H&F Mudlarks is a project for children and their families all about helping the River Thames and Grand Union Canal in Borough. We aim to reduce plastic waste, raise awareness about pollution and help to clean up our waterways.
H&F Mudlarks III 2022
At Urbanwise.London we were pleased to deliver again our Mudlarks project in person at schools with support from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The Mudlarks project supports Hammersmith and Fulham’s Climate Change Education and their commitment to work towards zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
We set up this project a few years ago to tackle the ever increasing problem of plastic pollution in our waterways so that primary school children in LBHF can learn more about this topic and take action.
Topics included reducing the use of plastic at school, cleaning up litter from the Grand Union Canal, and investigating the Thames biodiversity. Normand Croft primary pupils had the fantastic opportunity of visiting the Thames foreshore by Hammersmith Bridge where the found European Eels! Did you know European Eels travel more than 5,000 miles from the Sargasso sea to our rivers?
Conference
On July 5th we held the Mudlarks Children’s Conference at the Hammersmith Lyric theatre attended by representatives from each school and invited guests. They all had the opportunity to present their respective projects and share with other schools their discoveries.
Activities and workshops within the school and outside environments involved Primary Children and businesses working together to explore the following topics: Water Ecology, Issues around Pollution, Art, Music, Research and Investigation and Recycling and Upcycling for Nature
Schools
The following schools were involved in this pilot:
Sir John Walham Green Primary School
Brackenbury Primary School
John Betts Primary School
Miles Coverdale Primary School
Avonmore Primary School
2x Year 4
2x Year 5
1x Year 5
1x Year 5
1x Year 5
Artistic Response Exhibition material
Grand Union Canal Plogolution
Bird feeders from plastic
Science Focus test water quality/ analyse pollutants/ microplastics
Artistic Response
Song and musical instruments
Business Focus Surveys with business/ pledge
Note that each school has a distinct focus and one or more local businesses supports the school in achieving their output.
Partners
The following organisations were involved and helped with the delivery of the project:
On July 3rd we held a schools conference at the Lyric theatre in Hammersmith were children had the opportunity to present their project work and network with the other schools and project partners.
For more information about the Mudlarks Project please read our project blog here.