Reconnect With The River at Tidefest 2018

A wide range of family activities at river festival based by Kew Bridge

Ruth Cadbury MP with Paul Hyman of Active 360 at last year’s Tidefest

This year’s Tidefest is taking place on Sunday 2 September. It is an annual River Thames event now in its fifth year which aims to highlight the recreational importance of the Thames to Londoners and to encourage people to 'enjoy the river'.

It is part of the month long Totally Thames Festival and is organised by a coalition of organisations led by the Angling Trust, River Thames Society and London Wildlife Trust. It is based at Strand-on-the-Green in Chiswick, with activities at Richmond, Twickenham, Brentford, Barnes, Kingston, Deptford, and other locations along the Thames Tideway.

There will be loads of activities for all the family including foreshore and photographic walks, an angling competition, paddle-boarding, river dipping and kayaking.

London Wildlife Trust will be on hand with their Dragonfly Detectives and opportunities to sign up for free hedgehog garden detection kits, and visitors can enjoy nature reserve visits, stalls and displays, a circus workshop and bouncy castle, children’s games and live fish tanks. Tidefest includes local artists, food, music and discounts off admissions to the London Museum of Water and Steam.

Local photographer Jon Perry will have a marquee at the Kew Bridge end of Strand-on-the-Green and will be selling prints inspired by water, river scenes and the Chiswick area. He will also be doing two Photowalks along Strand-on-the-Green, start times 11.30 and 15.30. The Photowalks are at the special low price of £5 (thanks to Tidefest sponsorship) and their duration is approximately one hour each. Jon will set a few photo tasks, help you with camera controls, provide you with as much theory as you want and be there to answer your questions. There is no advance booking; simply pass by his marquee earlier in the day to reserve a place, or turn up a little before the walk to snap up remaining places.

A new event this year is a special guided tour of Eel Pie Island Museum in Twickenham – the place which helped launch the careers of Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones and many others in the 1960s

This year there’s lots on offer for boating enthusiasts including:

• Boat trips around the Thames Tideway islands, leaving from Kew Pier on the historic Thames launch the Windrush
• Guided boat trip and visit to Chiswick Pier and back aboard the Thames Discoverer with Peter Finch – chairman of the River Thames Society – to see and hear about the work of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
• Paddleboarding - 50 minute supervised sessions with Active 360 at Kew Bridge from 9.30am plus a three hour eco-tour to Chiswick Island and back.
• Tour and exhibition on Thames Boatbuilding at the Lot’s Ait boatyard in Brentford – venue for the filming of the African Queen starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn
• Generous discounts for rowing boat hire at Richmond Bridge with a Tidefest voucher
• Taster sessions for those new to kayaking organised from the Boating Arch at Kew Bridge by Edge Paddling.

All the booking information and details are on the website at thamestidefest.net

Brentford and Isleworth MP Ruth Cadbury will be joining Hounslow Council Leader Steve Curran, Mayor Samia Chaudhary and other local councillors at the annual celebration.

Keen watersports enthusiast Ruth Cadbury said, “Tidefest is a great chance to get out on the Thames and appreciate how lucky we are to have it right on our doorstep, and also appreciate how important it is to look after and keep clean. I hope you will join me and many others who will be out kayaking and paddle-boarding this year, enjoying the river and all it has to offer.”

TideFest organiser, Martin Salter from the Angling Trust, said, “Tidefest is all about helping Londoners to ‘reconnect with their river’ and realising what an amazing recreational resource and wildlife corridor that we have right here in the heart of our capital city.”

The event is sponsored by Thames Water, Fullers and Tideway, the company delivering the new Thames Tideway Tunnel.

For more information and all bookings visit the Tidefest web site.

August 31, 2018