.

Maria de Jesus, QWAG Treasurer, and Pip Spratt of Made You Look researched a new, easier way to members to renew and record their membership, and for new people to join. The new system launched in March 2022.

Thanks

To all QWAG members for keeping faith with QWAG during the pandemic.

To fellow QWAG’s Trustees and Management Committee members: Maria de Jesus (Treasurer), Mike Keogh (Vice Chair), David Larkin, Pippa Bampton, Sheila Peck, and Lawrence Beale Collins.

Thanks to Pip Spratt www.madeyoulook.co.uk for web support and advice on a new membership system.

Thanks to Lucy Shuker and John Bryden at Thames21 for helping advance the Quaggy Links project.

Thanks to John Drever, Emma Jackson and Louise Rondel for the Quaggy Soundwalk project.

Marcus Gayle of Lewisham Council and Will Cenci of Goldsmith’s for help with and work on the In Living Memory / Lewisham Under Water project for Lewisham 2022 Borough of Culture.

QWAG AGM, 17 March 2021

Chair’s report

Highlights of a low year

Odd as it is to think of pandemic-hit 2020 having highlights QWAG had a busy year even with the cancellation or postponement of many of our planned events. The highlight was getting moving with Quaggy Links, which we have talked about for many years without making much practical progress.

Other highlights include our swift adjustment to moving our meetings online and perhaps reaching more people than we usually do. We managed to carry out some physical river activities, and the need to keep watch for pollution and bad behaviour by landowners and developers is never done. This report summarises what turned out to be a busier 2020 than it might have been.

Cooperation across the catchment

QWAG continued its role in the Ravensbourne Catchment Improvement Group (RCIG) working with Thames21 and others to agree priorities to improve the condition of local rivers and waterways across the entire catchment. A ‘storymap’ is being developed to help promote the catchment as a whole and action to improve conditions such as ours. Quaggy Links is a RCIG priority project – see the progress report below.

Showcasing river restoration

QWAG was contacted by AtkinsGlobal, the engineering and design firm, to arrange the tour for some of its clients from Hong Kong who wanted to know more about local river restoration. In February, long standing QWAG members, Dave Larkin and Mike Keogh, led a tour of the catchment to show the guests how river restoration came about, how it is working and what more could be done.

Quaggy Links

Having reported to past AGMs that this project was our priority, it took until 2020 for the idea to start making strides from idea to action. The aim is to remove much of the River Quaggy from its long remaining stretches of straightened concrete between Grove Park and Greenwich and Lewisham.

In what would be the last major restoration of the River Quaggy, the existing successful restorations of the river through Chinbrook Meadows (Grove Park) and in Sutcliffe Park (Greenwich) would be complemented by a re-naturalised river in between. That would help maximise the ability of the river to reduce flood risk and boost nature. Stetches of the river could also be opened up to create new public routes linking Grove Park to Greenwich (and with Quaggy Walks, see below) all the way to Lee Green and Lewisham, including by extending and re-routing the Green Chain Walk and the Capital Ring.

A wade of the route was planned for April but was postponed for pandemic reasons. In autumn 2020 a project proposal was lodged with the Environment Agency with a view to conduct a scoping study. The Agency agreed a £20,000 scoping study with potential funds of about £220k for each of the next two years. In November 2020 we rearranged the postponed wade of the route for staff from the Environment Agency, Lewisham Council and Thames21 to see the potential for themselves. For more see: https://qwag.org.uk/get-set-for-the-last-major-restoration-of-the-quaggy/

Quaggy Walks

We continued discussions with Lee Forum and others on the idea of improving access beside the River Quaggy between Sutcliffe Park and Lee Green.

Toward the end of 2020 the germ of the idea we have called Quaggy Walks (or Trails) morphed into an active push to make the most of existing green spaces and sports fields along the Quaggy in Greenwich. That has resulted in CPRE London’s Ten New Parks for London campaign including a River Quaggy Trail and Sports Park https://www.cprelondon.org.uk/news/lets-create-ten-major-new-parks-for-london-now/

In autumn 2020, we noticed works in one of the green spaces beside Quaggy with the banks being cleared of hedging and vegetation. Soon after the landowner installed unsympathetic metal fencing to block public access across the river. The fencing probably also restricts the movement of some wildlife.

Development pressures

QWAG continued to track local developments with potential effects on local rivers. At New Lewisham Gateway in central Lewisham, the revamped confluence of the Quaggy and Ravensbourne was unveiled – at last – although the new Confluence Park was kept closed due to the pandemic.

QWAG continued to push for the next phase of the redevelopment, immediately opposite St Stephen’s Church, to include proper green and open space as part of making the town centre less bound by concrete and hard surfacing which adds to flood risk and does little or nothing for nature and biodiversity.

Meyer Homes’ controversial very tall tower (which would be visible from Blackheath) at central Lewisham’s Conington Road Tesco site on the Ravensbourne was approved when Lewisham Council was persuaded by the developer’s proposal of providing limited public access to a new viewing platform on the tower.

The developer’s claim that the scheme would involve restoring the Ravensbourne will, however, not take place in what is another missed chance to restore local rivers properly when major development occurs.

In Catford, QWAG continued to feed in ideas to Lewisham Council’s Team Catford, about the revamp of the town centre where there are huge opportunities both for quality green space – not just amenity grass, trees stuck in concrete and other planting of little or natural value – and to restore the River Ravensbourne and improve its relationship to the rest of Catford.

Local planning policy

In June we started discussion with muf architects on their work for Lewisham Council on a A21 – Ravensbourne corridor study looking at the potential to accommodate new housing and development along the route all the way from central Lewisham via Catford and Bellingham to Downham.

Although driven by the pressure to find space for new housing, the study is supposed to result in a form of planning guidance for the Council to use in ensuring that other important matters are not forgotten or underplayed. For example, there is potential to address other important matters which tend to be forgotten or underplayed such as: removing the Ravensbourne from concrete; raising the ecological quality of the river corridor; boosting public access and sense of ownership; raising the quality of local green space, not just amenity greenspace and low value planting etc.

QWAG has also suggested that the study should include the potential to restore the River Quaggy in front of St Stephen’s Church and Lewisham Police station in central Lewisham, monies for which we given away to the New Lewisham Gateway redevelopment instead of being used for their intended purpose.

The A21 study builds on the Lewisham Characterisation Study (June 2019) by Allies and Morrison which looked at green spaces given pressure for housing and other development. And it will reflect and be part of the updated Lewisham Local Plan which will be consulted on in 2021.

Greenwich Council consultation on parks and spending

QWAG also submitted a brief response to the Royal Borough’s consultation on ways to spend £1 million on parks and green spaces. The main thrust of the response was on the skills needed (in house and by better working with community contacts) to manage spaces for nature and recreation including to avoid mishaps as happened with the destruction of new hedging at Sutcliffe Park – see below.
Hedging outside Sutcliffe Park https://qwag.org.uk/the-right-sort-of-hedge-fund/
QWAG paid toward some mixed hedging just outside Sutcliffe Park and the whips were saved by David Larkin who watered them every day during the dry conditions in April and May 2020. The hedging which complemented other hedging put in by the Friends of Sutcliffe Park adds to the improved conditions in and around the park including providing a screen to the busy Eltham Road which bounds the park.
Sadly, at the end of June a 30 metre stretch of the other nearby newly-planted hedge was damaged by Greenwich Council. https://www.facebook.com/159675640767381/posts/2983526335048950/?d=n

Meetings and events

We organised a calendar of speakers at bi-monthly members’ meetings and used our website www.qwag.org.uk and social media platforms – twitter, facebook and instagram – to promote river restoration, our activities and ways for people to get to know their local rivers.

Members’ meetings: Pamela Zollicoffer organised another year of super speakers for members’ meetings:

• Sounds in the environment – John Drever, Professor of Acoustic Ecology and Sound Art, Goldsmiths, University of London. (15 January 2020)
• The River Quaggy’s ‘secret’ wildflower meadow, Catherine Ashcroft, (18 March AGM, postponed)
• An A-Z of the folklore and Uses of British & Irish Plants, Roy Vickery, South London Botanical Institute (21 May)
• People & planning: Lessons from our Neighbourhood Plan, Sarah McMichael, Lee Forum (15 July)
• Green roofs – from Deptford to London, Europe and beyond – A personal SE London story, Dusty Gedge, President, European Federation of Green Roof Associations (16 September AGM)
• Quaggy Links, the next major restoration of the river, Paul de Zylva, QWAG (18 November).

QWAG’s 6th Great Quaggy Duck Race was scheduled for (the May Bank holiday but was postponed. We arranged a couple of river clean up events for volunteers to help remove Himalayan Balsam from the river in Lewisham and at Mottingham. Pamela Zollicoffer also led a 52nd anniversary walk about the 1968 Lewisham floods. https://qwag.org.uk/remembering-lewishams-1968-floods-and-lessons-50-years-on/

Online presence

We used our website www.qwag.org.uk to promote our events and our burgeoning social media presence to promote our activities and engage with others locally and beyond. Our following on different platforms is:

Governance + membership

The Committee meets each other month (April, June, August, October, December and February) to plan events, review finances and ensure we comply with the law. These meetings are open to all. We have 51 individuals and 11 members from 10 households. Total of 62 people.

Thanks

As ever thanks to my fellow Trustees & Committee members for keeping QWAG afloat: Pippa Bampton, Sheila Peck, Maria de Jesus, David Larkin, Pamela Zollicoffer, Mike Keogh and Lawrence Beale Collins.. Thanks to our venue, Lewisham Methodist Church Hall and Pip Spratt www.madeyoulook.co.uk for web support. Thanks also to Lucy Shuker at Thames21 for helping advance the Quaggy Links project.

QWAG AGM, 18 March 2020 Chair’s 2019-20 report

Highlights

Cooperation across the catchment – During 2019 QWAG sought the renewal of the Ravensbourne Catchment Improvement Group (RCIG) which had fallen into abeyance during 2018 and much of 2019, impeding action to improve the condition of local rivers and waterways across the entire catchment. The RCIG recommenced meeting in October 2019 and QWAG help orientate the new Catchment Coordinator, Natalie Breden by taking her on a tour from Hither Green to Sutcliffe Park, Lee Green and Lewisham.

Quaggy Links and Quaggy Walks – With the RCIG resuming, QWAG started promoting Quaggy Links, its project to secure the next major restoration of the River Quaggy. QWAG also worked with Lee Forum and Living Streets to explore potential for a Quaggy Walks route between Sutcliffe Park and Lee. QWAG led a wade of the route with Greenwich and Lewisham ward councillors (30 March 2019).

Development pressures – QWAG continued to track local developments with potential effects on local rivers especially Meyer Homes’ tower at Conington Road, Barratt’s Catford Green and Muse’s ongoing Lewisham Gateway scheme including the confluence of the Rivers Quaggy and Ravensbourne.

Meetings and events – We organised a calendar of speakers at bi-monthly members’ meetings and used our website www.qwag.org.uk and social media platforms – twitter, facebook and instagram – to promote river restoration, our activities and ways for people to get to know their local rivers. Pamela Zollicoffer led 51st anniversary walks for 1968 Lewisham floods (21 March and 22 September 2019). QWAG’s 5th Great Quaggy Duck Race was held in Manor Park (26 May) as part of the Hither Green Festival.

