Wrapping It Up

Fellow River Rally-iers! 

Due to weather, we are cancelling our final cleanup of the season which was scheduled for this Saturday at 9:30. 

A big thanks to all our enthusiastic volunteers for another great season. 

We had a terrific year. We grew our volunteer base and forged new partnerships with community and environmental groups. Working with the City and CAReS London, we managed to have permanent needle bins installed in Carfrae Park. One of our founders, Miriam Love, will be featured in an upcoming article by Kerry Manders (thanks KM!) in a special issue of Canadian Women's Studies that deals with "Women and Water."
 
Above all else, we spent some great hours on the Thames River--removing tonnes of garbage from the river and its banks, doing our best to learn about and protect the habitats that the river sustains, meeting new people and sharing in the everyday practice of citizen action and environmental stewardship.
 
We will see you again in the Spring. Our first cleanup will take place in April (date tba) and will be a part of the great Thames River Cleanup. Thanks again for your solidarity and fellowship.
 
"The river is within us."

The TRR Team

In Your Neighbourhood

Thames River Rally was delighted to be invited to clean up an area along the river near where some great community-minded, nature lovin' people (not all the volunteers are shown here) live and regularly walk.   We cleaned up the area from Chealsea Green Park (Adelaide Street bridge) all the way to Watson Street Park (Wellington Street bridge).

We carted away about fifteen bags of garbage!  What a haul, and what a surprising number of plastic bottles.  Go figure.  One of our intrepid volunteers even found some inspiration in the form of a piece of torn cross steel plate for an art project!  Nice!

Sure it was drizzly and misty rain at times, but that didn't dampen our spirits nor enthusiasm.  But herein lies a a couple messages; If you know about area of the river that needs a cleanup, tell us about it (mail@thamesriverrally.ca) and the other thing?  Sunny or wet, there's garbage to get!

October's Cleanup

The leaves are changing colour and covering up the garbage!  Let's get it out of there before the snow falls on it too!

Our next clean-up will be on October 18th, 9:30 am to noon at Chelsea Green Park (1 Adelaide Street South).

We'll meet at the "Staging Area" (marked on the map ) which is the parking lot at Chelsea Green Park and will clean up green spaces from the Adelaide Street Bridge to the Wellington Street Bridge (the area marked in pink on the map).

We'll provide garbage bags and gloves (we also have a few garbage grabbers). Apart from weather appropriate clothing you'll need some sturdy boots or hiking shoes. We recommend you wear long pants and bring a bottle of drinking water.

See you at the river!

Building Up and Cleaning Up

This past Saturday, we had an excellent cleanup and were part of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup!  We couldn't have done it without the help of all the enthusiastic volunteers.  Look at 'em all!
 
We're getting near the end of our clean-up season.  This has been a big year for the Thames River Rally.  We've gotten a number of things accomplished (website and blog up and running, had promotional materials made, attended various meetings and enticed new volunteeers to come out) but we've also stayed true to our original vision - to get out there and clean up the river.  

This time we collected 13 bags full of trash and a shopping cart. One of our volunteers found a piece of Lego and that made us think, it's not just what you build up, it's how and what you clean up.

Thanks again, everyone. We need you all!

September Clean-up

Hey hey, everybody!!

Our next clean-up will be on September 27st, 9:30 am to noon at Carfrae Park. We are generally a go rain or shine; however, in the event of thunderstorms or heavy rain, we'll send out an email postponing the event to Sunday September 28th. 

We'll meet at the "Staging Area" (see the map below) which is south of the Labatt Factory at the bench in Carfrae Park (on the south side of the river) and will clean up the areas marked in pink on the map.

We'll provide garbage bags and gloves (we also have a few garbage grabbers). Apart from weather appropriate clothing you'll need some sturdy boots or hiking shoes. We recommend you wear long pants and bring a bottle of drinking water. 

 See you at the river!

Cleanup Aisle Four!

When we inspected the site a few days before the cleanup, the river was low, and we saw three shopping carts on the muddy flats by the water.  We wanted to get at least two of them out and hoped it wouldn't rain.  Rain would have both postponed our cleanup and perhaps raised the water level thus making the removal difficult or impossible. 

Fortunately the rain held off (but it was humid and HOT!!!) and so we were able to get the two carts we'd set our sights on as well as the third that was nearby.  We found the forth further up river and thanks to the muscled volunteers, we got 'em all out!

We also pulled out several garbage bags of trash, cushions, metal, a hammock in a bag, assorted blankets, a tarp and an air conditioner's carapace - good as a box for filling with other trash.   

We've said it before and we'll say it again, thanks to the great volunteers!  You're strong, you're energetic, you're most needed and more than that, we wouldn't be able to do it without you.

It's that time!!!

Hello Thames River Rally - ers!

We've got a cleanup organised for July 26, 9:30 am to noon, at Ivey Park (near the forks). We are generally a go rain or shine; however, in the event of thunderstorms or heavy rain, we'll send out an email postponing the event to Sunday July 27.

We'll meet in the Ivey Park parking lot (see "Staging Area" on the map below) and clean up the areas marked in pink.

