River Stour Blessing Ceremony
On Saturday 14th March, the Stourvale Action for the Environment group (SAFE) held an event to celebrate the 29th International Day of Action for Rivers Join us for the 29th International Day of Action for Rivers on March 14, 2026 – International Rivers. This included a River Blessing Ceremony by local Druid, Martin Russell, and displays and activities to demonstrate:
- the work of the Shipston Area Flood Action Group – Slow The Flow
- water power and the many historic watermills on the River Stour
- the river pollution testing that takes place weekly by Safe Avon – Pollution, Sewage & Data citizen scientists
- kick-sampling in the shallow water by the bridge, to identify the wildlife present, and find out why they are so important for understanding the general health of the river: with Alex Jones of the Riverfly Monitoring Initiative (RMI) — The Riverfly Partnership
Music was provided by ‘Misspent Ukes’, the local U3A ukulele band.
The event was blessed with sunshine and was well-attended. The ‘find’ of the day was a Brook Lamprey, a primitive fish which is quite scarce in rivers these days and is a protected species.
This was one of a series of events that were part of the River Hope ‘Gathering’ The Gathering – River Hope.