Members’ meetings: Pamela Zollicoffer organised another year of super speakers for members’ meetings:

• Lewisham Floods 1968 – Emily Hay, 1968 Lewisham Floods Archivist, and Paul Browning, SE London local history blogger, aka ‘Running Past’ (16 January 2019)
• Liquid Assets: Prehistoric Finds from the River Thames – Jon Cotton, researcher with an interest in the prehistory of the capital and the archaeology of the river Thames (20 March 2019)
• Step on it – Richard Buchanan, Woolwich & District Antiquarian Society on what the drain and footway covers and street furniture we walk on / near every day reveal of our past (15 May 2019)
• Recovery of the tidal Thames and its fisheries – Richard Buchanan (17 July 2019)
• Our 18 September meeting was used to host an event on planning with other community groups
• Our 20 November meeting was used to discuss recent work and plans.

Improving the condition of the River Quaggy and wider catchment

Quaggy Links: Our priority project is the next major restoration of the Quaggy along the stretch between Chinbrook Meadows and Sutcliffe Park which is stuck in concrete and warrants being opened up, renaturalised and opened up for public access. Quaggy Links is a priority project under the Ravensbourne Catchment Improvement Plan – the blueprint for improving the whole catchment including priority projects for restoring rivers and water bodies – although government funding remains unavailable for sizable major works of this kind, for the time being.

Ravensbourne Catchment Improvement Group (RCIG): The RCIG exists to bring together various interests across the catchment – the three local authorities of Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham, the Environment Agency, community groups and borough contractors – to implement the Catchment Improvement Plan. The RCIG has been in abeyance since Thames 21 reallocated the role of Ravensbourne Catchment Coordinator to a different role. QWAG pushed for the reinstatement of RCIG meetings and coordination and an inaugural meeting took place in October 2019 with new Thames21 staff.

Influencing major developments

New Lewisham Gateway: QWAG kept watch on the ongoing plans for the re-development at the confluence of the Quaggy and Ravensbourne especially the second phase of the scheme immediately opposite St Stephen’s Church, which QWAG said lacked adequate green and open space, and the confluence itself, which was due to be opened in 2019.

Conington Road: We continued to track and engaged with Meyer Homes, developers of this major development on the Tesco site in Lewisham along the culverted stretch of the Ravensbourne between central Lewisham and Brookmill Park. The re-development presents the opportunity to restore the river and the developer claimed its plan would see the ‘naturalisation’ of the river. QWAG questioning revealed the plans would not lead to proper restoration. Meyer Homes said they would put funds toward future restoration rather undermining the case that major redevelopments are the main opportunity to restore local rivers. Restoration also depends on Tesco cooperating and wanting to improve the river on its share of the site. Turned down by Lewisham Council the government approved the plans on appeal.

Catford Green: This Barratts development on the River Ravensbourne between Catford and Catford Bridge railway stations opened during the year. The scheme promised river restoration but the river remains stuck in deep concrete albeit with some peripheral greenery and planting. We found contractors spreading gravel on the flat-bottomed concrete river base presumably as a form of mitigation. Within days much of the gravel was washed away when the river flowed in spate following heavy rainfall. Some gravel does remain to encourage the water to meander in the river channel, to deposit sediment and encourage plant life which can then support insects and other wildlife. It is of concern that the developers and council claimed the spreading of gravel as a form of river restoration instead of taking the proper remedial action that is necessary to release the river from concrete.

Online presence

We used our website www.qwag.org.uk to promote our events and our burgeoning social media presence to promote our activities and engage with others locally and beyond. Our following on different platforms is:

Governance + membership

The Committee meets each other month (April, June, August, October, December and February) to plan events, review finances and ensure we comply with the law. These meetings are open to all. We have 51 individuals and 11 members from 10 households. Total of 62 people.

2020 priorities

Some of the priorities to be decided by the newly elected trustees and committee will include:

1. Scoping the Quaggy Links project with partners;
2. Allocating funds for priority activities; and,
3. Boosting membership.

Thanks

As ever thanks go to my fellow Trustees & Committee members for keeping QWAG afloat: Pippa Bampton, Sheila Peck, Maria de Jesus, David Larkin, Pamela Zollicoffer, Mike Keogh. Thanks to our venue, Lewisham Methodist Church Hall and Pip Spratt www.madeyoulook.co.uk/ for web support.

AGM + Liquid Gold talk Wednesday 20th March, 2019

AGM Agenda

7pm: Arrival + buffet and drinks

8pm: Welcome and introductions

1. 2018 AGM minutes + matters arising
2. Chair’s report – Review of the year and future plans (see report overleaf)
3. Treasurer’s report – 2018 accounts
4. Nomination and election of Officers (Trustees) for 2019-20
   Each AGM elects 4 QWAG Officers who are also Trustees:
   a) Chair; b) Vice Chair; c) Secretary; d) Treasurer
5. Nomination and election of Committee members for 2019-20:
   Anyone can be also join QWAGs Committee either as a trustee or non-trustee
   The meeting will be open for anyone to put themselves forward or be nominated
6. Any other business + thanks

8.45pm: Special guest speaker

Liquid Assets: Prehistoric finds from the River Thames with freelance researcher, Jon Cotton, who has a long standing interest in the prehistory of the capital and the archaeology of the River Thames

9.30pm: Closing remarks + socialising

QWAG’s 3 aims in brief:

• Restore: the River Quaggy by leading the next major restoration with our ‘Quaggy Links’ project.
• Improve: the ecological condition of the Quaggy and Ravensbourne catchment to meet the WFD.
• Enjoy: help people of all ages to enjoy, interact with and benefit from thriving local urban rivers.

QWAG AGM, 20 March 2019
Chair’s 2018-19 report

During 2018 QWAG:

• Tracked local development with potential effects on local rivers especially Meyer Homes’ tower at Conington Road, Barratt’s Catford Green and Muse’s ongoing Lewisham Gateway scheme.
• Organised a calendar of speakers at bi-monthly members’ meetings.
• Made full use of its website www.qwag.org.uk and various social media platforms – twitter, facebook and instagram – to promote river restoration, our activities and ways for people to get to know their local rivers more, as well as QWAG membership.

Fresh air and water events:

• The 4th Great Quaggy Duck Race was in Manor Park (27 May), part of the Hither Green Festival.
• At the 5th Manor House Gardens Festival (23 June) and Lewisham People’s Day (7 July) we made the Hook-a-Quaggy-Duck game entirely free.
• Unfortunately, particularly having hosted a 10th anniversary event for the 3RCU at our last AGM, we were in the end unable to take part in the 2018 3 Rivers Clean Up.

Members’ meetings:

Pamela Zollicoffer set up another year of great speakers for our bi-monthly members’ meetings:-

• 10 Years of the 3 Rivers Clean Up with QWAG’s founder, Matthew Blumler, Lewisham’s Ecological Regeneration Manager, Nick Pond, and Vic Richardson and Lawrence Beale Collins of Thames 21 (AGM, 21 March 2018)
• Shopping trollies and trash screens: the restored River Quaggy in Sutcliffe Park with the Environment Agency’s Jack Hayes and Stuart Rapson (16 May)
• On the streets where we live with street tree champion and author of ‘London’s Street Trees – a Field Guide to the Urban Forest’, Paul Wood (18 July)
• The geological history of Lewisham, the Ravensbourne valley and the Lady’s well and Spring with Phil Laurie, geohydrologist (19 September)
• Maintaining a nature reserve hemmed in by industry, roads and housing with Martin Watts and Linda Graham, (Ruxley Nature Reserve) (21 November)
• Lewisham Floods 1968 – Emily Hay, 1968 Lewisham Floods Archivist, and Paul Browning, SE London local history blogger, aka ‘Running Past’ (16 January 2019)

Improving the condition of the River Quaggy and wider catchment

Quaggy Links: Our priority project is the next major restoration of the Quaggy along the stretch of the Quaggy between Chinbrook Meadows and at Sutcliffe Park which is stuck in concrete and warrants being opened up, renaturalised and opened up for public access.

Quaggy Links remains a priority project for the Ravensbourne Catchment Improvement Plan – the blueprint for improving the whole catchment including priority projects for restoring rivers and water bodies – although government funding remains unavailable for sizable major works of this kind, for the time being.

Ravensbourne Catchment Improvement Group (RCIG): The RCIG brings together various interests across the catchment – the three local authorities of Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham, the Environment Agency, community groups and borough contractors – to implement the Catchment Improvement Plan.

Unfortunately, the group has been in abeyance since Thames 21 reallocated the role of Ravensbourne Catchment Coordinator, performed by Lawrence Beale Collins, to a different role. We pressed Thames21 to reinstate meetings and plans and one meeting took place in 2018 although it is not certain that the RCIG is working as it should without Thames 21 putting in the level of coordination that existed until early 2018.

Influencing major developments

New Lewisham Gateway: We kept watch on the ongoing plans for the re-development at the confluence of the Quaggy and Ravensbourne and attending further – largely inadequate – consultation events held by the developer, MUSE.

Conington Road: We continued to track and engaged with Meyer Homes, developers of this major development on the Tesco site in Lewisham along the culverted stretch of the Ravensbourne between central Lewisham and Brookmill Park. The re-development presents the opportunity to restore the river. The developer had claimed that its plan would see the ‘naturalisation’ of the river but this turned out not to be proper restoration. Also, the plans depend on Tesco cooperating and wanting to improve the river on its remaining part of the site.

Catford Green: This Barratts housing scheme on the River Ravensbourne between Catford and Catford Bridge railway stations opened during the year. This major development had also promised river restoration but the river remains stuck in concrete albeit with some peripheral greenery and planting. We found contractors tipping gravel on the concrete base of the river as a form of mitigation. Much of this gravel was washed away in higher waters. Some remain and. Our concern is that developers and Lewisham Council are claiming this spreading of gravel as a form of river restoration instead of taking the proper remedial action that is necessary to release the river from concrete.

Website + social media

We used our website www.qwag.org.uk to promote our events and our burgeoning social media presence to promote our activities and engage with others locally and beyond. Our following on different platforms is:

Governance + membership

The Committee meets each other month (April, June, August, October, December and February) to plan events, review finances and ensure we comply with the law. These meetings are open to all. We have 62 members – 48 individuals and 11 members from 10 households. During the year, the Trustees co-opted Mike Keogh to serve as Vice Chair. Mike had served as Vice Chair until the last AGM when he stepped down being to other commitments. The Trustees did not find a different Vice Chair and with Mike’s circumstances changing the offer to re-stand was put and Mike accepted.

2019 priorities

Some of the priorities to be decided by the newly elected trustees and committee will include:

1. Working up our Quaggy Links bid;
2. Priorities for spending; and,
3. Boosting membership.

Thanks

As ever thanks go to my fellow Trustees & Committee members for keeping QWAG afloat: Pippa Bampton, Sheila Peck, Maria de Jesus, David Larkin, Pamela Zollicoffer, Mike Keogh, and Anne Scott. Thanks also to: Lewisham Methodist Church Hall for the use of our meeting venue; Voluntary Action Lewisham for advice with our accounts; Lewisham Local History and Archives Centre; and, Pip Spratt www.madeyoulook.co.uk/ for web support.

