September 2023 – Wear Rivers Trust

Appointment of Chief Operating Officer and Strategic Funding Director at Wear Rivers Trust

After a very competitive recruitment process Kirstie Hutchinson, currently Office and Business Development Manager, has been appointed as the new WRT Chief Operating Officer, Kirstie will formally take up her new role from 1st October 2023.

Kirstie commented: ‘I am deeply honored and thrilled to have the opportunity to take up the reins here at Wear Rivers Trust as Chief Operating Officer, building on the solid foundations achieved by my predecessor Peter Nailon. I have inherited a fantastic, knowledgeable team that I will lead to continue the growth of the Trust. As we move forward my focus will be building on developing collaborative and positive relationships with stakeholders, partner organisations and communities as we continue to strive to improve the health of our rivers.’

Peter Nailon will take up the transitional role of Strategic Funding Director from 1st October 2023 as part of a phased retirement process, supporting Kirstie as she progresses from Chief Operating Officer to Chief Executive Officer over the next 12 to 18 months.

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‘Big River Watch’

22-24th September – Big River Watch Launch

This is your chance to make a difference…

This weekend of 22-24^th September sees the exciting launch of the ‘Big River Watch’ and Wear Rivers Trust needs your help!

The Big River Watch is a national scheme and is asking volunteers across the country to get out and report back on their local rivers; the animals, the plants, the pollution and everything in between. This will help us to capture a national insight into the health of our rivers and will give us valuable data to help us protect the health of our waterways!

Whether you’re a swimmer or a paddler, an angler or a rambler, a wildlife spotter or a sit-and-watch-er, this is a chance to be part of the movement improving our freshwater spaces!

To get involved simply download the free ‘Big Rivers Watch’ app to your smartphone. Then choose a spot on a river or stream near you and spend 15 minutes observing your watercourse. Using the simple steps on the app, tell us what you have seen! And then click the button to upload your survey.

Surveys can be carried out on as many rivers as you are able to visit and as many times as you wish, there will be something new to see each time! And they can be carried out at any time of the year, not just for our coming launch weekend.

Please take photos and upload onto social media using the hashtag #bigriverwatch and tag Wear Rivers Trust so that we can all share in each other’s river explorations!

Taking part in the Big River Watch will not only provide valuable data to help protect our vulnerable rivers but it will also offer an opportunity to boost your wellbeing. Studies show that being in the great outdoors allows us to make a deeper connection with nature, dissolve stress and anxiety, boost our serotonin and improve our overall physical health.

How will the collected survey data make a difference?

Rivers are suffering from sewage, plastic, chemical and nutrient pollution. To change this, we need to know where our rivers are having the problems and which problems are the most prevalent. The free and open Big River Watch survey is your chance to make a difference. Data gathered during Big River Watch can support policy change; helping turn the tide on plastics or stem the flow of untreated sewage. It also helps identify the best places for river clean-ups, or the creation of things like wetlands.

If you have any questions or would like further information on the Big River Watch please contact jade.harley@wear-rivers-trust.org.uk.

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Wear Rivers Trust does the Great North Run!

Yesterday we had a team of ten out running the Great North Run for Wear Rivers Trust including members of staff, members of the Trustee Board, and staff and Trustees family and friends. Our runners did a brilliant job and had some fantastic personal best running times. Other members of the staff team were on the course to cheer the runners on!

Our runners were John Donneky with a time of 1hr 27 mins, Mark Davinson with a time of 1hr 36 mins, Scott Laight with a time of 1hr 44 mins, Rosie Wowk with a time of 1hr 45 mins, Luke Forster with a time of 2hrs 14 mins, Claire Wilkie with a time of 2hrs 23 mins, Kim Hardy with a time of 2hrs 29 mins, Sharon Barton with a time of 2hrs 39 mins, Graham Bell with a time of 2hrs 48 mins and Sara Bell with a time of 2hrs 48 mins.

Between them they raised a fantastic amount of £2,004 for the Trust to aid the great work we do in and around the River Wear and its tributries.

Fantastic effort from all involved, a big well done!

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Willow Weaving with our WSP Corporate Volunteers

What a pleasure it was to have WSP, specialists in hydrology and hydraulic modelling, come volunteer with us last week! They were given the opportunity to carry out some corporate volunteering and chose to spend their day with us where they could put their specialist skills and knowledge to good use.

We spent the day in Bear Park on the River Browney where a stretch of the river running through arable and pastoral farming land has suffered from past dredging, channelisation (the straightening of a watercourse), flooding, pollution and a reduction of biodiversity. Today we wanted to concentrate our efforts on bank erosion where the straightening of the river and lack of plant life has caused parts of the bank to collapse.

To aid the journey of the rivers return to health we wanted to use ‘green engineering’, a sustainable process of working with natural resources to create useful structures without causing harm to, and instead benefitting the environment.

There were obvious sections of the river bank where erosion was evident and the bank was clearly at risk of collapse. Hard engineering solutions to stabilise the bank would be expensive, time consuming and usually very damaging to the river’s environment. ‘Willow weaving’ is an inexpensive, natural method and is a great example of green engineering.

Our Project Co-Ordinator Paul, guided the WSP volunteers on how to collect willow, creating several bundles tied with twine and using larger sections to form ground stakes. These stakes, which were still very much alive were planted firmly into the ground where they will continue to grow. The willow bundles were then woven in amongst the stakes and tied firmly in place, creating a habitat for a rich variety of insects and invertebrates. As the willow stakes grow and spread their roots they will stabilise the river bank, holding the soil together so that it becomes compact and less likely to collapse into the water. As it grows it will continue to provide further habitat for the local wildlife.

We ended the day at a local café where we chatted about rivers and the issues they face whilst we tucked into sandwiches and cake! And we will keep returning to the Browney site to keep a close eye on how the new willow is growing along the river bank. A great day was had by all! A big thank to WSP, you were all fantastic!

If you would like to take part in volunteering with Wear Rivers Trust please contact admin@wear-rivers-trust.org.uk

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