A free family festival to celebrate and enjoy London’s iconic waterway

Tasting session for padddle boarding (2018)

The Foreshore Festival on 23 September (11:00am - 5:00pm), is organised by former Olympic rower, Andrew Triggs Hodge, and the Foreshore Festival offers you the chance to try stand-up paddleboarding (SUP), kayaking and rowing – or get down onto the foreshore for beach combing sessions to explore hundreds of years of history buried in the river banks. Whatever your interest in the river is, there’ll be something for you.


Mr Triggs-Hodge, who works at Tideway as a project manager, said: “The festival is about getting people connected with the River Thames, to see the awesome activities it has to offer and to find out how organisations across London are working to protect it. Tideway’s new tunnel will not only bring huge benefits to the environment, but also the lives of river users. Anyone who enjoys the river can have confidence that its future is being looked after. I hope the festival helps people see the full recreational potential of a cleaner, healthier river.”


Andrew Triggs Hodge

Chris Coode, Deputy Chief Executive at Thames21, said: “We’re really excited to be involved in this new Foreshore Festival. It’s going to be a fantastic opportunity to engage with not just the rowing fraternity but the wider community to show people the challenges faced by the River Thames and what ordinary Londoners can do to help. Over the years, Thames21 has developed its work well past the point of just clearing up rubbish. For several years, we have been analysing the types of litter that are washed up along its foreshore in order to inspire people to change their behaviour.”

Sports
Taster sessions in Kayak and SUP – Making the leap onto the river for the first time?! This is your chance to see what it’s all about.

The Big Ben Challenge, open to 200+ experienced and confident paddlers. The 20km tour runs from Putney Embankment all the way to Big Ben and back. Sign up here: Active360 Big Ben Challenge.

Environment
ZSL will be leading Seine netting sessions on the river side that open your eyes to what is in the river! Their experts will walk you through the river ecosystem and hook you into the rivers wildlife.

The Environment Agency & the Thames Estuary 2100 team will talk about the future of London’s Flood Defences.

Hubbub will make you think a little differently about plastic in the river through their novel approach!

Local residents have formed a litter collection group for the towpath, embankment and foreshore, and if you are interested in volunteering for their outings email putneytt@outlook.com - you may find representatives at the Hubbub stand during the festival.

Safety
Demonstrations with the RNLI, PLA, Fire Service – See and speak to the people who keep us all safe. Find out how to be safe and responsible on the river banks.

Other activities




By the time of the Foreshore Festival, Putney resident Helen Charlton will have travelled 163 miles/263km on her Source to Sea Challenge to Putney. She continue the challenge by setting off from Putney Embankment as part of The Big Ben Challenge, paddleboarding 10km to Big Ben (then back again!), and finally rowing with The AHOY Centre's apprentices to the Thames Barrier on 26th September.

Tideway is offering spaces on its acclaimed boat tour. The trip on a Thames Clipper will take you to the Tideway sites along the river from Canary Wharf (and Putney) to Westminster departing at 11:00 (at 13:00). A tideway host will talk you through the project from the lost rivers to Bazalgette’s original works and final #SuperSewer solution. If you’d like to come please book your place by emailing events@tideway.london.

Beach Combing on the river with MOLA. Filter through hundreds of years of London’s history preserved through the river banks of the Thames. For more info and sign up visit: MOLA Beach Combing.

Tideway – Learn all about the Super Sewer, with our interactive VR, Model Tunnel Boring Machines and hear from the people building this incredible tunnel under London.

Food and refreshment – There’ll be street food and drink along the foreshore, along with street music, fun and games.

The event is also being supported by Positively Putney, the Business Improvement District in the area. Nicola Grant from Positively Putney said: “We have been set up to make Putney a better place to live, work and shop. The river has an important part to play for life in Putney, it is for this reason that we are supporting the foreshore festival. We are very much looking forward to the day.”

Local business and voluntary organisations will also be there, giving you a taste of Putney.



September 9, 2018