News 2022

Re-subscription for Newnham Riverbank Club for 2022 opened on March 31 2022.  Resubscription is now closed for 2022.  If you have a resubscription problem, contact us via the "contact us" page on this website.

A constructive meeting was held with the Cam Valley Forum and Anglian Water on 5 October 2022 to discuss water quality monitoring and bacterial counts/sewage release into the Cam. Various initiatiatives are taking place to reduce the frequency of discharges and improve the scope and transparency of water monitoring by the water companies, so we hope to see improvements over the next few years. Local wild swimmers, including club members, attended to demonstrate that wild swimming in the winter does actually happen.

A discussion of wild swimming in the Cam on Radio 5 Live, featuring Nicky Blanning, Alex Buxton, and Simon Crowhurst, all of whom are members of the Riverbank Club:

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/naked-scientists-podcast/trip-down-river-cam

The Riverbank Club AGM was on Sunday 15 May at 2pm at the club site.

There was a "planting day" on May 16 2022 to plant new plants along the frontage - between around 10am-5pm. Quite a few members helped and the wild flowers along the front look terrific - thanks to all who took part and to River and Rural for sowing the wildflower seeds.

Registered and paid-up members of the Riverbank club were able to obtain access fobs for entry to the site during the summer of 2021. You still have to push the door to open it, but the fob will unlock it. Fobs cost £40 each, but for those members who waive their right to a refund for key(s) that they hold, the charge is reduced to £20 provided the key is shown. Keys have become obsolete now that the system has switched to fob-only entry, but members should keep hold of their old keys to use the side-shed of the club shed, and as a "fall back" in case of problems with the electronic system.
 
All current members of the Riverbank Club should now have key fobs. Please make a note of your key fob number - you will be asked to identify it when you complete the resubscription form in April/May/June. The numbers can wear off the fob, so it is a good idea to make a note. Some fobs have the number lightly engraved on the back, and this is a good thing to do!

Thank you for your co-operation.

The study linked here: https://jenparry.azurewebsites.net/  may be of interest to Newnham Riverbank Club members. It is a study of the psychological and other benefits of wild swimming.

River water bacterial concentration: update

Tests performed on a water sample collected from Byron’s Pool (2.5km upstream of Newnham Riverbank Club) on 14/12/2022 indicate that the E. coli level was MODERATE. The estimate was higher than the previous sample on 30/11/22.

These results are from an amateur water monitoring project taking place at the Department of Veterinary Medicine. Updates are for information purposes only. The source of E. coli is not identified and may include human or animal origin. False positive microorganisms may also inflate the counts. Descriptive thresholds are based on the distribution of previous data from the river Cam/Rhee: “low” (MPN <1000/100ml), “moderate” (MPN 1000-3000/100ml), “high” (MPN >3000/100ml).

Please direct any enquiries to Susannah Salter, sjs263@cam.ac.uk

The latest water quality test results are now available on the CVF website 

https://camvalleyforum.uk/water-quality-test-results/

For a podcast discussion of pollution levels in the river Cam, and likely sources, listen to:

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/sites/default/files/media/podcasts/episodes/Naked_Scientists_Show_22.07.26_chap5-6.mp3