Notes of Annual General Meeting, 21st March 2018, 8pm
Methodist Church Hall, Albion Way, central Lewisham, SE13 6BT

Present:

Paul de Zylva (Chairman)
Pamela Zollicoffer (Secretary)
Maria de Jesus (Treasurer)
Anne Scott (Trustee)
Dave Larkin (Committee)
Pippa Bampton (Committee)
Richard Buchanan
Julia Grollman
Sheila Peck
Paul Browning
Andrew Orford
Val Wills
Ann Turvey
Roy Towner
Anne Slater
Juliette Cairns
Jane Griffiths

Guests:

Matthew Blumler (QWAG founder)
Lawrence Beale Collins (Thames 21)
Jess Kyle (Lewisham Council)
Nick Pond (Lewisham Council)

The AGM commenced at 8.00pm

Introduction

The Chairman welcomed members to 2018 AGM, checked that al present had the relevant papers and checked that members were happy with the agenda and format of the meeting.

Minutes of the 2017 AGM and matters arising

The Chairman introduced himself, welcomed members and guests to the AGM and said the Minutes of the 2017 AGM are a record of the meeting to be formally adopted at this AGM. He advised that the AGM also elected the officers for the coming year comprising committee members and trustees including the four main officer roles of chair, vice chair, treasurer and secretary. He informed the AGM that any member could put themselves forward as a committee member, trustee or officer role at this meeting.

2017 AGM and matters arising

The Chairman summarised the Minutes of the 2017 AGM held on Wednesday, 15th March 2017 and asked if there were any questions regarding the Minutes. There were none.

The Chairman sought formal adoption of the Minutes of the 2017 AGM. They were formally proposed by Andrew Orford and seconded by Pippa Bampton and were formally adopted and signed.

Review of the year

The Chairman presented a short slide show of some highlights of QWAG’s 2017-18 year comprising:

• River Walk for Lee Forum in the River Quaggy by The Duke of Edinburgh pub.
• Small votive statue of Ganesha in the River Quaggy
• QWAG members assisting Lee Forum with their survey for the Neighbourhood Plan
• The source of the River Quaggy (known as the Kyd Brook in the upper reaches)
• 3rd Great Quaggy Duck Race
• The winners of the Duck Race
• Lewisham Gateway development
• QWAG members assisting with the removal of Himalayan Balsam in the river underneath the Lewisham Gateway development site where the confluence of the River Quaggy and River Ravensbourne meet.
• Ladywell Fields for the Jo Cox Foundation’s ‘Great Get Together’ weekend QWAG ran 4 special ‘Float Your Boats’ events. QWAG asked people to make and bring their own boat for this event.
• ‘Float Your Boats’ at Chinbrook Meadow
• Pollution of the Glassmill Millpond which the River Ravensbourne flows through in Bromley.
• 3 Rivers Clean Up event.
• Community events – Lewisham People’s Day.
• Hook-A-Duck game.

4. Treasurer’s Report – 2017 Accounts

Maria de Jesus, QWAG’s Treasurer presented her Report for the 2017 financial year as reviewed by an independent scrutineer appointed at the previous year’s AGM, Christine Wykes Driver of Voluntary Action Lewisham.

QWAG’s account balance as at 31st December 2017 was £15,549.89.
QWAG’s total income in 2017 was £5,099.98.
QWAG’s costs in 2017 totalled £546.92 which is less than payments made in 2016.
The result is a surplus for 2017 of £4,553.06.

The Chairman thanked Maria, the Treasurer, for her Report and sought adoption of the 2017 accounts. The adoption of the accounts was proposed by David Larkin and seconded by Paul Browning. The QWAG accounts for 2017 were formally adopted.

Tribute For Anne Scott

At this AGM meeting the Chairman wanted to thank Anne, the former treasurer of QWAG who is moving to north aast England. He said Anne had been a long-standing Treasurer for QWAG. Anne had relinquished this position and had stepped down at the last March AGM 2017, and Maria had very bravely taken up this position. The Chairman said we are going to call Anne every now and again if we are not sure of something and that a formal AGM thank you was due to Anne for all the years she has worked as the QWAG Treasurer and in general.

The Chairman wanted to particularly point out Anne’s ability to keep QWAG on the straight and narrow, in terms of decisions we were making, the thinking, the conversations we were having at the committee meetings, tolerating the ocasional “slightly crazy idea” and just reminding us where we might be going a bit way out in our thinking, or missing the obvious point. These are the things that keep a local community group going. This was particularly helpful to him when he first undertook the interim and ‘temporary’ role of Chairman in 2009. The Chairman said that QWAG would miss Anne hugely, that she had set us the group fantastically and had carried it through for so long. There was sustained applause by the members for Anne to thank her for all her work for QWAG.

4.Nomination and Election of officers (Trustees) for 2018-19

Each AGM elects 4 officers who serve as Trustees: (a) Chair; (b) Vice Chair; (c) Secretary; (d) Treasurer

The Chairman told the members that each year the trustees and committee members step down and the election is held for the four main officer roles, then we ask if anyone would like to be a member of of the committee (a non-trustee formal committee member). There is a vacancy for the Vice Chair role. He asked if anyone would like to put themselves forward for the officer roles. There were none.

The Chairman asked members to vote en bloc for the roles of Chairman (Paul de Zylva), Treasurer (Maria de Jesus) and Secretary (Pamela Zollicoffer). On a show of hands for the three officer roles Members voted unanimously for those stading. *The Vice Chair role was not applied for and was not nominated by anyone.

5. Nomination and election of Committee Members for 2018-19

The Chairman then asked for if anyone would like to put themselves forward for the non-trustee formal committee member role. Pippa Bampton, Dave Larkin and Sheila Peck said they were willing to serve as a non-trustee committee member.

The Chairman sought a showed of hands for the election of Pippa Bampton, Dave Larkin and Sheila Peck for the non-trustee formal committee member role. The members voted unanimously for the election of Pippa Bampton, Dave Larkin and Sheila Peck as non-trustee formal commitee members.

6. Any Other Business + thanks

There was then a short break from 20:50 hours – 21:05 hours

Discussion panel with speakers: Matthew Blumler, Lawrence Beale Collins, Nick Pond and Jess Kyle
The Panel discussed their involvement and views of the Three Rivers Clean Up over the past ten years. A short slide show was shown by Matthew at the end of the discussion. He said it is all about getting people to love and respect their rivers. See Appendix A for summary of this discussion.

Three Rivers Clean Up 2018: The 3RCU will take place from 2nd June 2018 -22nd June 2018. There will be a picnic to celebrate the end of the 3RCU on 23rd June 2018 at 2pm in Manor Park, Lewisham.

Spring Walk in The Valleys of the Kid Brook by Paul Browning: At the conclusion of the meeting the Chairman reminded members of the walk by Paul Browning on Saturday, 25th March 2018 starting at 11:00am at Lewisham Police Station/St. Stephen’s Church by the River Quaggy.

The Chairman thanked everyone for coming. The meeting concluded at 21:50 hours.

Appendix A: 10 Years of the 3 Rivers Clean Up (3RCU)

Panel:

Matthew Blumler – QWAG Founder
Nick Pond – Ecological Regeneration Manager, Lewisham Council
Jess Kyle – Nature Conservation Officer, Lewisham Council
Lawrence Beale Collins – Thames21, Partnership Co-ordinator for the Ravensbourne Catchment

Chair:

Paul de Zylva – Chair, Quaggy Waterways Action Group

Paul introduced the panel and asked them to reflect on the origins of the 3 Rivers Clean Up, what they thought had come out of it, if there were any cautionary tales, what expectations there were and why it had lasted so long. He asked Matthew where the 3RCU had come from, how it had come about, and the very early days.

Matthew: As QWAG Chair at that time, I invited a whole lot of different organisations in the area, who had all become aware of the problem of Himalayan Balsam in the catchment, to a meeting where we ‘fleshed out’ the aims of what was to become the 3RCU; we also came up with a name for it. Discussing the aims was the easy part, funnily enough it was the name that gave us the problems. The other name that was in the running was “Cracking the Balsam in The Basin”. A few of us were remembering the recent very unfortunate incident where some people had misunderstood the difference between the words ‘paediatrician’ and ‘paedophile’, which had resulted in some very nasty things happening and we thought we might be attracting some rather strange, unattractive people into the 3RCU. Anyway, we went for the ‘3 Rivers Clean Up’ and the result was the nicest people were involved in it and it was just great.

Paul: What was the council’s view on this proposition, did it process it straight away, or was there reticence?

Nick: The council generally accepted and embraced it because, in my tenure, there was a realisation that resourcing is such a huge issue. When a community group comes and invites and engages us about being part of a bigger initiative, I think, it is an easy thing and, on face value, pulling up Balsam and getting into the rivers to do it. We were kind of ‘kitted up’ to do it to some extent, in partnership with Thames21, and Creekside Discovery Centre having waders and having a history of doing river clean ups, so it was not a challenge to understand, and that this was something that the council should encourage and put resources into. In respect to the origins to the 3RCU, I would like to say I cannot quite remember everything, but I do distinctly remember the energy and enthusiasm that Matthew and Vic Richardson brought to those early years, and I think that kind of energy and passion to take a really holistic approach to management, not just in our patch here but to the whole catchment was key. The analogy I draw is that wildlife does not respect boundaries and nor did the 3RCU initiative. I think that is one of the project’s strengths.

Paul: Lawrence, what was your first involvement?

Lawrence: In 2010 I was doing a Masters Degree at University College London and I decided to focus on the Ravensbourne and people’s perception of wilderness in the urban environment. It was great to spend the whole summer along the river meeting people and Chris McGaw. While I was doing clean ups I was interviewing people about their perceptions of the river, and I am still here.

Paul: Jess, what was your first involvement with the 3RCU?

Jess: I was here at the first meeting that Matthew organised. I was working for the Council; I had not been there for long. I am a proper member of staff. I already had a brief volunteer set-up, I was already working with schools, all of the things were in place. It was quite an easy transition to get people. And when you say to volunteers you are going to wear a pair of waders, have a pole, a litter picker and a plastic bag it does not take more than that to get them interested. So right at the beginning I was there with volunteers and school groups. It was easy to do the 3RCU.

Paul: Is it that easy? I feel I am a combination of Worzel Gummidge and the Michelin Man when in the river with so much protective gear.

Jess: I was looking through some photographs for today, unfortunately I can’t show them, but you have never seen everyone looking so happy with piles of rubbish next to them. It is just incredible and that enthusiasm is palpable, and that excitement runs through the whole three weeks. When I receive a call by a corporate group to ask if they can do some volunteering, as soon as I mention that they will wear waders and go in a river, they are very keen. There is something about it that draws people out.

Paul: I can see a few people here who will remember the first 3RCU. (Looking at Julia and then Dave Larkin) Dave do you want to say something?

Dave Larkin: In the early days there was a lot more Himalayan balsam, a lot to pull out. It was put in bags to be collected by the Council. There was an awful lot of effort to pull those bags out of the river, now it is just pulled out and left on the riverbank. That makes a huge difference.

Matthew: I think, this is a guesstimate 25,000 kg of Himalayan balsam in the black sacks that first year. In the second year it was 50,000 kg and then the third year 5,000 kg.

Paul: That is a lot. Are we spotting any trends in terms of species and also in the volunteering.

