SARA Wyre Forest clean up the River at Bewdley

A letter to the Editor of the Kidderminster Shuttle by 9 year old Jasmine Amber Spragg prompted a news article on Thursday 3rd August 2006 raising concerns of two Bewdley councillors regarding the amount of rubbish visible due to low river levels on both Severnside North & South. Members of SARA Wyre Forest Station decided to offer their services in a clean up operation.  Alan Stanley (coxswain for Wyre Forest and SARA Executive Chairman) contacted Councillor Liz Davies and arrangements were made with Wyre Forest District Council who agreed to provide the group with black bags to enable them to collect up as much rubbish as possible on Sunday 6th August.  Street Scene would then come along and remove what rubbish had been recovered.

During a 3 hour operation, members collected approximately 12 bags of rubbish as well as the remains of road signs, no parking cones, a pushbike, various lengths of metal, a large pile of netting which could have caused severe damage to the local wildlife, a manhole cover and a concrete block.  The last two items have been left near the riverbank for removal on Saturday 26th August when SARA are attending the Community Safety Day in Bewdley and will use their polycraft to remove them due to their weight.  A road barrier and roadsign were also recovered and left on the opposite river bank for collection by the local council.

During the clean up, SARA provided assistance to Bishopswood Swan Rescue who had been trying to entice an injured swan from the east bank across to Severnside North with no success; the group inflated their Rapid Deployment Craft and two members paddled across the river and successfully recovered the swan who was then passed over to the swan rescue personnel on scene.

The team assembles:

 

The things people throw in the river :

 

More Rubbish removed:

 

Even more :