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MPs and councillors coming to ‘enjoy the river’ at this year’s Tidefest

Brentford and Isleworth MP Ruth Cadbury will be joining Hounslow Council Leader Steve Curran, Mayor Samia Chaudhary and other local councillors at the annual celebration of all the River Thames has to offer at this year’s Tidefest at Strand on the Green on Sunday 2nd September.

Tidefest 2018 is based at Strand-on-the-Green in Chiswick, with activities at Richmond, Twickenham, Brentford, Barnes, Kingston, Deptford, and other locations along the Thames Tideway.

Tidefest is now an established River Thames event which aims to highlight the recreational importance of the Thames to Londoners and to encourage people to 'enjoy the river'. It is part of the month long Totally Thames Festival and is sponsored by Thames Water, Fullers and Tideway, the company delivering the new Thames Tideway Tunnel to clean up the river.

As usual there will be loads of great activities for all the family including foreshore and photographic walks, an angling competition, paddle-boarding, river dipping and kayaking.

London Wildlife Trust will be on hand with their Dragonfly Detectives and opportunities to sign up for free hedgehog garden detection kits, and visitors can enjoy nature reserve visits, stalls and displays, a circus workshop and bouncy castle, children’s games and live fish tanks. Tidefest includes local artists, food, music and generous discounts off admissions to the London Museum of Water and Steam.

A new event this year is a special guided tour of Eel Pie Island Museum in Twickenham – the place which helped launch the careers of Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones and many others in the 1960s

Messing about on boats

This year there’s lots on offer for boating enthusiasts including:

  • Boat trips around the Thames Tideway islands, leaving from Kew Pier on the historic Thames launch the Windrush
     
  • Guided boat trip and visit to Chiswick Pier and back aboard the Thames Discoverer with Peter Finch – chairman of the River Thames Society – to see and hear about the work of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
     
  • Paddleboarding - 50 minute supervised sessions with Active 360 at Kew Bridge from 9.30am plus a three hour eco-tour to Chiswick Island and back.
     
  • Tour and exhibition on Thames Boatbuilding at the Lot’s Ait boatyard in Brentford – venue for the filming of the African Queen starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn
     
  • Generous discounts for rowing boat hire at Richmond Bridge with a Tidefest voucher
     
  • Taster sessions for those new to kayaking organised from the Boating Arch at Kew Bridge by Edge Paddling.

All the booking information and details are on the website at www.thamestidefest.net

Keen watersports enthusiast Ruth Cadbury MP said: “Tidefest is a great chance to get out on the Thames and appreciate how lucky we are to have it right on our doorstep, and also appreciate how important it is to look after and keep clean. I hope you will join me and many others who will be out kayaking and paddle-boarding this year, enjoying the river and all it has to offer.”

The Leader of Hounslow Council, Cllr Steve Curran said: “I am delighted that Tidefest is back again this year in Brentford on the Brentford side of Kew Bridge and Strand on the Green. We encourage all of our residents, particularly young people to attend the Tidefest on Sunday 2nd September. I went last year, it was great fun and very interesting. The Thames is a great asset that we should all use more.”

Tidefest is organised by a coalition of organisations led by the Angling Trust, River Thames Society and London Wildlife Trust.

TideFest organiser, Martin Salter from the Angling Trust, said: “TideFest is growing event and is now in its fifth year with new attractions and a loyal following. We are particularly grateful to our sponsors Thames Water, Fullers and Tideway whose generosity enables us to offer many events free of charge or at substantially reduced prices. Tidefest is all about helping Londoners to ‘reconnect with their river’ and realising what an amazing recreational resource and wildlife corridor that we have right here in the heart of our capital city”

More information: Check website or Facebook page at www.thamestidefest.net or www.facebook.com/thamestidefestfor more information.

Tidefest partners include: Active 360, Angling Trust, Brentford FC Community Sports Trusts, Edge Paddling, Get Hooked on Fishing, London Wildlife Trust, River Thames Society, RSPB, Strand on the Green Sailing Club, Thames 21, Thames Tunnel Now, Thames Anglers Conservancy, Totally Thames, Port of London Authority, Chiswick Pier Trust, ZSL, Marine Conservation Society, London Kayak Company and Water Aid.

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