Our River, Our Sea!
Come and celebrate, learn about and help to protect our local waters – and the amazing wildlife that live in them!
Wednesday 3 July – Saturday 20 July, Lewes Climate Hub, 32 High Street, Lewes, FREE
All events at Lewes Climate Hub unless otherwise indicated.
THROUGHOUT THE SEASON:
Poet in Residence – Ruth Lawrence
Ruth Lawrence, our poet in residence, will be creating three handmade books based on themes of River, Riverbank and Sea and will read poetry from each on Saturdays 6, 13 and 20 of July 12.40-12.55pm.
‘We are the River’ – an interactive installation from Love Our Ouse
Choose an ‘Ouse question card’ to express what the River Ouse means to you, what you mean to the river and your wishes for the River’s future – and contribute to this powerful installation of river voices.
Events day by day
Wednesday 3 July
11am-12.30pm: Coffee morning with Love Our Ouse
Join Natasha Padbury of Love Our Ouse at our weekly coffee morning. Natasha will talk about the group’s pioneering work seeking to give the River Ouse back its intrinsic rights to live and thrive, which – if successful – could have transformative impacts for rivers and waterways across the UK
Saturday 6 July
11am-12.30pm: River animal mask-making
Come and make your very own mask of an egret, kingfisher or seal with the Love Our Ouse team. Fun for all the family.
1pm-3pm: People’s Assembly – How can we safeguard our water?
Come and take part in a facilitated People’s Assembly to discuss what measures you would like to see in order to safeguard the quality of the water in our taps, rivers and oceans, and protect it against the interests of big business. All findings will be fed back to Lewes District Council and local water-campaigning groups.
Saturday 13 July
11am-12.30pm: Beaver mask and river collage making with Wilder Ouse
Join Lydia Baxter of Wilder Ouse and the Lewes Climate Hub team to make your own beaver mask or contribute to the Hub’s river life collage – suitable for all ages!
1pm-2.30pm: Talk: Bringing back beavers and other species to the Ouse
Lydia Baxter of the Wilder Ouse project at Sussex Wildlife Trust will talk about the project’s work to reintroduce beavers and other keystone species to the River Ouse, and the essential role these amazing creatures can play in helping to restore and protect the health and flow of the river.
Sunday 14 July
10am – 12 midday: Riverside Litterpick and Survey with Strandliners
Meet at 9.45am at the steps up to Lewes Tesco entrance by the River Ouse (Email to confirm attendance so enough equipment can be provided.)
Join Andy Dinsdale of Strandliners for a riverside litterpick with a difference! As well as collecting litter along the riverbank by Lewes, we’ll be using citizen science to document what we find to provide data that can be used by the Rivers Trust and the Preventing Plastic Pollution Project.
Wednesday 17 July
11am-12.30pm: Coffee morning with Sussex Underwater
Sussex Underwater is a group of passionate local divers who are dedicated to document the underwater recovery that is taking place in Sussex Bay since an inshore trawling ban was passed in 2021. Volunteer Amy Prifti will come and show some of the amazing footage they’ve captured of life below the Sussex waves.
Saturday 20 July
11am-12.30pm: Marine Life Levels
Family activity to learn about what goes down below the waves with the Sussex Dolphin Project.
1pm-2.30pm: Talk: The Sussex Dolphin Project
The Sussex Dolphin Project was launched in 2018 to identify individual dolphins/pods in Sussex waters and to better understand their behaviour, movement, prey species, and breeding sites.
Thea Taylor, Managing Director, and James Milton, Project Support Officer of the Sussex Dolphin Project will be talking about their inspiring work to protecting local dolphins through research, awareness and education, with footage of local dolphin sightings and games and activities to appeal to all ages! The afternoon will include life-size projections of local dolphin species!