Plastics: Think Globally, Act Locally. What Can We Do To Make A Difference?

The Friends of Wandsworth Park (FoWP) AGM was well attended with an audience of over fifty yesterday evening (4 September) at the Hurlingham Yacht Club.

They started with a group of guest speakers (Plastic Free Barnes; Barnes Tidy Towpath Group; Hubbub - For Fishes Sake) who addressed what is being accomplished in nearby communities to deal with the ever-encroaching plastics problem and how members of FoWP can help reduce plastic in all our lives.



Ann Sullivan of Barnes Tidy Towpath Group started the evening with a disturbing show of what they find in the river on their 3 mile stretch and just how many bags of rubbish they collect - ranging from 4 bags to 35 in one two hour session! A similar group is being set up in Putney - details will follow in due course.

Next was the turn of Alison Baker who has lived in the London Borough of Richmond for 18 years, is the community leader of Plastic Free Barnes & Mortlake - a fledgling volunteer group inspired by the Surfers Against Sewage Plastic Free Coastlines Campaign - and is involved in the ‘In the Drink’ scheme to encourage riverside pubs & events in London to stop serving in single-use plastic. Alison gave the audience tips in living with less plastic and how to organise events with out using plastic ( bottles, cutlery, balloons to name a few).


Hubbub's Gavin Ellie addresses the audience

Finally Gavin Ellis of the charity Hubbub which is running a campaign 'For Fish's Sake' in Putney with Wandsworth Council gave a summary of the campaign and what they are hoping to achieve.

The audience were engaged and had many questions for the speakers regarding recycling, bins in Putney and of course specifically in Wandsworth Park.

Following this the usually business of an AGM took place, voting in new committee members, accepting finance report etc. Chair, Pat Gross then gave a summary of the year past; starting with the first event of the year which was London Tree Week, the successful campaign to save the river terrace as part of the park, the adoption and planting of beds within the park, and finished with the plan for the year ahead including better signage, a drinking fountain and increasing awareness and membership of the group . Click here to become a member.

Pat told the website: "Our AGM was a great success and it's nice to report such a productive and positive year. I think we've finally gotten our stride and are now going from strength to strength. We are extremely excited about what we can achieve over the coming year. Membership is essential to this as it helps us to have sway with the Council and demonstrate public support. If you aren't already a member, please do join as it's very simple now online. The Plastics talk was particularly the highlight of the evening and I think we were all taken aback by the extent of the problem even in our little neck of the woods. As they said, we are all only as clean as our neighbours, so it's time for Wandsworth Park and Wandsworth to get onboard and start doing our fair share. We will keep you posted as we develop opportunities for clearing Wandsworth Park and the Putney area."

September 6, 2018