Your River needs you

North Beck by Morrisons before we cleared it. Do you like the river looking like this.....

....or would you prefer it looking more like this. The Worth by Aire Valley Road. Photo copyright John Tickner of RWF

The river Worth is a green corridor running through the centre of Keighley. As such it could be a valuable natural resource and amenity which could improve the wellbeing of the people. Most weeks RWF volunteers are out working to improve the river as an environment for both wildlife and the people in and around Keighley. However sometimes it can seem that we have bitten off more than we can chew.

Debris at Low Bridge a couple of years ago.

​For instance, back on July 2nd we worked with the Aire Rivers Trust to clean up the stretch of North Beck which runs from Morrisons car park to Heber Street. On that day we removed 46 bags of rubbish from the river and its surrounds. However, we recently noticed that the rubbish was again building up, with even some full bags hanging in the trees, so we returned last week and removed a further 23 bags and also some lengths of steel fencing that had been thrown in from the adjacent site. We had also been there back in December last year. All together we have taken 81 bags of rubbish from the area.

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Making a start at North Beck.

Job done!

​Another location that we keep revisiting is Kinara Close, down to where the Worth joins the Aire. In the last year we have been there nine times and removed over 100 bags of rubbish plus six children’s bikes, a pram, two shopping trolleys, some plastic chairs, carpets and much more. Some of this will not necessarily have been thrown in by people on Kinara Close but washed down from higher up stream. So you can see that we have taken on a rather Sisyphean task (look it up!) Especially when you bear in mind that we have only four active volunteers.

Results of clearance at Kinara close in July.

​We often get positive comments about our work from passers-by and when we post about our activities on Facebook we always get lots of likes and positive comments, 58 likes and 15 comments on our last session, but that is as far as it goes. There can be a tendency to feel that simply offering support on social media is good enough, no need to actually take positive action. It would be fantastic if some of our social media supporters could get out on the river with us, with a bigger volunteer base we could really make a difference. It can be the case that rubbish begets rubbish, we are trying to break that cycle. So, if you want to have a part in making Keighley a better place, let us know.
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Your River

Needs You