PEOPLE of all ages got creative in Bewdley on Saturday and raised awareness of river pollution and upcoming festival at the same time.
A banner making workshop for town-based group Communities Against River Pollution (CARP) was held at St Anne’s Church
The creations will form a design for two large banners which will be hung on the outside of the church and will signal to local people and tourists the Bewdley River Festival is happening.
The festival’s theme is ‘Should Rivers have Rights?’ and the banner will promote the beauty and power of the river and the nature that surrounds it and is within it.
Hilary Mueller, from the festival planning group, said: “Our plan for the festival is to use the arts in the broadest sense, to connect people to the river which is central to the community’s past, present and future.
“That connection will hopefully help them to see the River Severn needs us to make a stand to protect the river from pollution and move to a cleaner, heathy ecological state which will benefit us all.
“This workshop was the start of that process .
“It was a real success and it was lovely to see the results.”
A total of 15 local people came to the first workshop and their feedback showed how people could connect through issues which mattered to them.
One, Jan, said: “I was a bit apprehensive about coming because I am not an artist, but I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon.
“The camaraderie has been lovely.
“We need to raise public awareness of the pollution.
“My son used to fish there (the river in Bewdley) but not now.”
Another, Karen, added: “It’s good to feel we are doing something rather than just hearing the bad news about the river.”
And Hazel said: “It’s just an amazing opportunity to do something to support a brilliant cause of raising awareness of the river and its issues.”
Further workshops to complete the banners will be held with one – with Wyre Forest University of the Third Age (U3A) – from 9am to 12pm on June 4 at Wribbenhall Community Centre, Shawhedge Road. That will be part of Wyre Forest SustFest.
Further workshops will be announced on the ‘CARP Group – Communities Against River Pollution’ Facebook page.
Bewdley River Festival will run from June to September – everyone is welcome to get involved.
Email: [email protected] to contact CARP and for more on the group.
Visit: sustfestwyreforest.org for more on SustFest.