We'll provide garbage bags and gloves (we also have a few garbage grabbers). Apart from weather-appropriate clothing, you'll need some sturdy boots or hiking shoes. Also, bring yourself a bottle of drinking water.

Families are welcome; however, parents must be responsible for their children at all times.

We look forward to seeing you at the river!
 

June 21st Cleanup... and that's a wrap!

Where was everbody?  Obviously not lounging around on a park bench!

We had a bunch of new volunteers, for which we are extremely grateful and with which we were able to do a fantastic clean up!  Thank you so much for giving your time and muscle and doing some great work.  It's gratifying to see others with the interest and motivation working hard and working together to make the Thames River a cleaner, nicer place.

It's also gratifying to find the park and river area looked better even before we started!  We weren't picking up trash that had been there for years.  It feels like progress is being made.  We could take 100 % of the credit for that, but maybe people are learning that the river isn't a garbage can, that we can't keep sending the problems downstream.

The Thames River is a treasure that we Londoners have right here in our back yard.  Go see it free of charge!  Say "hi" to its chlorophyll-filled oxygen factories, the paddy-pawed patrons, its scaly denizens, the feathered flockers and all the bugs!  See it, breath it, love it, cherish it and keep it clean and beautiful and lively!

Next Cleanup June 21st

Our next clean-up will be on June 21st, 9:00 am to noon at Carfrae Park.  We are generally a go rain or shine; however, in the event of a thunderstorms or heavy rain, we'll send out an email postponing the event to Sunday June 22nd. 

We'll meet at the "Staging Area" (see the map above) which is south of the Labatt Factory at the bench in Carfrae Park (on the south side of the river) and will clean up the areas marked in pink on the map. 

We'll provide garbage bags and gloves (we also have a few garbage grabbers). Apart from weather appropriate clothing you'll need some sturdy boots or hiking shoes. Also, bring yourself a bottle of drinking water. 

Families are welcome, however parents must be responsible for their children at all times. 

We look forward to seeing you at the river!

How did we clean thee? Let us count the bags.

Another successful clean up of the Thames! A big THANK YOU SO MUCH to our volunteers who came from far and yon to help.  It was great to meet you all on such a beautiful day, not too hot, not too cold and rain free!  And look at all the stuff we got outta there!  An old ironing board, a wooden picture frame, some metal pipes and bags and bags of trash.

We didn't quite manage to clean up all of the area we intended to, but we'll try again.  We're narrowing down the location of the next clean up and when we've got it chosen, we'll post details here and on our website (www.ThamesRiverRally.ca). 

On June 7th we'll be at the Gathering on the Green in Wortley Village.  It's a great family event put on by our friends at OSCO (Old South Community Organization).  For more details go to the OSCO website http://www.oscolondon.ca/2.htm.  Come by our tent for a visit.  We'd love to meet you and talk about what we do.
 
And hey!  Did you know we can Tweet?  Yes, we now have a Twitter account (@ThmsRvrRlly) with which you can tell us about any areas in need of a clean up, or hear our news and plans.  Just as your helping hands are needed at each rally, we need you to Tweet your thoughts, comments or suggestions. 

Rock on TRR!  And as for you, garbage... your carefree days of fouling the river are over! 

The Next Thames River Rally - May 17th

For May's Thames River Rally, we are going to clean up the east side of the river from the bridge at the north end of Wortley Road to the foot bridge by HMCS Prevost and on the west side from Horton Street to the footbridge at Ivy Park (the clean-up zone is marked in pink on the map below). 

We will meet at the "Staging Area" (the East end of Becher Street by the foot bridge) at 9:00 am.  NOTE: if Saturday is rainy, we'll meet the next day, Sunday May 18th at 9:00 am.

Free, 2 hour parking is available on Becher Street opposite HMSC Prevost.

If you have any questions, check out our FAQ's page or email us at www.thamesriverrally.ca

Hope to see you there!

April 26th Cleanup Debriefing

Thanks to all our volunteers for your hard work on our first cleanup and also to the Thames River Cleanup for providing gloves, garbage bags and gifts.  As you can see, it was quite the haul of trash removed.  Biggest success - removal of a big wad of orange temporary construction fencing.  As Dave said, that sort of thing is a water bird or fish's worst nightmare.  Biggest item removed - an old couch.  Too bad it didn't have any castors!  

For imformation about our next cleanup, watch this site, but also visit our home site - www.thamesriverrally.ca and our facebook page.  Feel free to shoot us any questions or comments to this blog but also email us at mail@thamesriverrally.ca.

Thanks again!  Great work, and a great start to the season!

TRR kicks off 2014 season with Thames River Cleanup

Our first clean-up kicks off with the Thames River Cleanup on April 26, 2014. www.thamesrivercleanup.ca

Meet us on April 26, 9:00 am in the parking lot on the South side of Oxford Street just East of the bridge (parking available - see "Staging Area" on the map below). We are responsible for collecting trash on both sides of the river from Oxford Street East to Blackfriars' Bridge (pink area on the map). 

We hope to see you there!