With Christmas, New Year and Global Warming (aka snow) having been and gone, no doubt you are all wondering what is going on with your river.

We saw the close of last season with a very enjoyable dinner at the Three Pigeons.  Fun and festivities were somewhat tinged with regret as we were also saying farewell to Naomi Hirst, who has moved North having been a huge part of our infancy.  We wish her well and look forward to her promised visits South.

We kick off 2010 with advice that, although reasonable flow is maintained through Chalfont St Giles, there is at least one significant leak in the banks of the leat upstream of Mill Lane.  A small group has committed to tackling this with a short work party this Sunday (24th) 13.00 hrs to 16.00 hrs.  If you would like to join us, please contact me for further details: if we have excess capacity, we can continue the general leat clearance unfinished last November.

Looking forward, we propose an initial schedule for 2010, very similar to 2009, as below. Please let me know if you have alternative ideas/preferences.

*     Informal meet, chat & plan 19.45 hrs:  Feb 16 (Tues); Mar 19 (Thurs); Apr 15 (Thurs); May 18 (Tues); Jun 17 (Thurs); July 23 (Thurs); Aug 25 (Tues); Sep 16 (Thurs); Oct 21 (Thurs); Nov 23 (Tues) – venues tba

*     Work parties:  Feb 21 (Sun);  Mar 28 (Sun); Apr 24 (Sat); May 23 (Sun); Jun 27 (Sun); Jul 31 (Sat); Aug 29 (Sun); Sep 26 (Sun); Oct  30 (Sat); Nov 28 (Sun)

*     All to be confirmed but definitely worth a note in your diaries now

*     Weekday work group as and when.

Last Saturday, we enjoyed talking with visitors, and supporters,  including Cheryl Gillan,  to the Chalfont St Giles Revitalisation Group’s Project display regarding plans for new amenities by the river in Stone Meadow.   Possibly at least partly due to Cheryl’s interventions, we (Chiltern Society) have had some more positive contact with the Environment Agency recently.  This has included provision of some existing archive  information for use in preparation of our case for action and loan of basic flow metering equipment.  If you would be interested in becoming involved in on-going observations of flow, bats, invertebrates, voles, or anything else, we would be delighted to hear from you.  At our Steering Group meeting last night, we resolved to work towards achievement of all necessary permissions, completion of design, contract procurement and funding in place by end 2010 ready for bed and other repairs/restoration work in 2011.

Meanwhile, I’m sure we will enjoy “messing about in the river” during the coming months, maximising what flow we can capture by good husbandry of our precious river.