FARGO VILLAGE held a two day event over the weekend to celebrate the River Sherbourn, which runs for around eight miles under the city.
River Festival Coventry was organised by the Sherbourne Valley Project with support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund – the weekend included live music, theatre performances, crafts, guided walks and storytelling.
Jordan Davies from the project which is led by Warwickshire Wildlife Trust said: “This festival is all about introducing people to the River Sherbourne.
“The river has been unloved for quite some time from the local people and it needs some effort to restore it.
“The festival aimed to engage people with all the organisations and projects which work to restore the river and to encourage the public to volunteer and be involved in future events.”
Nature was at the forefront of the activities which took place, as well as poetry surrounding wildlife there was bee hotels making and leaf pressing.
Staff from Severn Trent brought an educational buses to Fargo, The Wonderful Water Tour had demonstrations and games to educate people on working water, including a call centre and water testing station.
Dave Cork from Severn Trent said: “The bus aims to give children an idea of how to look after water responsibly and not to use the drains for anything other than what they are supposed to be used for.”
Cat Rae works with the companies rivers work added: “We as a company work hard to do environmental projects to improve rivers, such as planting trees along rivers and working with farmers to improve water quality.
“We are working with the Sherbourne project to look at this area and how we can improve the environment alongside the river.”
Darren Male, chair of the project and a trustee for Warwickshire Wildlife Trust said the aim of River day is to bring the community together and showcase how the river is being regenerated.
“At points on the river we have released it back into its proper channels, called a stage zero project – it has been opened for six months and already the river has found its own meanders and is full of weeds.”
Coventry City Council had a stall at the festival showcasing the Species Recovery Project, trying to save four different species in the city.
The water vole, white claw crayfish, the bittern and the willow tit are all trying to be saved through the project.
Fargo Villages’ manager Holly Hewitt said the village is really close the the river and hosting the festival will raise awareness to how close the river is.
“We are really urban here, it has been lovely to connect things to nature and showcase that even in an urban environment there are bits of nature poking through that people can access.”
