“Don’t watch the news, BE the news” – Pete the Temp
August is always a strange limbo month, with schools and councils in recess a lot is put on hold. However, across the bioregion there is much activity!
The We Are Avon team has been rapidly expanding: Two new River Guardian Groups have joined our midst (welcome Trowbridge and Bristol Malago!)
We also now have a new artist communicator, resident ecologist, a food and land hub coordinator in our core team and two new directors. Please see the meet the team section of the website for more information.
Your help is needed to spread the word about our upcoming events celebrating the Avon Charter in September and to help put our annual Avon Fest together in October. Click the links to download the Avon Fest, Charter Signing and Rally posters.
Autumn is looking very full of Avon celebrations.
On the 8th September we will be rallying outside Bristol City Hall Council Chamber to ensure that the Avon Bioregional Charter is unanimously adopted. Come and see Avona – our river spirit – dance outside the entrance and perhaps even join the meeting to witness the vote.
World Rivers Day on the 27th September will be an opportunity for councillors and river guardians all along the Avon to gather by Bath’s sacred spring to ceremonially sign our shared charter.
Join for a parade, speeches and signing with Avona and the River Bride.
Calling on all press contacts amongst the network! Please share Rally and World River’s Day Press Releases!
Finally, if you would like to help with decor or the raffle for our annual Avon Fest on October 18th please add yourself to the support Whatsapp group here.
Thank you to Sasha Isis Pollington to creating the illustration for our beautiful poster! More details and tickets for Avon Fest are available on Eventbrite here.
On Saturday 3rd October, join our very own Mrs Meg Avon for a unique pilgrimage following the mysterious waters of the Malago, a tributary of the Avon that flows from a sacred spring. Journey from the heart of Bristol to the source beneath the sacred heights of Dundry Hill. As heard on BBC Radio 4! Tickets and details here.
River Groups and Guardians:
The Bathhampton River Care Group went on a boat trip up-stream from Bathampton Toll Bridge towards Warleigh.
Testing the water showed that phosphate levels were between 10 and 25 times greater than what might be considered ideal. This may be because of the 66 sewage outfalls which continually discharge their treated effluent upstream! They saw more than 10 Kingfishers on their trip up, as well as a couple of cormorants, herons and buzzards.
Lots of Guardians have had signs of Beavers and Beaver spottings too. Check out these two troublemakers captured by the Bybrook Guardians!
The Central Bristol River Guardians organised a guided nature connection workshop, that led through a meditation and mindful journey of the senses by the River Avon under the bridge. A beautiful evening led by Rosa Brown and Sasha Isis Pollington.
★ The first River to obtain rights in the UK will be hosting this event for the Ouse. Details and tickets here.
★ The Mouth of our Avon joins up to the Severn, the longest river in the UK! One PHD student is going on pilgrimage down the Severn collecting stories and oral histories about sturgeons before releasing some back into the flow. Please support through this crowdfunder.
★ Avonmouth’s proposed AI data centre on the Severn Estuary: Find out more and how to object to the proposed AI datacentre in Avonmouth here.
★ This weekend you can catch the Force of Nature exhibition at Kit Form, Bristol, featuring 30 artists celebrating and connecting with the natural world. Yesterday they held a raffle and generously donated 20% of the raffle proceeds to We Are Avon! This Sunday you can take part in a Needle-felting workshop to create your own wall hangings with undyed natural wool, inspired by the art at the exhibition. All materials will be provided and no previous experience is needed, more details here.
★ Can we actually create a bioregional economy based on meeting our collective needs within the means of the living systems we depend on? How can we create such a thing in these days of disorientating change? The brilliant annual Stroud Festival of Commoning is driving this movement.
Local people and groups are hosting screenings of the People’s Emergency Briefing across the We Are Avon region. Find a screening near you via nebriefing.org. As well as joining the call for a national televised briefing about the climate and nature crises, the PEB offers an opportunity to engage with friends, neighbours and local leaders on We Are Avon issues such as river health, water quality, AI data centres and more.
The next We Are Avon Newsletter will be on
the 2nd October. If you have an event, news story, Avon anecdote or recommendation you’d like to share, please fill out this
form.
If you haven’t done so already, please join our Whatsapp Community
and find your closest guardianship group or themed ‘circle’. If you
would like to form your own group please fill out this form.
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