August 11 Walk
Save The Teifi Walk - A massive Success
On Friday, August 11th, Save the Teifi (the Ffynnone Resilience community group) organised a walk from Llechryd to Poppit Sands along the river with several stops and entertainment at each visit.
Leaving Llechryd with well over 70 participants, along the river and footpaths everyone walked and talked their way to the beach
Stopping for lunch in St Dogmaels with a guitar and choir-supported sing-along.
Then once finishing at Poppit, cricket was played, stories were told, singing, dancing and poetry was enjoyed.
Just when the day couldn’t seem to get much better an epic scale sand art was revealed as well as a rainbow.
A massive thanks to everyone involved
Fundraising Walk - Friday 11 August 2023 - Gather from 10.00a.m
Ffynnone Resilience are planning an awareness raising walk on behalf of Save the Teifi from Llechryd, all the way down to Poppet Sands on Friday 11th August 2023. See below for schedule and bottom of page for poster.
The route map and walk guide is available here: Walk Map and Guide
The Health and Safety Document for the Walk is available here: Health and Safety
Save The Teifi group are raising funds to increase community outreach and contribute to citizen science schemes.
We wonder whether you would like to get involved in some way?
The walk will be run under the Ffynnone Community Resilience banner (ffynnoneresilience.org.uk) but links up with other Dirty Water Campaigns going on around the country too.
The aim is for people to walk from Llechryd Cricket Club to Poppet along riverside paths and roads, across footpaths and through the Wildlife Centre, supported by marshals with water stops and snacks along the way. No one will be expected to walk the whole way, although many people might, and we hope to have a gathering of some sort at the start at Llechryd, lunch time at St Dogmaels and also at the end on Poppet. See below for latest schedule. We have set up a linked crowd funder page for Save the Teifi so people can support that if they want to (see below).
But, as with all things like this, it's scale depends on people wanting to get involved!
Maybe you are a walker and fancy the challenge of the 8ish mile walk.
Maybe you have a car and fancy rescuing people or returning them to the start. Maybe you'd like to be a marshal or hand out drinks and snacks. Maybe you'd like to be involved in the gathering on the beach at the end. Maybe you'd like to liaise with the police/council to keep them all happy. Maybe you'd like to help promote the walk and the cause. Or something else!
The date is Friday 11th August as that seems to clash with as few other events already happening as possible. It is in the middle of the summer holidays so we can include tourists too. And by telling people now, we can ensure no one can say they didn't take part because they didn't know about it!
Our rivers are so important in terms of habitat and biodiversity, but also for our economy especially here in the Teifi Valley area. The more people that know how much the Teifi is suffering and get involved in the campaign, the stronger our campaign, and the whole Dirty Water campaign becomes.
Would you like to know more? Would you like to get involved? Perhaps you have questions before you commit, and if so please let me know (email below). We are not asking anyone to do more than they want to do, but we would love to have you (and your friends and family) involved. The more the merrier!
The Crowd Funder Donation page is.... https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/save-the-teifi-1
Best wishes,
Jim email: jim.clynfyw@gmail.com
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Jim Bowen
Clynfyw Care Farm
Abercych, Boncath, Pembrokeshire. SA370HF
01239841236
Save the Teifi Walk-Friday August 11th 2023 - Schedule as at 3 August:
10.00-Start to Gather at Llechryd Cricket Club - Tinky Coffee available
10.30-meet at Llechryd Cricket Club (Bluestone Coffee will be selling coffee from their van)
10.45-welcome from Save the Teifi and a brief explanation from Professor Callum Firth of why we are walking
11.00-start walking
11.40-ice cream stop at Siop-y-Pentre, Cilgerran
12.10-ice cream and water stop at Cilgerran Wildlife Centre
1.00-2.30-picnic at St Dogmaels Football Club where there will be 'Singing with Cat and the St Dogmaels Choir' including a performance of "Leave us a River" a song especially created by Piers Partridge for the Save the Teifi movement. He will be accompanying the Choir when they sing. There will also be an information stand about the Dirty Rivers Campaign. (Gill Wisloka coordinating. Donated cakes welcome here!)
3.30-arrivals start on Poppit Sands where there will be:
Sand art with Rachel Shiamh (starting earlier if you'd like to watch or help create.) Message from Rachel:
"The sand circle will hopefully be completed by the time walkers arrive around 3.30 . I’m collaborating a bit with Piers in terms of bringing the theme of our children into it. I will be inviting the children into the design and shall play the song he’s written with the children singing it . I’d like to choreograph something also with the walkers encircling the art for the film . Probably upto an hour."
4.00- Story telling from Pamela Gaunt, a local storyteller who breathes life into old and new mythology of our land.
4.30- beach cricket (Stephan Cartwright coordinating)
5.00- Performance from the Teifi Valley Ukulele Group. 'Sing along with us or have a go at playing a ukulele, we will bring spares!'
6.00- Poetry from Nemi, Lenka and others
6.00-8.00 Food available from the Welsh Rebel Kitchen (either on the beach or on the grass behind the Crwst cafe)
7.00- Music from Reel Rebels
7.30- Spoken word performance and poetry from Dave Urwin, Steve and Louise Treharne, Kittie Belltree, Ron Geaves and Jackie Biggs.
8.00- Drumming with Jules and the St Dogmaels Drumming group
8.30 Fire on the beach (led by Soo) or head to a local pub for music and song
How to identify water pollution
Please make sure you report all visual signs of water pollution to Natural Resources Wales 24/7 freephone number 0300 065 3000 or on their form here: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/NU2VYV/
We understand the frustration that some have had with a lesser than hoped response to reporting incidents, but if they are not reported then there is no evidence that they have happened.
The above guide, from the West Wales Rivers Trust #AdoptaTributary project, shows the signs of water pollution to look out for.
