Skimpy Dip

A bunch of CURB members, LAGER Canners and, of course, GoodGymers gathered on a windy Sunday morning in front of Pitshanger Bowls Pavilion. Everyone was in high spirits as it looked like we would get into the waters of River Brent for a spring clean-up. Ben, the event organiser, gave us a safety briefing, listing not easily visible dangers like:

⚠️ treacherous depth and current of the river
⚠️ hidden giant hogweed growing at the banks
⚠️ bacteria lurking in the water

Undeterred by the perils of Brent River, we were all ready with wading poles, pickers and hoops with waste bags in our hands and slightly loosely fitting waders on our bottoms. We ventured up the river to find a safe point to get into the water and poked the riverbed with our poles. Close to the bank, the river looked shallow, but a few inches further, we encountered high water levels and a strong current. We got in for a very brief time and collected the plastic pieces wrapped around the most easily accessible tree branches. Ben looked worried.

"I am really sorry, guys. I'm afraid we need to call off the wading. There is too much flow, and it is not safe. They must have opened the sluices at Welsh Harp.

"Did you say the water came from Wales?"

In case you wondered, the Welsh Harp is another name for the Brent Reservoir. The reservoir was named after a pub that stood by its bank. While the tavern has been demolished, its liquid namesake still exists and often causes disruption of the CURB events. Ben usually gets notified about releasing the water from the reservoir, but this time, the Clean-Up River Brent was caught by surprise!

Ben and Cathy from LAGER Can wasted no time and suggested alternative jobs around the river: bashing Himalayan balsam, digging out giant hogweed and litter picking at the floodplain near the allotments in Pitshanger. Waders off, we headed to the place where rubbish accumulated after the latest flooding. We found lots of small plasticky stuff, so old and washed, we couldn't tell anymore what it used to be originally. With a few pieces of underwear, single shoes, and plastic Kinder Surprise eggs added to the collection, we tied the waste bags and dropped them into one big pile for the Council pickup, then split to do more missions in the afternoon.