onionbagblog

To the muddy banks of the Colne! …early on Sunday morning for the bi-annual Wivenhoe Society riverbank clean-up. A slight bit of confusion with the clocks springing forward - or was it bouncing back? - but unlike the muddy banks of the Colne, time and tide wait for all within the Wivenhoe Society. Sorry that I missed the group photo, Comrades.

As someone who commutes along the Wivenhoe Trail each day, I rather anticipate these communal clean ups. Random littering does take place, but the majority of the flotsam and jetsam that get washed up on our shoreline comes the way of tide.

Probably via Rowhedge…

Only joking.

The pace of modern life often dictates that Coke cans and the like get left behind as the daily dash to clock on takes priority. Taking time out twice a year to give the old girl a good seeing to leaves everyone with a smile on their face.

The good folk of Wiv Soc are a rather random lot with little / loads of organisation. The loose nature of these events doesn’t mean that a clipboard type dictates which patch you take, but somehow their is a collective efficiency that just works.

This is *shhh* Dave’s Big Society being played out on a true hyperlocal level, but thankfully without any of the political posturing that those wanting to orgnaise the concept of community are trying to formalise.

Folk just know when their time is needed. They are more than willing to step forward in Wivenhoe and add any skills they have. Joining us on Sunday were the helping hands (and bicycle trailers) of Transition Town Wivenhoe, and the big boys and their buggies from Wivenhoe Town Council.

We’re all in this together, Comrades.

Ferry Marsh was my starting destination. There wasn’t a great deal to collect to be honest. What I truly love about these occasions is that you get to explore your mud lark passion of poking your size 9 wellies around where they really shouldn’t be, without raising any suspicion.

Removed from the riverbank on Sunday morning were the most random items of junk, ranging from golf tees (a Wivenhoe Links golf course?) and a sodden three-seater settee.

Cripes.

It takes some effort to dump last year’s range from DFS. It was rolled around the riverbank, like a mud splattered snowball gaining extra layers, before the boys from WTC scooped it up in their buggy. Expect to see some au naturale furniture soon added to the reception at the William Loveless Hall [where else?]

It all got a little lively for 10am on a Sunday morning when the iconic Towers of the University came into sight. Plenty of whooping and yay-ing - what can it all mean? Were the future generation of world leaders cheering on the elderly and anarchic mud larks of Wivenhoe?

Ah, I see, that will be the warm-up for the Sport Relief Mile then.

And then come midday, and the bi-annual Wiv Soc riverbank clean-up came to a close for another six months. We posed for a photograph for the very generous sponsors of EWD Re-cycling from up the road in Brighlingsea, and then buggered off back to base for a date with the washing machine.

You mucky pup.

I cycled back along the Trail later in the day, en route to Sunny Colch and some further business in town. The riverbank looked immaculate. Many hands make light work etc, and it really was a mammoth effort from the unassuming Wiv Soc folk to help put in place a little hyperlocal pride as you approach this side of town.

Pretty much like Mother Nature itself, it’s a continued effort in keeping the landscape around the muddy banks of the Colne clean. Autumnal leaves and the like have their own natural ways of dispersing; cans of Special Brew aren’t quite as clever.

Cleansed, calm and a collective enjoyment - that’s the muddy banks of the Colne, and not the cans of Special Brew, Comrades.

Six months and counting…