The weekend loomed, and the rain that was deluging upon west London showed no signs of stopping. The downpour continued from Friday evening and was still going when we arose on Saturday morning. Seven o’clock turned to eight, then nine AM. The rain was still going strong. The wheat was separated from the chaff. GoodGymmers dropped out from the task. The safe haven of a warm bed or a dry living room on a Saturday morning a much more enticing offer than a Thames-side trash trek in the torrent.

As the clock struck ten, a miracle happened, and the weather decided to put a litter-al rain check on the rain. Ten intrepid GoodGymmers had braved the British weather and we met at the Crabtree pub, which sits along the water in Hammersmith. We clambered over the decking and made our way down onto the riverside to start the task, following the ‘pedestrians’ sign...

The Crabtree sits on a small inlet in the Thames which collects all sorts of rubbish, some of it from the local area and some of it had travelled from much further down the water and been swept along by the tide. Who knows how long some of the items had been floating around for?

Sadly, recent studies estimated that 94,000 microplastics per second flow down the Thames in certain places, and last year it was revealed that 60% of litter found in the river was made of plastic. Without going too Attenborough on you all (what a legend), the effects of could be truly devastating. Even our little litter pick today could make a difference. In the words of a famous supermarket (who’s half degraded bits of plastic bag we incidentally found) ‘every little helps’.

The next hour was spent clearing up the mess. Michelle had come prepared with black sacks and recycling bags, plus litter pickers! Cathy had also come prepared for a BBQ... As we discovered, a pair of tongs make an excellent tool so help dig out bottle tops and plastic lids from the squelchy mud.

Our trip had not only coincided with the rain taking a pluvious pause, but with the tide being out, so we could cover the whole inlet. This did not mean we could go further out - as Lucy and Katie discovered, trainers now coated in some questionable silt. Hammersmith Chris and Ben more sensibly stayed closer to the shore, and discovered the ‘lighter tree’. Where the tide had come in, the water level would rise above the hanging crab tree branches, and as it ebbed back, some of the items floating in the water would get caught in the leaves. A few bottles, a flip flop and several colourful cigarette lighters. In the rubbish bag they all went.

On the other side of the inlet Ealing Chris, Amanda, Jess and Cathy were searching for different kinds of treasure (if you could call it that). Alongside the usual bottles, wrappers and bags, finds included an empty petroleum can, a plethora of balls (from tennis to football and in between), the odd deflated balloon, a couple of lonely wheels, a toy car, tampon wrappers and several questionable looking needles. Aren’t Londoners delightful?

Beth had discovered one of the best finds, but she didn’t like to gloat about her float, and instead it went into the rubbish bag. Katie found a shoe... and then the other one. Lucy and Cathy a mini shoe keyring and then Chris found an old trainer... oh wait, no, he just found Beth.

We filled over seven bags of rubbish and recycling, and decided to call the job a good one. We crabbed our bags and picked up the pickers and climbed back onto, well, not dry land. But more firm, and certainly less smelly land.

Water way to spend this soggy Saturday. Another good deed done, and we floated off our separate ways. Slightly smellier, slightly muddier but certainly with much cleaner consciences (which was just as well, as the rain decided to have another go)!