H&F Mudlarks Project

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.

Participating Schools

Yr 4 or Yr 5 Classes from Good ShepherdMelcombe PrimaryNormand CroftOld OakSulivan Primary and Wendell Park participated in the project undertaking a series of sessions, walks and workshops with Urbanwise.London staff and project partners.

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.

Special thanks to all project partners and local businesses supporting the Mudlark project including: the Ardmore Group, the Canal and Rivers Trust, the English Chamber OrchestraRiverside StudiosWestern Riverside Waste AuthorityThames Estuary PartnershipHydrasyst, and the Royal College of Art

To read more about the conference please check this article by LBHF: https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/articles/news/2022/07/pupils-join-forces-make-hf-cleaner-and-greener

H&F Mudlarks Summer Challenge 2020

How to Take Part in the Mudlarks Summer Challenge 2020:

1.Take a photo or short video (<1 min) of you, friends and/or family having fun outdoors or doing any of our Top 10 activities.

2.Post on social media using  #mudlarksummer2020

please tag @urbanwiselondon (Twitter and Instagram).

3.Best posts/photos/videos will get a Family Nature Discovery Bag filled with goodies!

Teachers, parents, children you can watch our presentation, including the Mudlark song, here:

(CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW AND THEN PRESS PRESENT):

Mudlarks Summer Challenge presentation

A Downloadable pdf document with details of the Top 10 activities can be found here:

Mudlarks Top Ten Activities

And a poster here:

Mudlarks Summer Challenge Poster

Stay Safe, Have fun!

A Primary Project for children aged 8 to 10  with an overall waterside theme and a focus on:

  • Plastic and Waste in Hammersmith & Fulham.
  • Raising awareness about water pollution.
  • Cleaning up waterways.

Delivered between Jan and July 2019. For more information about the Mudlarks Project please read our project blog here and/or watch this short films: general film about the mudlarks, 3R song (by Miles Coverdale) and mudlarks schools conference 2019.

Project Aims

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 SchoolBrackenbury Primary SchoolJohn Betts Primary SchoolMiles Coverdale Primary SchoolAvonmore Primary School
2x Year 42x Year 51x Year 51x Year 51x Year 5
Artistic Response  Exhibition materialGrand Union Canal Plogolution

 

Bird feeders from plastic

Science Focus test water quality/ analyse pollutants/ microplasticsArtistic 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:

London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (with special thanks to their Recycling Team!)
The Royal College of Art
BBC Studios
Plogolution
Western Riverside Waste Authority
Thames 21
Lyric Theatre
The Whale Company
North End Road Market
Lilla Huset Professional Development
3BM

Thank you all for all your help and support!

Conference

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.