Rambling About Rivers The Rivers Trust

The new year provides the perfect opportunity to reflect on how far we have come and look ahead to future aspirations. This episode, Emily is joined by The Rivers Trust CEO Mark Lloyd, to discuss the formation and growth of The Rivers Trust movement with Arlin Rickard (former CEO of The Rivers Trust) and Ian Gregg (our current president and past Chairman of Greggs). Both Arlin and Ian were instrumental in the creation of The Rivers Trust.

A collection of truly key figures in the Rivers Trust movement chat about their respective roles in its creation and remark on the growth it has seen. As well as looking ahead to future goals and discussing the values at the core of The Rivers Trust movement that need to remain even as the growth continues. A fantastic way to get to know those behind The Rivers Trust and learn more about our journey. If you are looking for a positive, reflective, and at times nostalgic, way to start off 2023, then look no further and give this episode a listen. 

In this episode, Emily and Dan are joined by Steve Edmonds, Eva Bishop, and their Rivers Trust colleague Seren Patterson. Steve is the trees and woodland advisor in the Southwest of England for the National Trust, Eva works as head of communication and education for the Beaver Trust, and Seren is the woodlands for water project lead at The Rivers Trust.

A collection of true tree lovers all working hard to plant more and protect those that we have, discuss their respective projects and the myriad of benefits that trees have on our rivers, wildlife, and environment. The team also chat about the complexities of tree planting, the best ways to get involved, and their favourite tree species.

If you are looking for a good way to round off national tree week, then look no further and give this episode a listen!
Don't forget to tell us what your favourite tree is below!



Learn more about our Woodlands for Water project
Visit the Beaver Trust website
Visit the National Trust website
Find out more about 'The Tree in My Garden' by Kate Bradbury - the book recommended by Eva

In this episode, Emily and Dan join their colleagues Gabriella Ghelani and Alisdair Naulls. Gabs is one of The Rivers Trust's Project Communications Officers, and she's been living a low-waste lifestyle since 2019. She's so serious about reducing plastic in the environment that she set up her own business selling plastic-free alternatives, as well as offering a mobile refill service for household products. Ali is the Engagement & Communities Lead on Plastic Pollution, and is a pro when it comes to sparking behavioural change. The team chat about how to cut down on plastic at its source, and how to tackle it once it's already in the environment. 

If you've been debating taking the plunge into a lower-waste lifestyle, you'll want to give this one a listen!


Visit Gabs' shop here, and use RAMBLING-10 for 10% off of all products.
Visit the Preventing Plastic Pollution website
Find out more about In-No-Plastic

In today's episode, we talk to Olympic silver medallist Keri-anne Payne and founder of Outdoor Swimmer Magazine Simon Griffiths about all things outdoor swimming! We mine their years of experience and knowledge on open water swimming on a variety subjects from how to prepare for long swims to the mental health benefits of outdoor swimming.

With Henley Swim festival fast-approaching, this is the perfect preparation for all of our amazing fundraisers to get important tips and tricks from 2 of the most experienced outdoor swimmers in the UK.

We spoke about lots of resources which you can find below via these links:

Buy Simon's book: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/swim-wild-and-free-9781399400404/

Order Outdoor Swimmer's Trends Report: https://outdoorswimmer.com/news/coming-soon-trends-in-outdoor-swimming-2022

Sign up for Keri-anne's swimming courses: https://straightlineswimming.com/

Wild open water app: https://wildopenwater.com/

The latest episode of Rambling About Rivers is a celebration of International Women's Day where we talk to Amira Patel, founder of the Wanderlust Women - a hiking and adventure group for Muslim women - which aims to break down the barriers and stereotypes of the niqab and challenge misconceptions of Muslim women.

Today, Emily and Jayne pass the mic to Amira (amira_thewanderlust on Instagram) who talks about what inspired her to start the amazing Wanderlust Women group, the way reclaiming green spaces as places for Muslim women has helped create a welcoming community that allows women to express their passion for nature, and how she developed her own love for the outdoors, recognising it as a space of healing and imaginative exploration. Amira's excitement and energy has helped build up a group which started off as a singular pursuit and grew as people gravitated towards green and blue spaces during the pandemic to what it is today. 

The latest episode of Rambling About Rivers is all about the return of the Twaite Shad on the River Severn. This iconic species was a common sight in the Severn over 100 years ago, but the construction of a large number of weirs led to populations collapsing. 

Today, Dan and Jayne are joined by Rosie Croggon, Education Officer at Severn Rivers Trust and Charles Crundwell, Senior Technical Specialist in Fisheries at the Environment Agency. Rosie and Charles help us to explore the history of this iconic species, and look at some of the groundbreaking work they have carried out to improve the migratory journey for the Shad fish through their Unlocking the Severn project. This partnership project sees Severn Rivers Trust working with Canal and River Trust, Environment Agency and Natural England, with the goal of restoring 158 miles of river!