We’re walking and litter picking 425Km to raise money and awareness for the Ilkley Clean River Campaign.

The River Wharfe in Yorkshire is a favourite for families to paddle, play and swim in but in recent years the quality of the water has been found to be a public health hazard.

When it rains the storm drain overflows discharge raw sewage into the river from the Ilkley Sewage Treatment Works. This pollutes the river with high levels of e-coli, which is a danger to people and wildlife, with many swimmers in the river reporting falling sick.

We’ll be undertaking two long walks, picking up litter on the way, to raise money and awareness for the campaign to clean up The River Wharfe. The money raised will go towards buying the equipment and lab time needed for testing water quality along the whole length of the Wharfe.

The first thing we’ll be doing (1-3 May) is walking the more than 100km of the Wharfe itself from Beckermonds to the point where the Wharfe joins the Ouse, just north of Cawood, picking up litter and cleaning up as we go over 3 to 4 days. At the same time we’ll be counting the amount of people enjoying the river at key beauty spots to inform the campaign and demonstrate just how valuable of a community asset the river is.

Next, on 17 May we will embark on the hardest task! Over ten days we’ll be taking part in the big clean up project, picking up from where were left off in Cawood and walking over 200 miles in 10 days, finishing at Westminster to deliver our message to the government. We’ll be bringing our litter picking equipment and cleaning up as we go!

We will be providing all our own equipment so every penny raised will go directly to the Ilkley Clean River Campaign, and you’ll be able to follow our journey each day on social media so keep an eye out and give us a wave as we pass through your neck of the woods - we’d love to see you!

As local Ilkley lads, the Wharfe river has been an important backdrop to many events in both of our lives, and we’re excited to do our part to preserve and enhance its health so future generations get to enjoy it just as much as we have. The Ilkley Clean River Campaign is truly breaking new ground in the fight to conserve the UK’s natural splendour, setting a precedent of higher standards, accountability, and cleaner, safer water for people and wildlife all across the country for generations to come.