Welcome to the website of the Thames Rivers Restoration Trust

REGISTERED CHARITY NO. 295138

Thames Rivers Restoration Trust Project

Thank you for visiting our website. The ethos of the Thames Rivers Restoration Trust and our case for your financial support is summarised in three questions – What’s the problem? What is our Vision? And what might it look like when the Thames river basin has been restored to health? We hope these are helpful thoughts.

What's the problem?
Take the upper River Kennet for example. For many people they do not necessarily see that there is any problem. The river still has water in it in most places, most of the time. There are fish in the river; there are ducks and geese and kingfishers. By and large the river looks attractive.
If we are really to tackle the problem we need to explain that the river is deteriorating, both visually and physically.
The symptoms of the deterioration can be described in three areas:


It is important that the problem is seen not to be purely superficial(visual) but related to quality and flow. First because improving these areas is essential to restoring flora and fauna and secondly, because addressing these problems inures to the benefit of all interested parties: the restoration of the visual amenity of the river is by definition restricted principally to those who live near it and see it regularly. If this is right it is important that education is part of our task since many will be unaware of the degradation beneath the surface.

What's the vision?
Our goal is to:


How will we judge success?
As a charity, working with others, we are still to define our medium and longer term success factors, but we certainly desire to see major improvement over time, and these examples may form measuring criteria for you as a donor or partner with us, to assess achievement. The trustees certainly commit themselves to working towards these and other demanding goals.


It might be a lengthy journey, but we are on the way!.