This year’s annual conference of the Colne Catchment Action Network (ColneCAN) was held in St Mary’s Church Harmondsworth on Thursday 15th October.

Lucy Shuker, ColneCAN co-host was excited to shine a light on the lowest part of the catchment and also to provide a hybrid experience for the first time, an especially remarkable achievement from a medieval church.

The theme of this year’s conference was Celebrating community-led river action and the amazing ‘Community Leads Enabling Action for Rivers’ across the whole Colne catchment. To recognise Colne CLEAR Champions, their invaluable contributions and inspire others by highlighting what CAN be achieved when we work together. The sum of every positive action contributes towards nature recovery and resilience across all Colne waterways.

John Pritchard (Ver Valley Socity), Lucy Shuker (Groundwork South), Steph Horn, Iona MacMillan & Laura Silverstone (Chiltern Chalk Streams)

The day was organised by Groundwork South’s ColneCAN partnership manager Lucy Shuker, with co-host Steph Horn of Chilterns Chalk Stream Project, and expert input from core steering group partners, Adrian Porter (Chiltern Chalk Streams) and John Pritchard (Ver Valley Society). Delivery of the event was made possible with many thanks to the great contributions of the ColneCAN task group; also the generous sponsorship by Affinity Water and Thames Water for enabling an excellent venue, delicious catering and comms materials.

We are very grateful to the Rev Richard Young and to Justine Bailey and the Friends of The Great Barn in Harmondsworth who allowed us to hold our conference this year in the beautiful St Marys Church. This conference venue made a site visit to Harmondsworth Moor possible, so delegates could discover four of the Lower Colne’s braided rivers at once.

St Mary's Church, Harmondsworth, the beautiful conference venue, Adrian Porter (Chiltern Chalk Streams Project) , Lucy Shuker (Groundworth South) and John McDonnell (MP for Hayes & Harlington) ; introduce the conference.

Presentations

Session 1 – Why are we Celebrating Community-led River Action in 2026

John McDonnell MP for Hayes and Harlington introduced the conference. He thanked the volunteers for all their hard work championing local rivers and explained about the shadow cast by nearby Heathrow airport and its expansion plans, all too evident from the continuous noise of planes close by. Our compere for the day was Adrian Porter from the Chiltern Chalk Streams project, he kicked off by introducing the ColneCAN Hosts Lucy Shuker from Groundwork South who explained the programme for the day and Steph Horn from Chiltern Chalk streams Project who talked about the Chess Smarter Water Catchment.

Session 2 – Community Leads Enabling Action for Rivers – inspiration from all four quarters of the Colne. This featured the Colne’s CLEAR keynote Speakers:

• Chalk headwaters & River Ver - John Pritchard (Ver Valley Society) - John's keynote speech talked about what is required to keep a Chalk Stream healthy and the 50 years of determination and passion the volunteers of the Ver Valley Society have applied to that task.
• Upper Colne headwaters & Mimmshall Brook - John Thurlow (Environment Agency)
• Mid Colne & River Pinn - Keith Ewart (Uxbridge Green Gym)
• Lower Colne braided waterways & Harmondsworth Moor - Alister Lilley (CBRE)

Session 3 - Getting involved: where to start

Interactive Mapping & Colne Community River Champions Awards!

Session 4 - Starting out? - here’s how! - Citizen Science: from evidence to action.

• Mending the Misbourne - Iona McMillan (Chilterns Chalk Stream Project)
• Watford’s Rediscovering the River Colne - presentation by Adam Asquith (Groundwork East) delivered by Matt Chapman.
• Colne River Rangers - Matt Chapman (Groundwork South)

Session 5 - Funding the gaps. Advancing river action with community funding.

• Where can I find community funds? - Adrian Porter (CCSP)
• Affinity Water community grants - Alister Leggatt (Affinity Water)
• Thames Water community awards - Josie Daman (Thames Water)

Session 6 - From clean ups to coordinated campaigns.. what are the blockers & enablers?

Panel Q&A - featuring session speakers & hosts

Site Visits:

The many Colne waterways of Harmondsworth Moor - discover four of the Lower Colne’s braided rivers in one site visit!! Two guided walks will be available at 2pm & 3pm.

Magnificent Medieval Harmondsworth Barn - visit this extraordinary 600 year old barn and

discover its connection to 14 century Colne waterways. At 2pm only

Post-conference networking - at The Five Bells, opposite St Mary’s Church, Harmondsworth

Site visit to Harmondsworth Moor led by ranger Alister Lilley and Stuart Heading, showing recent bank improvements to the beautifully clear River Wraysbury.

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