Our Blog
Building Momentum for the UK River Summit 2025 and The River Festival
At The River Summit and Festival, we are thrilled to share the progress and exciting collaborations shaping next year’s UK River Summit at Morden Hall on July 8th, 2025.
The Future of Farming
The Future of Farming panel at The UK River Summit in May was a lively and thought-provoking session addressing the intersection of agriculture, environmental sustainability, and food production.
The Freshwater Emergency - From Scarcity to Abundance
This panel, moderated by James Wallace of River Action UK, convened to address an increasingly pressing issue: the UK’s freshwater emergency. With growing concerns over water scarcity, pollution, and the degradation of ecosystems like chalk streams, the session brought together experts to examine both the roots of the crisis and potential solutions.
The Issues, Solutions and Long-Term Goals
Looking back at this year’s Cross-Party panel, this blog will explore the main points each party raised, the proposed solutions and the long-term goals.
Chalkstream Poet Laureate Winners Announced
The Chalk Stream Poet Laureates initiative has been created by Juliet Nolan, with Robert Macfarlane, Linda Newbery and Mark Wormald as co-judges. It invites everyone to champion chalk streams with poetry, and took to The UK River Summit this year (2024) to begin ripples of creativity. Find out who this year’s competition winners are…
The UK and European Funding Landscape: It’s Time for Change
According to PitchBook, in 2023, all-women teams secured only 1.8% of the total venture capital pool. These numbers aren’t just disappointing—they’re regressive. The barriers that women face in securing funding are complex and multi-faceted but we see this as a challenge for The UK River Summit and invite anyone interested to support this venture…
Women’s Fly Casting Open Day
Join us on 22nd October for the first in our series of fly casting tuition days in Chalabre, France.
The River Festival 2024: Creativity and Community
This year’s River Festival in France proved itself to be a magical blend of nature, artistry, and community spirit. It was a real celebration, bringing together a tapestry of river enthusiasts, local residents, artists, musicians, and creatives. Here, we share a little about it...
Big River Watch: 6th - 12th September 2024
Between the 6th and 12th of September, we’re coming together for rivers to take part in the next Big River Watch citizen science event, led by The Rivers Trust, and we want you to join us.
Bobby Dean: Keeping the Policy Window Open
Bobby Dean, was the Liberal Democrat councilor for the local area, Carlshalton and Wallington, and a lover of the River Wandle. The General Election was announced the day after the UK River Summit and Bobby is now the MP, having won the seat.
The nationwide impacts of the Fish Legal case on the Costa Beck
Today, Fish Legal launched a petition to force the new Government to act now to meet legally binding targets for river health. The petition is to urge the Government to restore every single waterbody to good health by 2027.
The Third Dimension
Shaun Leonard was our opening speaker at the UK River Summit, May 21st, at Morden Hall. Introduced by media personality and the ‘It’s not all about sewage’ panel moderator, Matthew Wright.
Moving away from outrage
Moving beyond outrage to foster curiosity and open conversations is essential for tackling the challenges our rivers face. This approach was exemplified at the recent UK River Summit which emphasized collaboration, conversation, and creative expression…
Rebuilding Trust: At What Cost?
As the General Election draws ever closer, we continue with discussions on our cross-party panel at the UK River Summit, including around where the money is going to come from and how trust will be rebuilt…
A Cross-party Commitment
With just a few days to go until the General election, we look back at the Cross Party Panel at the UK River Summit last month and what was discussed, including what has gone wrong, what needs to be changed, and manifesto commitments…
The Personal Touch
As we look to the future and building the River Summit and Festival concept, we can’t help reflecting what has brought us to where we are now and the like-minded community that is growing. There have been many magical steps that led to the UK River Summit at Morden Hall on May 21st 2024….
New Sewage Safety Advice for Anglers
With pollution in our rivers continuing to cause concern, the Angling Trust has issued new advice for freshwater anglers to help ensure safe fishing…
Glimpses of the Wandle: Online Event
Following on from the UK River Summit, come and join us on Tuesday 2nd of July for an evening talk and Q&A with Dr. Jack Hogan of the South East Rivers Trust…
Hinkley Point C
In attendance at The UK River Summit 2024, the Hinkley Point C Action group and other interested parties came to discuss a route forward in demanding greater fish protection measures and effective mitigation of major fish kills set to take place at EDF Energy Hinkley Point C.