Julia Grollman: I want to say briefly having been vigorously trained by Matthew, it was very bureaucratic in the beginning; there was the ordering of wader size and health & safety considerations. I leafletted the houses all along Gilmore Road to tell the road that we were going to be in the river.

Lawrence: I can tell you that the van we use has a pile of questionnaires in it. Questionnaires that I am supposed to give out to everybody who participates in the clean ups and really, you know, to be honest, if I could find a bin I would chuck them in. It is great to have these numbers but…

Nick: There are data protection rules to consider now as well.

Paul: Does anyone else have reflections on the early years? I remember holding these big grey crates full of these boots, they were lined up on Gilmore Road outside Matthew’s house, and the van. We were checking off from a list people who wanted size 8½ or whatever size they needed.

Matthew: Well we had fewer waders then and possibly more people. We ended up really on the edge with the numbers required.

Nick: You were not the only programme. We were running three different sites per day, sharing resources. There were the morning ones, we were having to give their boots to the afternoon ones and ferry them to-and-fro, so it was a much more intensive period of time in terms of having multiple events over a day whereas now we just have an event a day or two events.

Paul: Lawrence, I don’t know if it feels more relaxed for you?

Lawrence: When I studying I interviewed Chris McGaw, a lot of you will remember Chris, who used to run the Rivers & People project and worked with Nick and Geoff. He said the 3RCU was a really positive event, it enabled us to get around a number of different audiences. Today, we have Brookmill Park friends group, the Nature’s Gym people who numbered 18 in the morning, volunteers from the London Development Agency and GLA, then Boris’ right-hand man came down, then a group from Standard Chartered Bank came down, then Imperial College students came down in the evening, and that was just one day. I think the first year there were 600 volunteers involved.

Nick: I would just like to say something in relation to this on the origins, but the 3RCU started in 2009 and that actually enabled the local authority, because of the mixed partnership collaboration, because that year had been so successful we used that model and we applied to Natural England and the Big Lottery for the Rivers & People Project, which turned out to be a half a million pounds engagement project that funded Chris McGaw’s placement that lasted for 4 years. A lot of the success for that, the reason why we won it, was because of the 3RCU. The first year ‘snowballed’.

Paul: Jess, what is your reflection on this? You do activities throughout the year anyway and you talk about the 3RCU being a particular focal point. Does it feel like business as usual with the 3RCU or is it just a bit more concentrated and people just turning up and doing the same thing; just another clean up?

Jess: No, I think it is a mixture, somewhere in between the two. This is unusual because it has been going for 10 years now, we are a well-oiled machine and in terms of running it, we know what we are doing. We get a lot of people booking now, the companies that come out with us over the years are always booking on for next year, but then you get new people. In terms of ‘business as usual’ it is somewhere between the two.

Paul: That must be very pleasing.

Matthew: I think it is great. Jess has hinted at why it has been such a success because people love to put on the waders, gloves etc. But the rivers are really exciting, and there is something also about the urban river, which, in a strange way, is an advantage as there are so many different environments, which the river twists and turns through. Much of it is hidden and the only way to explore it, to get in there, is to get onto one of these clean ups. Looking at the faces of the people involved you can really see why, it tells you all why it is so successful.

The removal of the Himalayan balsam gave more reason to get more people involved, but it also gave more reasons to get more organisations involved. It also meant, around year 3, we had more-or-less hit that target for getting rid of Himalayan balsam something which the Environment Agency said would be do-able, you needed more than just a litter thing, and keeping on top of invasive species, but more importantly it is getting people to know their local rivers and getting to love them, that is the only way to get them improved.

Jess: We do a lot of education as well now: year 4, primary school. We do river wades and litter clean ups and the children are actually learning about rivers. It is really great that there is so much access to the rivers in Lewisham, in Chinbrook Meadows and in Sutcliffe Park. It is good there are so many ways you can get into the river now because you need someone who is able to take children safely without teachers getting worried about it, and just from personal experience last summer with my daughter going into the secondary channel, she’s now wading up and down quite happily and the river is full of small people that do this, and that has partly come from 3RCU as people, I think, realise that our rivers are safe.

Paul: You talked about balsam being more under control. You cannot predict where it is going to turn up, though, and we are also now looking at other species such as identifying Giant Hogweed. Any reflections on what you have noticed on the catchment over the period of doing this?

Lawrence: One thing we really noticed was, what Matthew was saying, is this discussion whereby we thought we got the Himalayan balsam thing under control and we were wondering what we were going to do. Well, let’s do some bird walks, let’s do this and let’s do.., let’s have some theatre down here and try to engage the community in other ways, but then came the winter of 2013/2014 when we had a huge amount of rain, a lot of riverbanks were washed out and along with those riverbanks came some seeds that had been lying dormant; Himalayan balsam seeds that had been laying there a long time, they can exist over a decade in a riverbank. It was absolutely unbelievable. Every single place that Himalayan balsam had been before, there were forests of balsam, so the idea of art classes in the park were ‘knocked on the head’ and we concentrated on the balsam. Fortunately, with thanks to Nick, we have all been trained to treat Giant Hogweed so that we can actually inject the plant on the riverbank.

Matthew: That Giant Hogweed was not something we were aware of when we started, one of the things about getting people in once a year, is that you spot things and it was a real shock and surprise to all of us, the amount of Giant Hogweed that was dotted all the way through the catchment, and I suspect we caught that. We were really quite lucky, if it had been left any longer we would have had a much bigger problem.

Paul: Is this the case at South Norwood Country Park?

Lawrence: I think it is less of a problem. Vic has been treating it now solidly for 5 years. That is probably the worst bit.

Nick: I really wish we could get the Google satellite image of South Norwood Country Park. I am not sure if it was 2009 or 2010 but you can see the Giant Hogweed flowering. There was such a massive stand of it and we called it the ‘Field of Death’. Over the years it has been treated and we were aware of such a big outbreak. Vic is really the expert as he has gone through the various tributaries there and onto allotment sites, which are adjacent, and had got a problem as well, so we believe we have kind of contained it. Matthew is right that we spotted it at just the right time because if that one spot had been left for many more years then it would have been a game changer, because as well as inviting volunteers into the river this is a noxious weed. Make contact with it in ultraviolet light and it can cause a ‘burn’ so you do not want to go inviting volunteers into that situation; it is much too much a precarious responsibility for that, so often, to enable the 3RCU, we are surveying the actual areas prior to events and trying to treat it prior to the actual clean ups so that we have it under control and can inform people that if they do come into contact or see it, then to give it a wide berth and we will treat it there and then, dig it out or do whatever we can carefully.

Paul: What about cross-borough cooperation?

Nick: I am not entirely the expert on that. In the early days it was easier and partially that is a reflection of the period of austerity when people were trying to economise, organisations tend to become insular and inward- looking and they are not quite as expansive and so with that as well, certainly with Bromley they have devolved their parks management so we have kind of lost connection with the local authority side of it, with one of the challenges now going forward being to try to re-connect with the various user groups to get some more localised support for the initiatives, especially towards the source of the Ravensbourne, Pool and Quaggy.

Matthew: Lewisham Council has been much better on this sort of thing.

Nick: All of that is played out on the street. It is very much more of a challenge to encourage other people. People do not see the problem that they’re responsible for in getting them to do stuff. I mean, one of the things I was going to say generally about the 3RCU is something I think is important: the strengths of it are manifold. The main ones I have identified are: 1. the leadership, 2. the approach, 3. the appeal, and 4. the strategic impact and the legacy.

But the first, leadership, should not be underestimated; it has always being a volunteer non-government led initiative. It has always been entirely devised by Matthew or Vic Richardson, while Lawrence has driven it forward. I think because it is a bottom-up initiative that really gives it a powerful resilience and strong basis and the initiative is backed with activity. It is not about appreciation per se as an activity but about doing something, and that really commands and demands respect; and that is not just institutional, it is political respect. I think if this was in place from above, if it was me trying to deliver across boroughs, it would fall on deaf ears. I think the longevity of it has been down to the kind of enthusiasm and motivation of the people driving it forward, namely: Matthew, Vic and Lawrence.

Lawrence: I would just like to say to that, the reason why the system we get consistently the volunteers in the borough of Lewisham – Jess, Judith and Jordan – do Tuesday Habitat Management session, Thursday Nature’s Gym session and they get regular volunteers to do that. They also do the 3RCU. One thing I would say about the boroughs, it is funny how boroughs drift away. Croydon drifted away from 3RCU, there used to be people coming to the meetings from Croydon, they don’t anymore. Bromley – I am always discussing things with Bromley. They are kind of interested again, getting involved. Greenwich, I do not know.

Lawrence asked Julia what her view was on Greenwich.

Julia Grollman: Greenwich are very well meaning, but they are not really involved in this particular event so most of the river work gets done through Thames21.

Lawrence: They will take rubbish away.

Julia Grollman: They are quite in agreement with taking rubbish away, they are quite happy to support this where they can. They have nothing like Lewisham has in terms of a Greenwich conservation team.

Lawrence: I think none of this would have happened if the Borough of Lewisham had not been amenable.

Paul: Let’s talk about plans and hopes for 2019.

Nick: The hopes are that we will ‘wave the flags’ so hard that we will get political support and raise the profile of the event, using the ten year banner. This may be the wrong choice of words, but it would be nice to be in a position where we got the political endorsement to show to the other boroughs and to try to cash-in a little because this is an easy win; it is a partnership collaboration, there is every reason to be involved.

Paul: There are the new council elections, there will be a new Mayor of Lewisham; in theory this could be tapped up.

Lawrence: Yes, we have also invited the London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, to try and demonstrate you can actually get into a river without falling in (amused laughter by members). I think, really, I love river clean ups. To me I really like being in rivers and wading up rivers and you can’t beat it in the summer. It is the tenth anniversary and we have lots going on. From a social media point of view we have the 3RCU website, we have a Facebook page and we use twitter and Instagram. Tom Moulton is do a walk, I am hoping to engage people to make a contribution.

Jess: And I have school groups booked, two or three corporate groups are also booked.

Paul: There are a lot of new people in the borough who would marvel at these public events. You can talk to these people. They are new, they are interested, they want to get involved. This is a great opportunity for them.

Lawrence: 40 people turned up for a Saturday clean up in Brookmill Park two weeks ago.

Richard Buchanan: Is there a borough-wide newspaper that people can get.

Paul: There is Lewisham Life magazine, and there are events listings online.

Nick: In one issue of Lewisham Life there are the dates for the 3RCU. The issue goes out four times a year. It will not be that helpful for the dates of the 3RCU. There is the Lewisham Life eMagazine, which is more regular and will be more helpful which we hope the 3RCU will feature in.

Lawrence: You can look at Lewisham events online anyway, there are plenty of photographs.

Lawrence: The dates of the 3RCU are the 2nd June 2018 to 22nd June 2018. There will be a picnic to celebrate the 3RCU on Saturday 23rd June 2018 at 2pm in Manor Park. On Google the 3RCU calendar can be accessed to find out the details of the clean ups.

Matthew then showed the members a short slide show he had created, which the members enjoyed. He said the important thing is for people to love and respect their rivers.

