River Clean Up

Aim

To reduce the effects of pollution in the River Severn and restore a crucial part of Worcester’s community

Who are we?

The Friends of the River Severn are a group of volunteers from the Worcester community aiming to reduce and reverse the damage done to the river and its neighbouring environment. Through river cleanups and litter picks the River Severn’s pollution levels will decrease, whilst restoring a beautiful part of Worcester’s natural landscape. This is not just an environmental benefit for the area, this scheme brings together local people by creating the opportunity for them to give back to their community. As our volunteers are local community groups and businesses we are strengthening social ties within Worcester, building a true sense of community and instilling a value to our town’s green spaces. 

How do our cleanups run?

Our team of volunteers run weekly excursions to the river on our team’s boat, using nets to clear debris from the water. Alongside this our team works together to run litter picks along the long riverbanks of Worcester, improving the aesthetic of the green spaces as well as the habitats of local wildlife. This reverses the damage of human activity making our impact a positive one rather than the detrimental consequences our actions have led to. To promote our mission and grow our team we have a website offering information to our community and the opportunity to sign up as a volunteer and become part of the team. 

How would we use the money?

Although our website has been effective in increasing our number of volunteers we are now looking to hire two part-time project managers who can also work to increase social awareness for our cause. Creating leaflets and distributing these to local businesses whilst running each of our weekly excursions would be their main job roles, allowing our volunteers to be led safely by our team at all times. This working environment would be more organised and easier for our volunteers to join and would increase our weekly participation by spreading awareness. Therefore the money would be used to fund these part-time positions to make sure our project is ran efficiently and is able to accommodate for growth and development which we currently cannot manage with only volunteers. Importantly, these roles will also contribute directly to tackling climate change. By reducing the amount of waste in the River Severn, we prevent harmful materials—particularly plastics—from breaking down into microplastics or releasing pollutants into ecosystems and the atmosphere. Clean riverbanks and green spaces support healthier biodiversity and create resilient natural environments that are better able to respond to climate stress.

We thank you for your support in restoring such a valued part of our Worcester community and hope that we can continue to give back to a cause which so desperately needs our care and attention. 

This project successfully funded on 2nd July 2025