Photo montage of villages

Tales From The Riverbank – tell your story

Dear Residents

We have been provided with the following, perhaps you have a story to share?

Tales of the Riverbank

Written by Sarah Coxon

Are you missing reminiscing in your local? Do you miss long walks and rambles in the countryside? Are you finding home-schooling a thankless challenge?

Through the Transforming the Trent Valley Landscape Partnership Scheme (funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and led by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust) we are relaunching our Tales From The Riverbank project to give you the opportunity to tell us your stories, re-explore nature and to give you a break from learning restrictions at home.

The project would love to hear from everyone about their childhood stories and experiences of playing along the Trent Valley – the Dove, the Trent and the Tame in East Staffordshire or South Derbyshire – and will also provide a free downloadable resource pack for children to revitalise their lockdown learning. If you regularly visit these rivers still or used to live by them we want to hear from you.

How many of you played in rivers and went home with a soggy bottom? How many of you played pooh sticks, set sail to distant climes or found treasures in the water? Have you been fishing and caught a whopper? Where did you play? What wildlife did you see?

How different are your memories to that of your family and friends? Can you help the project to showcase how outdoor play has changed over the generations?

Already we have received tales about motorbike mishaps, horseshoes being found in streams and happy canoe trips under bridges.  Can you top that?

Please tell us your stories through emailing Nicola.lynes@supportstaffordshire.org.uk, by visiting the Trent Valley website at https://www.thetrentvalley.org.uk/childhoodmemories.php  or by posting them to Transforming the Trent Valley, 19 Lower Brook Street, Rugeley, WS15 2BZ.

For more information on any of the above, look on our website www.thetrentvalley.org.uk, or you can call us on 07837 127165 for a chat with our Community Engagement Officer.

We look forward to reading about your memories of the riverbank.

The River Map is below as a pdf
Trent Valley River Map 2021