End of 3RCU 10th anniversary panel discussion

AGM + Celebration: 10 Years of the 3 Rivers Clean Up Wednesday 21st March, 2018

AGM Agenda

7pm: Arrival + buffet and drinks

8pm: Welcome and introductions

1. 2017 AGM minutes + matters arising
2. Chair’s report – Review of the year and future plans (see report overleaf)
3. Treasurer’s report – 2017 accounts
4. Nomination and election of Officers (Trustees) for 2018-19
   Each AGM elects 4 QWAG Officers who are also Trustees:
   a) Chair; b) Vice Chair; c) Secretary; d) Treasurer
5. Nomination and election of Committee members for 2018-19:
   Anyone can be also join QWAGs Committee either as a trustee or non-trustee
   The meeting will be open for anyone to put themselves forward or be nominated
6. Any other business + thanks

8.45pm: Special panel of guest speakers

10 Years of the 3 Rivers Clean Up (3RCU) with:

• Matthew Blumler, QWAG founder
• Nick Pond, Ecological Restoration Manager, Lewisham Council
• Jess Kyle, Nature Conservation Officer, Lewisham Council
• Lawrence Beale-Collins, Ravensbourne Catchment Coordinator
• Vic Richardson, Thames 21

9.30pm: Closing remarks + socialising

QWAG’s 3 aims in brief:

• Restore: the River Quaggy by leading the next major restoration with our ‘Quaggy Links’ project.
• Improve: the ecological condition of the Quaggy and Ravensbourne catchment to meet the WFD.
• Enjoy: help people of all ages to enjoy, interact with and benefit from thriving local urban rivers.

River-powered regeneration for Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham
The Government says QWAG is ‘A great example of environmental action’

QWAG AGM, 21 March 2018
Chair’s 2017-18 report

During 2017 QWAG:

• Made full use of its website www.qwag.org.uk and various social media platforms – twitter, facebook and instagram – to promote river restoration, our activities and ways for people to get to know their local rivers more, as well as QWAG membership.
• Attended a range of events, local fairs and staged a full calendar of talks by a range of fascinating speakers at bi-monthly members’ meetings.
• Strengthened links with other community groups in the area through discussion of developers’ plans and decisions about how development takes place.

Fresh air and water events:

• We helped Lee Forum prepare its Neighbourhood Plan with a wade up the Quaggy to map the river for potential improvements (18 February).
• The 9th 3 Rivers Clean Up ran from 3 – 24 June and saw QWAG lead clean ups of the Quaggy at Mottingham (11 June) and at Lidl’s store on the Lee High Road (15 June).
• We also planned and ran 4 special Float Your Boats events for the Jo Cox Foundation’s Great Get Together in Manor Park, Deptford Creek, Ladywell Fields and at Chinbrook Meadows.
• At the 4th Manor House Gardens Festival (24 June) and Lewisham People’s Day (8 July) we made the Hook-a-Quaggy-Duck game entirely free.
• The 3rd Great Quaggy Duck Race was in Manor Park (28 May), part of the Hither Green Festival.
• We also went on to the site of the Lewisham Gateway scheme to remove Himalayan Balsam which had grown on the river – brought in with rubble used to ‘re-naturalise’ the river bed – and obtain a sneak preview of the semi restored confluence of the River Quaggy and River Ravensbourne.

Improving the condition of the River Quaggy and wider catchment

Quaggy Links: Our priority restoration project for the next major restoration of the Quaggy along the stretch of the Quaggy between Chinbrook Meadows and at Sutcliffe Park was submitted to the Rivers Trust by Lawrence Beale Collins, Ravensbourne Catchment Coordinator, as a possible project to support with funding for the scoping of the work. The bid did not succeed on this occasion but Quaggy Links remains on the priority list of projects of the Ravensbourne Catchment Improvement Group.

Ravensbourne Catchment Improvement Group (RCIG): We continued our role in the RCIG which brings together various interests across the catchment – local authorities in Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham, the Environment Agency, community groups and borough contractors – to implement the Ravensbourne Catchment Improvement Plan, the blueprint for improving the whole river catchment including priority projects for restoring rivers and water bodies.
Outfall Safari: This citizen science project in October – November 2017 found that the Ravensbourne Catchment is probably in better shape than perhaps the Wandle in terms of outfalls but that where outfalls are failing – some 2 per cent of those located – they are causing disproportionate pollution and require urgent action. The Outfall Safari has given a good overview of the catchment now and this can inform activities in the 2018 3RCU. https://www.zsl.org/sites/default/files/media/2017-12/1710_CP_OutfallReport_Final.pdf
Diesel pollution of the Quaggy: In February 2016 a category 1 diesel spill from a derailed railway engine at Hither Green polluted the River Quaggy upstream of Manor Park all the way to the confluence with the Ravensbourne and on to Deptford Creek and the Thames. The Environment Agency is due to decide whether to accept an enforcement undertaking by the company, or to take a criminal or civil a legal route.
New Lewisham Gateway: We kept watch on the revised planning application for the next phase of this development at the confluence of the Quaggy and Ravensbourne, attending further consultation events held by the developer, MUSE, in December. Yet again, MUSE ran a consultation without providing adequate information to support its claims while asking the public to express support for the scheme and its elements using a tick box consultation form.

Conington Road: We engaged with Meyer Homes, developers of this major development on the Tesco site in Lewisham along the culverted stretch of the Ravensbourne. The opportunity to restore the river via such a major redevelopment – in keeping with Lewisham’s Local Plan – appears to have been lost. The developers claimed that its plan would see the ‘naturalisation’ of the river but it appears that the scheme will proceed without breaking the river out of concrete. Instead, funds will be set aside for future restoration work. How and when this will happen is unclear given the missed opportunity to do this work now.

Website + social media

We used our website www.qwag.org.uk to promote our events and our burgeoning social media presence to promote our activities and engage with others locally and beyond. Our twitter ‘following’ grew to 1,676 as at 21 March 2018, 330 more since 2017’s AGM and 580 more since 2016’s AGM. Our Facebook followers grew to 259 from 197 at the last AGM. We also started an Instagram account and have 42 followers.

Governance + membership

The Committee meets each other month (April, June, August, October, December and February) to plan events, review finances and ensure we comply with the law. These meetings are open to all. We have 59 members – 48 individuals and 11 members from 10 households.

Pamela Zollicoffer set up another year of great speakers for our bi-monthly members’ meetings:-

– The Lost Rivers of London: A Story of the Past – Dr Roger Squires (AGM, 15 March 2017)
– Saving nature in the age of Brexit – Paul de Zylva (17 May)
– Citizen Science: Riverfly Monitoring 1 year on – Lawrence Beale Collins + Julia Grollman (19 July)
– Dynamic Deptford: the changing nature of Deptford Creek, Nick Bertrand (20 September)
– In search of the tributaries of the River Quaggy – Paul Browning, aka @RunningPast (15 November)
– Insectinside – Nature under our noses: recording over 500 insect species in a small SE London park – Penny Metal (17 January 2018)

2018 priorities

Some of the priorities to be decided by the newly elected trustees and committee will include:

1. Working up our Quaggy Links bid;
2. Our rosta of events, meetings and walks; and,
3. Boosting membership.

Thanks

As ever thanks go to my fellow Trustees & Committee members for keeping QWAG afloat:

Pippa Bampton, Maria de Jesus, David Larkin, Pamela Zollicoffer, Mike Keogh, and especially Anne Scott.

Anne Scott is a long standing QWAG member including being our Treasurer for many years. Anne has always kept an eye out for making our small charity the best it can and needs to be.

Thanks also to: Lewisham Methodist Church Hall for the use of our meeting venue; Lawrence Beale Collins, Ravensbourne Catchment Coordinator, for advice and practical help; Voluntary Action Lewisham for advice with our accounts; and, Pip Spratt www.madeyoulook.co.uk/ for web support.

AGM + The Lost Rivers of London talk Wednesday 15th March, 2017

AGM Agenda

7pm: Arrival + buffet and drinks

8pm: Welcome and introductions

1. 2016 AGM minutes + matters arising
2. Chair’s report – Review of the year and future plans (see report overleaf)
3. Treasurer’s report – 2016 accounts
4. Nomination and election of Officers (Trustees) for 2017-18
   Each AGM elects 4 QWAG Officers who are also Trustees:
   a) Chair; b) Vice Chair; c) Secretary; d) Treasurer
5. Nomination and election of Committee members for 2017-18:
   Anyone can be also join QWAGs Committee either as a trustee or non-trustee
   The meeting will be open for anyone to put themselves forward or be nominated
6. Any other business + thanks

8.45pm: Special guest speaker

The Lost Rivers of London
Dr Roger Squires BEM, Inland Waterways Association

9.30pm: Closing remarks + socialising

QWAG’s 3 aims in brief:

1. Restore: lead the next major restoration of the Quaggy.
2. Improve: raise the ecological condition of the Quaggy and Ravensbourne catchment to meet the Water Framework Directive.
3. Enjoy: help people of all ages to enjoy, interact with and learn from thriving local urban rivers.

Chair’s 2016-17 report to the QWAG AGM, 15 March 2017

During 2016 QWAG:

• Made full use of website www.qwag.org.uk to promote river restoration, our activities and ways for people to get to know their local rivers more, as well as QWAG membership.
• Ran a full and successful rosta of events from river walks to the 3 Rivers Clean Up.
• Started developing our case for the next major restoration of the Quaggy by walking and filming the ‘Quaggy Links’ sections where restoration is needed between Chinbrook Meadows and Sutcliffe Park.
• Monitored developers and others’ treatment of and plans for local rivers, including staging an initial event to hear community concerns about how development is taking place in Lewisham.

Fresh air and water events

• We took members of Catford WI on a wade of the River Quaggy from Manor Park (18 April).
• The 8th 3 Rivers Clean Up ran from 11 June to 2 July and saw QWAG lead clean ups of the Quaggy at Mottingham (16 June) and upstream from Manor House Gardens (26 June).
• We marked the end of the 3 Rivers Clean Up (3 July) with a special walk, researched and led by Pamela Zollicoffer, to discover The Pubs of the River Quaggy ending with a well-deserved drink in one pub.
• We attended community events from the Hither Green Festival’s World Food, Arts & Crafts Fayre (14 May) to the 3rd Manor House Gardens Festival (18 June) and Lewisham People’s Day (9 July).
• The 2nd Great Quaggy Duck Race was held on the last day of the Hither Green Festival with over 120 Quaggy Ducks entering the race and with prizes for first three finishers and for the last duck over the line.

River restoration + ‘Quaggy Links’

QWAG continued to liaise with local councils, the Environment Agency, Thames21 and others on the Ravensbourne Catchment Improvement Group and the implementation of the Ravensbourne Catchment Improvement Plan – the blueprint for improving the whole river catchment including priority projects for restoring rivers and water bodies.

One of the priority projects in the Plan is also QWAG’s priority for the next major restoration of the Quaggy – the stretch that is encased in concrete between the two restorations of the Quaggy at Chinbrook Meadows and at Sutcliffe Park. We call this stretch ‘Quaggy Links’ because it links up and would make more of these existing restorations. The priority for 2017 is to prepare a funding bid mapping out the case.

Website + social media

We used our website www.qwag.org.uk to promote our events and our burgeoning social media presence to promote our activities and engage with others locally and beyond. Our twitter ‘following’ grew since the last AGM from 1,096 to 1,346 (a 350 rise) and our Facebook ‘likes’ grew from 124 to 197 (a rise of 73).

