Bridges over the River Quaggy – Inaugural Annual Ray Manchester Walk

Bridges over the River Quaggy, Sunday  4 September 2011, 11am to 1.30pm

On this brand new walk in memory of QWAG’s former chairman, Ray Manchester, we’ll criss-crossing ten bridges over the Quaggy as we explore the river’s past and glimpse its possible future. QWAG work over the years means it has become one of the first urban rivers to start being released from its concrete prison to become a free river.
 
 
Starting near Lewisham station, by the noticeboard where the Quaggy meets the Ravensbourne – both imprisoned in deep concrete channels – as we move upstream, crossing the border into Greenwich, we’ll take time at each bridge to view the engineering feats and failures and historical crossings while enjoying green space old and new on the way.
 
 
Bring your own picnic lunch to enjoy at the end of the walk in one of the country’s first and most spectacular river restorations – the superb wetland site of Sutcliffe Park. Here you will see images from QWAGs first walk, in the park long before it was restored. Marvel at the changes, the restored river and fabulous wildlife, since those early years.
 
QWAG contact: Lawrence

The 3 Rivers Clean Up

In June 2010 Lewisham Council along with London Borough of Bromley, the London Borough of Greenwich and another of other local groups spent 10 days clearing 3 of Lewisham’s Rivers (Ravensbourne, Pool and Quaggy) of the invasive species Himalayan Balsam.

Thanks to Thames 21, FSC, Glendale, Quaggy Waterways Action Group and many others for all their help. Of course BIG THANKS has to go to all the local residents who came out to help.  Local schools also got involved and while learning about rivers they also pulled a few plants themselves!

This is the second year that the event had happened and we hope that it will happen in future years. This time there was noticeably fewer plants to pull out than last year.  If this trend continues then maybe Lewisham’s waterways will be free of Himalayan Balsam – you never know!

If you took part and haven’t done so yet, please upload your photos to the Flickr site.  Or maybe you just want to browse.

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