Over 200 bags of rubbish, shopping trolleys and much more, its was quite a first season for Anglers cleaning up the Thames

Fed up with seeing litter on the riverbank and hearing Anglers sometimes get the blame, the Thames Anglers Conservancy decided to do something about it.

Starting out with gloves brought from home, a single litter picker and bin bags donated by Surbiton Angling Centre, our volunteers set about picking up the assorted debris and litter from the banks of the River Thames. 

With suggestions of areas coming from Anglers, the Environment Agency and even resident associations, TAC volunteers including youngsters brave all weather conditions regularly to clean the riverbank. Along with these suggestions, a list of known problem areas are regularly targeted with our events taking place every two weeks or more. In the height of last summer we had volunteers out midweek as well as weekends, direct action as and when it was needed.

Our first year of action on the Thames culminated with an end of the river season margin clearing event at the riverside in Kingston. To hold the rubbish, the Environment Agency kindly lent a barge and the local Turks Launch provided free mooring at their pier. Using our members’ boats and donated grappling hooks attached to ropes, TAC volunteers made their way along the margins until the barge was full of Kingston’s rubbish.

The list of what has been collected over the fishing season highlights the variety of people that use the river and the apparent disregard some of them have for our environment. During cleans up we have collected a full array of bikes, shopping trolleys, televisions, car wings, cut timber, steel plates, plus loads of other junk and the filled industrial bin bag total is now in excess of 200 and rising.

Perhaps more crucially, it proves that those who picnic, live, shop, work, walk their dog, cruise their boat and fish are all contributors to the problem in varying degrees.

 Chairman James Page commented ‘The litter and rubbish we find is not all anglers, but what we have proved is that as anglers, we are willing to go out and make a difference, for free. I would like to thank all the volunteers who come out with us and give up their time, many on a regular basis to improve our riverside environment’

Notice to editors:

The Thames Anglers Conservancy is a free to join organization and is a consultative member of the Angling Trust for Thames between Staines and Dartford.

As a Thames Angling stakeholder, we are involved with many organizations including the Environment Agency, river user groups and local councils.

We are concerned with many aspects of the Thames including the threat of Hydropower, loss of fishing rights and pollution along with the positive aspects of promoting angling and its benefits.

For more pictures and information go to www.rivertac.org or email admin@rivertac.org