Governance + membership

The Committee meets each other month (April, June, August, October, December and February) to plan events, review finances and ensure we comply with the law. These meetings are open to all. We have 71 paid-up members in 55 households. Pamela Zollicoffer set up another year of great speakers for our Members’ meetings:-

– Andrea Griffiths of Medway Valley Countryside Partnership told us how to avoid ‘pesky’ plants (16 March AGM)
– David Courtneidge explained Water for Wildlife the London Wildlife Trust’s new water project (18 May)
– Nathalie Cohen of the Thames Discovery Programme revealed secrets of London’s (other) river! (20 July)
– The search for the mysterious source of the River Quaggy by Pamela Zollicoffer and Paul Rainey (21 Sept)
– Luke Thompson, Flood Officer at the Environment Agency set out what’s it like being a Flood Warden (16 Nov)

2017 priorities

It is likely that the priorities for 2017 will be: 1. Working up our Quaggy Links bid; 2. Our rosta of events, meetings and walks; and, 3. Boosting membership although that will be decided by the newly elected trustees and committee.

Thanks: to my fellow Trustees & Committee members for keeping QWAG afloat: Pippa Bampton, Maria de Jesus, Anne Scott, David Larkin, Pamela Zollicoffer, Mike Keogh and Ian Dunn.

Thanks also to: Lewisham Methodist Church Hall for the use of our meeting venue; Lawrence Beale Collins, Ravensbourne Catchment Coordinator, for advice and practical help; Voluntary Action Lewisham for advice with accounts; and, Pip Spratt www.madeyoulook.co.uk/ for web support.

Chair’s 2015-16 report to the QWAG AGM, 16 March 2016

AGM Agenda

Chair’s 2014-15 report to the QWAG AGM, 18 March 2015

Events and promotion

QWAG lives and breathes by its active events. This year’s events arranged by members and others were:

• Lost Rivers – the award-winning documentary featuring the Quaggy and other urban rivers around the world is screened at the UK Green Film Festival (7 June)
• QWAG attends the 2nd Manor House Gardens Festival and trials the ‘Hook a Quaggy Duck’ game (21 June)
• As part of the 3 Rivers Clean Up QWAG leads two river clean ups (21 June-12 July)
• In a special 3RCU event QWAG explores the upper Quaggy from Locksbottom to Petts Wood (6 July)
• At the 30th Lewisham People’s Day, the ‘Hook a Quaggy Duck’ game is a hit with the children (12 July)

QWAGs involvement in the 2014 3RCU was planned and led by Lawrence Beale Collins. Thanks to Mike Keogh’s enthusiastic sales drive, QWAG had to reprint Ken White’s booklet on the Quaggy. And Pamela Zollicoffer’s foresight and persistence means that QWAG has its own set of illustrated cards using original paintings of stretches of the Quaggy by the artist, Stephen Chaplin. QWAG also helped members of the 14th Lewisham Scouts attain their Community Challenge badges with river related activities, including the removal of litter and Himalayan Balsam from the river in Manor Park on 13 September. QWAG also provided information for the Horniman Museum’s River retrospective of artist Kurt Jackson. The year ends with QWAG on the verge of launching its updated website and with QWAG’s social media Twitter following at 911 (as at 10/5/15), up from 739 at the last AGM. The website and use of Twitter extend QWAG’s ability to pick up useful information, to be responsive to events, to publicise our work and to link with other locally and beyond.

Governance

The Committee meets each other month (April, June, August and so on) to plan events, review finances and ensure we are complying with the law. Business usually takes an hour after which the Committee holds a creative ideas session. Meetings are open to all.

Meetings and membership

Membership is at about the same level as in 2013-14. The FLOW bulletin was produced to alert members to event and issues. Pamela Zollicoffer ensured us another fascinating sequence of speakers at QWAG Members’ Meetings:

• 21 May: MUSE, the developers of Lewisham town centre, visited again to discuss their plans
• 16 July: Michael Kendra told us about the work of the Friends of The River Pool
• 17 Sept: Mike Van Der Vord, told us about the Wandle River and Trout in The Classroom project.
• 19 Nov: Chris Rose, revealed the wealth of wildlife by the River Cray at the Thames Road Wetland

Future plans and priorities:

• Using the new QWAG website to promote activity, river restoration and membership
• A full and successful rosta of events from river walks to the 3 Rivers Clean Up
• Working for the next major restoration of the Quarry
• Holding developers and others to account for their treatment of local rivers

River restoration

QWAG continued liaison with the three boroughs, the Environment Agency and Thames21 on the development of the Ravensbourne Catchment Improvement Plan – the master plan for the how the whole river catchment will be treated for example when development takes place and opportunities arise to improve and restore the rivers and water bodies across the three boroughs. Hopefully this will result in funding for practical work to revive our rivers. It is disappointing that for much of the year (May 2014 to March 2015) QWAG has struggled to obtain professional cooperation from MUSE, the developers of the Lewisham town centre, and its community liaison consultants, Local Dialogue. QWAG has been given the run around in a thoroughly unprofessional manner when seeking straight forward answers to basic questions about how the scheme will affect / improve the rivers in central Lewisham.

Chair’s thanks

To fellow trustees and Committee colleagues who make QWAG flow: Anne Scott, Pamela Zollicoffer, Mike Keogh, Maria de Jesus, David Larkin and Lawrence Beale Collins. To Lewisham Methodist Church Hall for venue hire, to our colleagues at Thames21 and the Ravensbourne Catchment Improvement Group for collaboration, to Voluntary Action Lewisham for accountancy advice and to Halfords Media for generous funds towards the revamp of the QWAG website and social media presence.

In 2013 Lawrence Beale Collins planned and led QWAGs involvement in the Capital Clean Up and also led with Julia Grollman QWAG’s role in the now established 3RCU. QWAG also attended local community fairs at a hot and sunny Grove Park and a wet and windy Sutcliffe Park which, either way, bring us into contact with other community interest leading to new ideas and contacts. Mike Keogh continued to lead our sale of Ken White booklet on the Quaggy resulting in QWAG running out of stocks a month or so before this AGM. Dave Larkin continued to lead the group’s bat-based events.

QWAG has 739 followers on twitter, a social networking medium that allows us to pick up useful information and form links with organisations and interest locally and beyond. QWAG also gained a small amount of national media coverage with The Observer’s 13 October article ‘Britain’s lost rivers resurrected and freed to go with the flow’: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/13/britain-lost-rivers

Governance
The Committee met each other month (April, June, August and so on) with contact and communications taking place in between including by email. Meetings are open to the membership and are the main place to review how the trustees are meeting their duties to ensure QWAG meets charity law including its use of financial and other resources. During the year Lawrence Beale Collins stepped down as a trustee.

Meetings and membership
Members’ meetings have continued to revolve around external speakers, with some exceptions when we use meetings to review the group’s activities for example, in July 2013, the meeting was used to review and focus QWAG’s work following the May 2013 meeting which was used as a review workshop run by Jonathan Withey of The Conservation Volunteers run to assess QWAG’s ‘resilience’ as a group. This year our guest speakers have been:

Anne Slater, chair of the Friends of Chinbrook Meadows
Paul Lowndes, chair of the Friends of Manor House Gardens
Adam Broadhead, Sheffield University on the de-culverting and ‘daylighting’ of urban rivers

Membership is slightly lower than in previous year and this is a matter which the Committee is keen to address by running more events and reaching communities who live close to the river.

Future plans
Priorities for 2014-15 are likely to be to:

• Raising membership through a membership drive and events to support this
• Putting the various ideas for events into practice
• Supporting work with others to finalise the agreed locations for the next restorations of the catchment working with and through the partners on the Ravensbourne Catchment Improvement Group

Thanks
Fellow Committee members have made QWAG work this year with Anne Scott, Pamela Zollicoffer, Lawrence Beale Collins, Mike Keogh, Maria de Jesus and David Larkin taking on particular activities and task and supporting me with their diligence, knowledgeable and enthusiasm for a positive vision for the Quaggy and its catchment.

Particular thanks go to Lewisham Methodist Church Hall, Voluntary Action Lewisham particularly for help and advice on the finances and the accountancy and our colleagues at Thames21, with whom we continue to work on the wider vision for the catchment, and local friends and park user groups.

We remember Ron Cooper, QWAG member and local community activist, who died soon after the last AGM.

Paul de Zylva
Chair, 19 March 2014

The year started with the completion of four ‘filmed walks’ which are now available online to tell the story and remaining potential of the Quaggy. These events were QWAG founder Matthew Blumler’s last activities with QWAG before leaving QWAG to pursue other interests.

QWAG remains focussed on the potential of our re-naturalised local urban rivers as part and parcel of everyday life in London. QWAG’s role is to champion this, influence how decisions are made and help people engage with and learn from the river environment and its role in the fields of physical and economic regeneration and flood risk, in health, education and recreation policies or in environmental improvement and ‘place making’.

QWAG’s aims for 2012-13 we have focussed particularly starting to:
Help the Quaggy achieve good ecological status – because it is currently in ‘poor’ ecological condition and needs a lot of work to raise the quality of its water if it is to start meeting the requirements of the Water Framework Directive by 2015; and,

Plan the next big restoration – the Quaggy is already a beacon of urban river improvement helping place SE London on the map for reasons other than the kind of stories that hit the news headlines; it’s looked to by other communities in London, the UK and beyond as an example of what can be done.

But there is much to do to complete the links – the Quaggy Links as we call them – in between excellent yet isolated restorations such as at Chinbrook Meadows and Sutcliffe Park where the river and its entire environment has sprung to life for people as for nature. But for much of its length, the river remains encased in sterile concrete between occasional oases and downtown central Lewisham.

The year in which QWAG saw its founder move on has seen QWAG consolidate its work and plans as described above and in this review. We remain a small grassroots community group of volunteers able to think and act big and to continue inspiring and encouraging others to do right by rivers. This is our annual report for the 2012-13 period.

Governance
Members elected the following officers and trustees for the year 2012-13:

Chair: Paul de Zylva Vice Chair: Mike Keogh
Treasurer: Anne Scott Secretary: Pamela Zollicoffer
Trustee: Maria de Jesus Trustee: Lawrence Beale Collins
Committee member: Julie Johnson

The role of the Trustees is to run the charity in keeping with the law and good governance practice. The role of the whole Committee, including elected trustees, is to lead the direction of QWAG through the planning of the group’s finances, meetings, events and projects.

Membership and meetings
In 2012-13 there were six members’ meetings including the AGM. The Committee arranged a range of speakers and presentations including:

• Pamela Zollicoffer who took us on a trip to the source of the Quaggy at Locksbottom, Bromley – this visit has led to
• QWAG considering plans to engage more with communities near the source of the river
• Julia Grollman talked of her very different experience as a conservation volunteer on a trip to help restore mangroves in Africa
• Author Tom Bolton’s spoke about London’s Lost Rivers based on his book of the same name
• Thames Water on the sewers of London and how we mistreat them

Membership subscription rates were once again frozen for 2012-13. By the end of 2012 QWAG had 75 paid up members in 57 households.

Inspiring events
Filmed walks – QWAG started the year by organising a series of ‘filmed walks’ along the Quaggy to capture on film the story of the river. As an online tool, these films provide a ‘virtual tour’ of the river for use in formal and informal learning and to get to see the river, its good points and where it still needs to be helped to recover.

