And that’s a wrap!
As December draws to a close we reflect on 2025 and what a wonderful year it has been at WSRT! Here are some of our highlights:
We welcomed 3 new staff members and one new Trustee, increasing our impact and ability to reach even more people to join efforts to help our rivers.
Our River Guardians programme has grown to over 250 volunteers water quality testing, Riverfly sampling, litter picking, balsam bashing and riffle restoring.
150 people came along to events focused on the Rother.
We co-created the Rother Action Plan setting out a ten-year programme of actions to help restore the river.
Design for restoration of 2.6km of the Ems and Lavant chalk streams has begun in earnest, including floodplain reconnection across 35 hectares (49 football pitches).
We welcomed 300 people (and hundreds of rubber ducks!) to a celebration of the River Lavant.
Almost 1500 children and young people were inspired about our rivers through fun sessions in school and on the riverbank – no PowerPoint-led sessions here!
We continued planning for an epic project on the Upper Arun – restoration of 1.8km of the river.
Phase 1 of a future-proof playground project was completed at Fittleworth Primary, showcasing how rain gardens and other features can manage water effectively in a school environment.
We secured significant funding to improve public access and fish habitat on the Upper Rother.
We reached 1000 people through parish councils and community groups and set some great action in motion!
Incredible volunteers cleansed the Lavant of over 400kg of litter, some of which was decades old!
More wonderful vols created a beautiful dead hedge to buffer the Hambrook chalk stream.
Our River Health Scorecards, compiled with data from our River Guardians, reached far and wide across the UK as great examples showing how to communicate evidence from citizen scientists.
More than 700 people joined us for our inspirational and informative film nights and webinars.
We had our best year of fundraising!
We could never achieve this without the incredible dedication, passion and hard graft from our team, our Trustees and volunteers – thank you so much for everything you do!
We also thank our funders and supporters for believing in us and helping us to take action for our riverscapes – we are so grateful for your support.
And finally the landowners and partners working with us to protect and restore our rivers – thank you for being a vital part of the team!
Onwards and upwards – we’re looking forward to continuing the journey and getting stuck into some great projects in 2026!
Wishing you all a merry and peaceful Christmas and many wonderful hours enjoying our rivers in 2026.
