The six Cray Riverkeepers out on Tuesday (October 21st), led by Michael Heath, were confronted by the horrendous sight of a large section of cut-up mini sat on the riverbed along footpath 106, and a sofa trapped in a large tree branch that had fallen across the river nearby. Both were successfully removed after some adept work with ropes, a grappling hook and the application of some old-fashioned brute strength.
The task was made more difficult by the fact they had to be got up a large vertical drop where the bank is held back by sheet piling. Due to the depth of the river, the sofa had to be prised free from the obstruction, and then allowed to float down to waiting Riverkeepers standing in the water in waders. Three shopping trolleys and a large amount of recyclable and non-recyclable litter were also cleared from the river and banks.
Section of cut-up mini dumped in the Cray, downstream of the Crayford town centre. (Photo: Ron Pearson)
Michael Heath and Chris Rose manoeuvre the car remains into position for removal. (Photo: Ron Pearson)
Brian Riches stands by to attach a grappling hook and ropes. (Photo: Ron Pearson)
Chris Rose and Michael Heath after ‘catching’ the sofa. It doesn’t look big, but all the stuffing had soaked up lots of water, so it was extremely heavy. (Photo: Ron Pearson)
Malcolm, Brian and Bob ponder an ‘engineering’ solution to getting the heavy water-filled sofa up a seven foot vertical drop. A combo of grappling hook and a lasso arrangement eventually did the trick. (Photo: Ron Pearson)
So-fa, so good – Bob, Malcolm, Chris, Michael and Brian celebrate success before dismantling the offending item in situ, in order to get it down to pieces light enough to barrow away. (Photo: Ron Pearson)
The rest of the rubbish. The shopping trolleys had been put in the van ready for return to a well-known Crayford supermarket. (Photo: Ron Pearson)
Overall the team put in 18 person-hours of work, but there was a significant amount of rubbish in the river still to be removed, which will require boat work.
Thames21 Cray Project Officer Michael Heath said ‘This is the worst example of pre-meditated dumping on this stretch of the river, which is just downstream of Crayford town centre, in a long time. Both the car remains and sofa would have required at least two or three people to get them along the bank and into the river. We would urge anyone who has any information about who was responsible to contact the police.’