The first film, from the confluence of the Quaggy with the Ravensbourne in Lewisham town centre to Manor Park:
click here

The second film runs from Manor Park to Joan Roan School: click here

In film three we walk through the Sutcliffe Park culvert and find the design of the scheme unlike the design plans we had seen before the restoration work was carried out: click here

The fourth film runs from Hadlow College to Chinbrook Meadows and Sundridge Park: click here

3RCU – QWAG took part in the planning and delivery of the fourth annual 3 Rivers Clean Up and as in 2011 saw far lower amounts of Himalayan Balsam.

As a result, and as touched on at last year’s AGM, we have started to imagine what the next wave of non-native invasive species may be and our role in this, and to reconsider what this also means for the planning and running of events such as the 3RCU which are all about allowing people to engage in nature. As a result this year we have started considering running more evens to help people understand the ecology and nature of the rivers.

QWAG’s Lawrence Beale Collins attended the Local Action Group workshop for community groups run by the GB Invasives Non-Native Species Secretariat.

Ladywell Fields – We also gave some advice to London Bubble Theatre for its celebration in September 2012 of the restoration of Ladywell Fields with the renaturalised River Ravensbourne.

Practical action
Pollution episodes – QWAG members continued to kept watch for episodes of pollution or other threats to the river and its ecosystem. The long running deliberate and / or negligent pollution of the Quaggy at Clarendon Rise, off the lower Lee High Road, was finally resolved.

Ravensbourne Catchment Forum – In August we attended the inaugural meeting of the new Ravensbourne Catchment Management Forum and in January we hosted the second meeting. The Forum’s role is to help secure the improvements in the ecological status of rivers and water bodies in the whole catchment as part of complying with the Water framework Directive as described by our 2101 AGM speaker, Dave Webb of the Environment Agency.

Lewisham Biodiversity Partnership – QWAG also continued to attend useful meetings of the LBP chaired by QWAG Vice Chair, Mike Keogh, to share knowledge and skills with other community conservation groups and to support the Councils in its aims for nature and biodiversity.

Influencing planning decisions
Lewisham Gateway – QWAG continued to track strategic planning matters and relevant planning applications likely to affect the river environment. In November 2012 we received advice that the Lewisham Gateway redevelopment was to resume after sufficient public money had been put into the scheme to attract new developers MUSE and Taylor Wimpey.

We liaised with the developers and their agents, attended their public consultation events and invited them to our January 2013 members’ meeting billed as ‘Making space for nature in retail heaven’ to explore their plans in detail and offer further advice.

Our expectations are high: that the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is taken to get the restoration of the Quaggy at its confluence right – and that the redevelopment of Lewisham town centre will have positive influence on other parts of the town not directly within the New Lewisham Gateway scheme, for example, the river stretch beneath the pavement in front of Lewisham police station.

Manor Park bridge – QWAG also attended the opening of the new bridge into Manor Park on and over the Quaggy. At the event we sold a copy of Ken White’s book on the Quaggy to the Mayor of Lewisham, Sir Steve Bullock, commended Lewisham Council for its on-going Rivers and people’s project and requested that in decisions about the Council’s budgets the gains made from investment river restorations such as at Ladywell Fields will not be squandered by reducing care and maintenance of rivers and parks.

Communications
QWAG continues to keep members and others informed of events and news with a monthly ‘bite-sized’ A4 bulletin, Flow, which is also sent to our external contacts in local authorities, environment agencies, MPs and the media.

Social media – QWAG’s use of social media has ballooned. Use of twitter helps QWAG to keep in touch with other local organisations and to promote issues to do with rivers, local amenity and regeneration as well as to form wider links with other community groups working on rivers around the country. QWAG started the year under review (March 2012) with 280+ twitter ‘followers’ and ended on 20 March 2013 with 537 followers.

During the year QWAG handled a range of enquiries from the public with requests for interviews, permission to use images and photographs, and queries about particular stretches of the river, its route and condition from students, researchers and also statutory agencies.

Paul Newing
We were sorry to hear of the death of Paul Newing who chaired Lewisham Local History Society, had been a local councillor and was “a conscientious civic-minded citizen and a Lewisham man through-and-through.”

QWAG would like to thank:
Lewisham Methodist Church for use of its meeting space; Lewisham Council for its support of the Rivers and People project; Greenwich Council for supporting the 3RCU; Voluntary Action Lewisham for advice on community finance and accounting; park user, local amenity and fellow community groups and statutory partners especially the London Boroughs of Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham, Thames 21, Glendale, the River Resources Centre and the Environment Agency for on-going liaison and advice.

Paul de Zylva
Chair
20 March 2013

Hitting our stride

2011 saw the Quaggy Waterways Action Group (QWAG) turn the corner and hit its stride – or something approaching it. We built on our work in 2010 during which we took early steps with our QWAG 2010+ Plan to recover from the death of our former Chair, Ray Manchester.
We formed a stronger, active Committee. We took on and ran more activities and events for members at and in between meetings. We started experimenting with social media as a way to reach new and existing audiences. And we enjoyed ourselves.

Toward the end of 2011, having steadied the QWAG ship, we started planning for the longer term seeking the kind of confidence and ambition that has characterised QWAG’s work since 1990 when founder, Matthew Blumbler, with others, saw the potential of re-naturalised urban rivers as part and parcel of everyday thinking – whether in planning, regeneration and flood risk, in health, education and recreation policies or in environmental improvement, economic development and ‘place making’.

That is why we have set our eyes on the next phase of QWAG’s role – by starting to:

Plan the next big restoration – the River Quaggy is already a beacon of urban river improvement helping to put south east London on the map for reasons other than the kind of stories that hit the news headlines; it’s looked to by other communities in London, the UK and beyond as an example of what can be done.

But there is much to do to complete the links between the isolated gems where the river and its surroundings have sprung to life such as at Chinbrook Meadows and Sutcliffe Park – and the sterile swathes of concrete encasing the river through much of its course especially between those two oases and in central Lewisham; and,

Help the Quaggy achieve good ecological status – because it’s currently in ‘poor’ ecological condition and needs a lot of work improving the quality of its water so that the river meets the requirements of the Water Framework Directive by 2015.

In an era of cuts, apparent gloom and excuses for inaction, we have to remind ourselves that we are (just another) small grassroots community group of volunteers. And then we start working together, start thinking big and thinking the possible – not the impossible – and we find ways to do things that continue our traditional role of inspiring and encouraging others to do right by rivers.

Governance
At the AGM on 20 January 2011 members elected the following members to serve as the charity’s trustees and committee members for 2011 with one vacancy:

Chair: Paul de Zylva Vice Chair: Mike Keogh

Treasurer: Anne Scott Secretary: Pamela Zollicoffer
Trustee: David Larkin Trustee: Maria de Jesus
Committee member: Lawrence Beale Collins

In 2011 the trustees met 7 times to plan the group’s finances, meetings, events and projects.

Membership and meetings
In 2011 there were six members’ meetings including the AGM. Excluding trustees an average of 12 members attended members’ meetings; AGM attendance was 25. For 2011 the Committee arranged a range of speakers and presentations including:

• Chris McGaw of Lewisham Council’s Rivers and People project on the role of Conservation volunteers in a bog society
  Reptile and Amphibian Society
• The Environment Agency – Joanna Heisse speaking on Alien invaders – what we do and do not know about alien invasive species in our rivers
• Breaking the digital barrier – a meeting to explore the use of social media including twitter and facebook by community groups
• Thames Water – Robert Smith presented on the role London’s sewers with his talk Water from River to River

Membership numbers in 2011 following the summer renewal stood at Subscription rates were once again frozen for 2011-12. By the end of 2011 QWAG had 50 members

Inspiring events

April: ‘A Quest for the Quaggy’ – a walk along the Quaggy from Sutcliffe Park to Manor House Gardens with the Rivers and People project of Lewisham Council.

May and June: once again Julia Grollman and Matthew Blumler planned and ran two popular river clean ups as part of QWAG’s contribution to the third annual 3 Rivers Clean Up (3RCU) – the fortnight of events with Thames 21 and many others aims to maintain local rivers by removing invasive plants (Himalayan balsam) and rubbish and, in doing so, involve people in understanding and caring for rivers as well as having fun experiencing the river for real.

The 3RCU features in the Mayor of London’s Environment Report for London, 2011
http://data.london.gov.uk/datastore/package/state-environment-report-london-june-2011 (page 65)

July: Lewisham People’s Day saw us launch our new promotional leaflet featuring a large yellow duck and Mayor Boris getting close to the water on the first 3RCU.

September: we followed our inaugural bat walks in 2010 with another bat walk in Sutcliffe Park, Greenwich to continue to explore how well local restored rivers support biodiversity and key species such as bats.

September: ‘Bridges over the River Quaggy’ – this newly designed walk took in 10 of the bridges crossing the river in its lower section. The event was the first annual Ray Manchester Tribute Walk. 50 people walked from the Quaggy’s confluence in central Lewisham with the river Ravensbourne, where both rivers are heavily engineered and encased in concrete, to Sutcliffe Park – an example of how improved treatment of rivers can lead to benefits for people, for nature and for a greater sense of place. When we arrived in Sutcliffe Park, we met Canadian television which was making a film of river restorations around the world.

Practical action
During the year QWAG members kept watch for episodes of pollution or other threats to the river and its ecosystem. We would like to be able to report that these matters had been resolved but are unable to do so.

Despite constant vigilance, requests for various agency’s to cooperate and not unreasonable expectations that they would there is still no resolution to two significant pollution threats to the Quaggy:

Clarendon Rise – From the bridge at Clarendon Rise – off the lower Lee High Road near the new Nando’s restaurant – a cast iron foul sewer is visible running above the River Quaggy. In May 2010 QWAG reported to the Environment Agency that sink outlets had been connected directly into the river and in June added that the sewer was leaking toilet waste into the river. QWAG has pursued this with both the Agency and with Thames Water and although the sink connections have been corrected sewage is still visibly entering the Quaggy via poor connections QWAG continue to apply pressure to resolve this pollution threat. During the year a diligent new officer at Lewisham Council did start to take action but it will soon be two years since we first asked for action with no clear sense that the matter will be fully resolved.
Milk Ditch – this tributary in the Bromley stretch of the Quaggy crosses allotment land above Chinbrook Meadows. We two years we have with Chinbrook Meadows Park User Group investigated pollution in and odours from the stream caused by poor waste water connections to the mains from baths and washing machines. QWAG continues to pursue Thames Water and the Environment Agency to seek action and has now formally written with others to Bromley Council seeking action and resolution.

Influencing decisions
QWAG continued to track strategic planning matters and relevant planning applications likely to affect the river environment.

Core Strategy – In February 2011 QWAG appeared at the Examination in Public into the Core Strategy. Welcoming many aspects of the draft strategy QWAG suggested that more was required to secure local rivers as truly distinctive features of the borough. QWAG’s comments led to the Council making various changes to the wording of the strategy.

Lewisham town centre area Action Plan (AAP) – In spring 2011, QWAG met with Lewisham Council to explore the purpose of the AAP in restoring the river environment in central Lewisham. QWAG has long called for rivers in the town centre to be broken out of the concrete casing as this affords the opportunity to capitalise on re-naturalised rivers as part of a rounded vision for the town centre vision other than a retail experience.

