Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Despite the much publicised recent 'indifference' to the River as shown by our oul colleague Ian Lillford, it is easy to forget that there are still some top volunteers out there doing their bit for the greater good. The guys from the WCCP, who I spent a short bit of time with late last year, are still hard at work on the River, and on saturday last cleaned this massive amount of unbelievable rubbish out of a small section.
One of the chaps involved is our very own 'roving man on the spot' Phil Eyden who took the picture above. Phil said....
"
...this is just some of the rubbish us WCCP volunters pulled out of the Dour yesterday. The supermarket trolley has bikes, cones, tins, baby's chairs and all sorts of crap. This little haul just came from the Beaconsfield half of Barton Path, and is just a fraction of what we collected overall.
"
Terry Nunn
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,316
I'm a bit confused here. I thought that as WCCP staff could only supervise during their normal working day the only clear ups were during the week and weekend work was out of the question.
Terry
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Ah!..Terry you might well have spotted an error there on my behalf. Have double checked Phil's email and he used the term 'yesterday' but he may have been referring to friday, I initially read it to mean saturday. Phil no doubt willl clarify things in due course. But of course no matter what day they did it they got some amazing rubbish out of the river so they are doing a great job. The WCCP effort is often overlooked.
Guest 644- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,214
Indeed, it was Friday 25th. Next date is Thursday 22nd May if anyone is interested in helping out. Meet at B&Q 10:15.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
I have put this date down I have been in the River at times will try to come if I am not working.
I remain yours faithfully Vic Matcham
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
it will be a never ending job, unless the idiots that throw things in quite casually see the light on the road to damascus.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Despite the Dour getting a lot of positive publicity in recent years as to the amount of clean-ups taking place and so on, with a lot of coverage in the newspapers, I was shocked to see Phil's picture above. To still be finding bikes and shopping trolleys in the River is unbelievable. I thought myself there had been something of a seachange with a lot of physical bodies taking official interest.
I was there the day Ken Tranter and Ian Lillford rolled up their sleeves and got stuck into cleaning it, there was a lot of publicity about that one, so one would imagine the message got out there.
But it looks like we are all the way back to square one.
Perhaps part of the problem is there isnt anywhere to put rubbish...I mean, suppose you want to get rid of an old bike, what do you do with it??
Guest 666- Registered: 25 Mar 2008
- Posts: 323
It's great to see such a difference in the Dour.........
As for rubbish, when I moved I did several trips to the Whitfield waste site, they gladly took my old AEG washer/dryer, electric scooter and even a couple of old Calor gas bottles.
To chuck things in the river is just thoughtless.
Bootfairs are always a good way to get rid of guff and bikes always sell fast.
Any surplus after the bootie I take and drop off at the charity shop.
Am sure the Hospice shop in London Road would be glad of that bike in the pic, I got my daughter one from there last year and it still goes along and a bargain for £45
Oh Boy!, That'll be the day.........
Guest 664- Registered: 23 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,039
Great to see. I did my stint clearing out the Dour in Pencester a few years ago. After being threatened by a junkie paddling in the stream we did quite a good job of cleaning up the Pencester Gardens stretch.
But I have always wondered why this is not the council's responsibilty. And why it cannot be made so.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Somebody has been clearing the end near the entrance to the harbour too...difficult area to clean. But the water had reached such a high level, almost like a deep lock on a canal, as it couldnt easily exit to the sea with all the rubbish. It must be said though that most of the rubbish was of a natural variety...logs, leaves, twigs and branches but yes there was the occasional motor tyre!
But a well done to whoever cleaned it.
Andrew Im not certain on this one...I think it used to be the Councils responsibility until it was fairly recently( afew short years ago) declared national river status or similar...at that point the Environment Agency took over...but Im sure some of the other guys will know more.
Guest 644- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,214
Yes, it is irritating to see rubbish hurled back into the river after one spends the day carefully removing it, but that way of thinking leads to defeatism as it would be all to easy to think 'why bother'. However if one is pragmatic one needs to remember that every bit of rubbish removed is a piece of rubbish no longer in the river. Obvious, maybe, but if no-one at all was removing it, what we daily complain about would be many magnitudes worse.
It's annoying that Health and Safety rears it's head and there are certain areas that one is not allowed access to, e.g. the sections by the back of Nettos near the car park. They are sadly too dangerous, if one was to lose one's footing in the current one could be swept under the car park and rescue would be difficult.
Actually the Dour was surprisingly not too bad for rubbish in it's upper stretches. The winter storms had swept a lot of the crap downstream and it had built up by the underpass grille as Paul noted. I am not certain who cleaned out the grille this week, but I can only assume it was DDC. It certainly wouldn't have been the WCCP and I doubt if the EA had the manpower or specialised equiment to do so. It must have required a long crane with a cage to access that area, very difficult.
I don't think all the rubbish is deliberately dumped, though a great deal of it certainly is. Some blows in from elsewhere - the Dour being the lowest point in the valley will naturally collect rubbish blowing down the hills. On the other hand some of the bikes we've pulled out have been in really good condition implying they had been stolen rather than dumped by the owner.
It's not all bad stuff pulled out. I've found a nice Victorian clay pipe bowl at Pencester and one of my colleagues found a 1930 halfpenny at Barton Path. Last week I found a 1898 lemonade bottle from a Dover glass works, but I did not keep it as it was sadly not intact.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
the environment agency chaps and chappesses say that the litter in the river is the responsibility of the council.
Guest 644- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,214
I had a most bizarre find today during the monthly clear up. Round the back to South Kent College I found a WW2 German Iron Cross! 1939 date, swastika, the lot. I kid you not.
I suspect it is a replica as it was in rather good condition and I've yet to clean it up to see if the genuine three piece construction method is present. Even so, what a strange thing to come across.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
maybe the fuhrer at the council offices has an explanation.
no names, no packdrill.
no offence mr watkins.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Phil thats quite an amazing lil story there, quite a find. If you can get a picture of yourself with it, send it over and we will get you up on frontpage with that one.
Guest 641- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,335
So it is true, that a company of stalwart stormtroopers were sent on a clandestine fact finding mission in the eary 1940's to pre-empt 'Operation Sealion'. And now the truth is now known that the whole sea-landing on the English coast was probably cancelled due to the fighting efficiency of the local Home Guard who slaughtered the German force whilst it was stealthly paddling up the Dour by moonlight. Obviously this was kept very hush, hush
All this only came to light until our roving reporter and erstwhile river cleaner Phil, came across an Iron Cross which must have slipped from the pocket of one of the marauding german troops before being cut down by English musket fire
Guest 644- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,214
The Iron Cross turned out to be a modern replica as suspected, unfortunately. Oh well.
I don't suppose I better mention the crashed Stuka I found around the back of B&Q then!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
with the vegetation there, you can expect to find a japanese soldier that doesn't know the war is over.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
lol!!
..that was a good one Howard..liked it!
Phil ah shame about the Iron Cross. It still looks the part and was quite a find..
....picture of same now showing on the current frontpage.