Manor Park bridge – QWAG supported the proposed new bridge at one end of Manor Park as a way to open up the park and river running alongside it as a leisure space and, in doing so, to create a new green route for walking and cycling between Hither Green and Lewisham and improve use of the park to ward off ‘anti-social behaviour’. The bridge, which has been delayed to allow treatment of Japanese Knotweed in the vicinity, will hopefully in spring 2012.

Lee High Road – there have been multiple built developments along the Lee High Road and as in previous years QWAG objected to the height of proposed additional re-developments which will see 5 storeys going directly up on the river’s banks, where previously there was one storey. Despite this dramatic overshadowing of the river Lewisham planning committee granted permission for the full five storey development.

Communications

Each month QWAG produces FLOW – a single A4 page bulleting which is sent to members in email form with paper copies going to 20 members without email. Flow is also sent to our external contacts in local authorities, environment agencies, local MPs and the media.

Social media – QWAG ended the year (March 2012) with 280 twitter followers. During the year QWAG has used twitter and facebook as new ways to reach different audiences. We have used twitter in particular to keep in touch with other local organisations and to promote issues to do with rivers, local amenity and regeneration as well as to form wider links with other community groups working on rivers around the country.

In early 2012 QWAG organised a series of ‘filmed walks’ along the Quaggy to capture on film the story of the river so that this can be used as a ‘virtual tour’ of the river on the website. On each walk we used twitter to show live progress of each stage of the wade up the Quaggy and this led to useful feedback from other community groups and a local MP.

At Lewisham People’s Day in July we launched our new leaflet: http://www.qwag.org.uk/home/

As usual, People’s Day QWAG with the chance to set up an eye-catching stall and exhibition in Mountsfield Park, Catford and engage with people directly about local rivers and regeneration and to publish another summer newsletter.

QWAG’s archive project saw Matthew Blumler, Pamela Zollicoffer and Philippa starting to capture QWAG’s history, including articles and photographs, in digital format to create more extensive use, better and more accessible record keeping and allow greater use of more material on the website for educational, research and local history purposes.

During the year QWAG handled a range of enquiries from the public with a range of requests for interviews, permission to use images and photographs, and queries about particular stretches of the river, its route and condition from students, researchers and statutory agencies.

Thanks
QWAG would like to thank: Lewisham Methodist Church for use of its meeting space, Lewisham Council for People’s Day organisation, Greenwich Council, for supporting the 3RCU and permission to hold the bat walk in Sutcliffe Park, community and statutory partners especially Thames 21, Glendale, and the Environment Agency for ongoing liaison and advice.

21 March 2012

This year QWAG started working its way back to the kind of levels of activity it enjoyed before the untimely death of our Chair, Ray Manchester, on 16 July 2009. Both established and newly active members have worked to honour Ray’s memory by sustaining momentum and setting a new direction.

QWAG started raising its sights by working to the QWAG 2010+ plan approved by members at the 2010 AGM. This annual report outlines these activities which include popular participatory events such as bat walks and river clean ups and work to influence decisions by local authorities and others which may affect the River Quaggy and river corridor.

To start the year it was encouraging for QWAG by being recognised by the Government as “a great example of environmental action”. By the year end QWAG had carried out many of the tasks it undertook up to July 2009.

There is more to do to attract and involve more members to fulfil QWAG’s aims.

Governance
At the AGM on 20 January 2010 members elected the following members to serve as the charity’s trustees and committee members for 2010 with one vacancy:

Chair: Paul de Zylva Vice Chair: vacant
Treasurer: Anne Scott Secretary: Pamela Zollicoffer
Trustee: David Larkin Trustee: Maria de Jesus

In 2010 the trustees met 7 times to plan the group’s finances, meetings, events and projects.
Membership and meetings
In 2010 there were six members’ meetings including the AGM. Excluding trustees an average of 12 members attended members’ meetings; AGM attendance was 25. For 2010 members’ meetings the Committee introduced having guest speakers starting with:

• Councillor John Paschoud – speaking on Lewisham Council’s Core Strategy
• Chris McGaw – on the new Rivers and People project
• Matthew Blumler – on the role of communities in river restoration
• Dr Geraldene Wharton – on assessing the success of urban river restorations
• Dr Paul Rainey – on the geology of the Ravensbourne catchment

Membership numbers fell in 2010 as files were updated and the renewal of subscriptions intended before Ray Manchester died was carried out. Subscription rates were frozen for 2010-11. By the end of 2010 QWAG had 50 members – a good basis for raising membership in 2011.

Inspiring events
In May, Dave Larkin, QWAG’s own ‘batman’, led members on QWAG’s inaugural ‘bat walk’ in Sutcliffe Park, Greenwich, where QWAG-inspired river restoration and flood alleviation had been completed in 2005. The evening walk marked the start of QWAG’s Green City Bat project to explore how well local restored rivers support biodiversity and key species such as bats.

Dave arranged for London Bat Group’s Jason Cunningham to join the walk to explain bat behaviour. Using hand held bat detectors Pipistrelle and Soprano bats were seen circling for insects. The evening’s highlight was the brief visit of a large Noctule bat, a rare sight in London. Dave ran a follow up bat walk in Sutcliffe Park in September.

In June, Julia Grollman and Matthew Blumler planned and ran two popular river clean ups as part of QWAG’s contribution to the second annual 3 Rivers Clean Up (3RCU). The fortnight of events with Thames 21 and many others aims to maintain local rivers by removing invasive plants (Himalayan balsam) and rubbish and, in doing so, involve people in understanding and caring for rivers as well as having fun experiencing the river for real.

30 members of the public joined 17 QWAG members over two weekends (6th and 13th June) to remove 90 bin bags worth of balsam and 50 large bin bags of litter and assorted rubbish plus lots of scrap metal. Any risk of the balsam spreading was avoided by piling it onto the river bank to rot down in situ. Thanks in particular to Matthew for his considerable leadership coordinating the whole fortnight of events as well as QWAG’s two clean ups. Pictures from the 3CRU are at: www.flickr.com/photos/3rcu/

Practical action
During the year QWAG members kept watch for episodes of pollution or other threats to the river and its ecosystem:

Clarendon Rise – From the bridge at Clarendon Rise a cast iron foul sewer is visible running above the River Quaggy. In May 2010 QWAG reported to the Environment Agency that sink outlets had been connected directly into the river and in June added that the sewer was leaking toilet waste into the river. QWAG has pursued this with the Agency and with Thames Water and although the sink connections have been corrected sewage is still visibly entering the Quaggy via poor connections QWAG continue to apply pressure to resolve this pollution threat.
Milk Ditch – in February QWAG members visited this tributary crossing allotment land near Chinbrook Meadows to investigate pollution in and odours from the stream. QWAG worked with the allotment holders and Chinbrook Meadows Park User Group to investigate the cause which turned out to be poor waste water connections to the mains from baths and washing machines. QWAG continues to pursue Thames Water and the Environment Agency to seek action.
Three cornered garlic – on spring bank holiday Monday QWAG members pulled up clumps of the invasive plant, Allium triquetrum, found spreading along the Quaggy’s banks in central Lewisham.
Japanese Knotweed – Julia Grollman worked with Thames 21 to inject this rampant invasive species with Glyphosate at the Weigall Road clean up.

Influencing decisions
During 2010 QWAG continued to track relevant planning applications likely to affect the river environment and engaged in strategic decisions about the future of the area including:

Core Strategy – Early in 2010 QWAG submitted a comprehensive response to Lewisham Council’s draft Core Strategy, the overarching strategy for the future of the borough including the role of rivers and local environment, and how and where development should take place.

In responding to the draft QWAG observed the many welcome positive policies in the draft strategy on the role of rivers but advised that these alone would be insufficient to make rivers a distinctive feature of the borough. In particular, the opportunity was not taken in the strategy to make the most of the confluence of the Quaggy and Ravensbourne rivers at Lewisham town centre. Here QWAG would like to see town centre regeneration lead to the full and proper restoration of the rivers, which would be unique to a London town centre. Public hearings on the core strategy will be held in February 2011.

Manor Park bridge – QWAG supported the proposed new bridge at one end of Manor Park as a way to open up the park and river running alongside it as a leisure space and, in doing so, to create a new green route for walking and cycling between Hither Green and Lewisham and improve use of the park to ward off ‘anti-social behaviour’. QWAG asked members to express support for the bridge by writing letters to the planning authority. The bridge was approved by Lewisham Council in December 2010 and is set to be in place in spring 2011.

Lee High Road – there have been multiple built developments along the Lee High Road and as in previous years QWAG objected to the height of proposed additional re-developments which will see 5 storeys going directly up on the river’s banks, where previously there was one storey. Despite this dramatic overshadowing of the river Lewisham planning committee granted permission for the full five storey development.

Café – QWAG objected to the proposed increased operation of a café on the Lee High Road and backing on to the lower Quaggy found to be causing persistent river pollution.

Communications
In March the local press reported the Government’s praise for QWAG as “a great example of environmental action”. QWAG’s work inspiring the proper restoration and management of rivers had been chosen as an example of creating ‘sustainable communities’. The South London Press (19th March) reported: ‘River action group is a ‘great’ example’ and The Mercury (24th March) ran with ‘River group hailed for heroic actions.’

For Lewisham People’s Day in July QWAG set up an eye-catching stall and exhibition in Mountsfield Park, Catford. As usual, People’s Day provided QWAG with an opportunity to speak with people directly about local rivers and regeneration and to publish a summer newsletter www.qwag.org.uk/data/newsletter_10.pdf

Toward the end of the year Maria de Jesus and Philippa Spratt started to refresh QWAG’s website with the aim of returning to using the website to promote river restoration and report and update members and others on QWAG’s work. In 2010 the number of visits to the site as a whole averaged 1,880 visits per month, with the highest totals in March and November, at just over 2,200. The most visited pages were the ‘home’ page and the ‘Quaggy’ page.

QWAG’s archive project saw Matthew Blumler, Pamela Zollicoffer and Philippa starting to capture QWAG’s history, including articles and photographs, in digital format to create more extensive use, better and more accessible record keeping and allow greater use of more material on the website for educational, research and local history purposes.

In November Matthew, Pamela and Maria presented to Bromley Friends of the Earth on QWAG’s past, present and future and the urban rivers’ role in nature restoration and flood prevention.

During the year QWAG handled a range of enquiries from the public with a range of requests for interviews, permission to use images and photographs, and queries about particular stretches of the river, its route and condition from students, researchers and statutory agencies.

Ray Manchester
During the year QWAG explored options for ways to mark Ray Manchester’s contribution including an annual walk in his name, planting black poplar trees, practical projects to continue improving the river environment and creating an ‘outdoor classroom’ in Manor Park. A shortlist of ideas and intended use of funds to mark Ray’s role will be presented to members in 2011.

Thanks
QWAG would like to thank: Lewisham Methodist Church for use of its meeting space, Lewisham Council for People’s Day organisation, Greenwich Council, for supporting the 3RCU and permission to hold the bat walk in Sutcliffe Park, community and statutory partners especially Thames 21, Glendale, and the Environment Agency for ongoing liaison and advice.

19 January 2011