Newsletter 2020

The Newnham Riverbank Club AGM was held by Zoom on Sunday 14 June 2020 2.00pm 

Electronic access system: in 2021 we will begin the process of migration to an electronic entry system using key fobs. For a while, both keys and fobs will allow access to the site, but eventually we will switch to only allowing access by use of the key fobs, which will be available to those who resubscribe in 2021. The cost of the fobs will be £20 if the existing potential refund for a metal key is waived, and otherwise £40. 

Members may  be interested in this event:
Midsummer - June 21st - Celebration of the River Cam and Ceremony to Declare its Rights
We will gather on Monday 21st June west of the footbridge on Jesus Green from 4pm for a celebration of our river with a picnic, drawing and painting for children, songs, music, poetry and an art display. There will be an open mic where people can tell of their connection to the river. At 6pm there will be a formal declaration of the rights of the river following the Universal Declaration of River Rights and the practice of indigenous peoples over thousands of years. We will bring messages of support from areas where river rights are already recognised. We will draft an adaptation of the declaration of rights for the Cam. They will include: the right to flow and be free from over-abstraction; the right to be free from pollution, the right to be fed by sustainable aquifers, the right to perform essential functions within the ecosystem, the right to native biodiversity, and the right to restoration. In declaring the rights of the river we will become its guardians. We will recognise that the rights of the river have been breached in the past and oppose all new building and development which overrides the rights of the Cam and its feeder chalk streams. Music for relaxing and dancing will continue up to around 9pm.

www.earthlawcenter.org/river-rights

Thanks to everyone who joined the club AGM by Zoom on Sunday 14 June 2020. It's a very important way for us to get feedback from club members, and to take the decisions that need to be ratified by representatives of the general club membership.

Also, a huge "thank you" to the committee members who are standing down: Ted, Julian and Phil.  They will remain active participants in the club, and the committee is very grateful for the work they have done in the past, sometimes extending over decades.  John B's honorary membership will be deemed pending till he decides to step down from the committee. Again, the club is extremely grateful for the sterling work he has put into the club. John S is welcomed onto the committee, and has done great work on the club site even before joining the committee.

From Wed 13 May 2020 , in view of revised government advice, the club site has been cautiously re-opened -  we want to restart gradually and cautiously. Please review the advice and guidelines on the  "principles and conduct" page. The renewed lockdown in January 2021 means that the site should be used for brief exercise purposes only.

In the Spring of 2021 it is likely that we will have to conduct some fairly major work, in association with the Conservators of the River Cam, to defend the river frontage at the site from further erosion by the river, which is meandering towards us and taking parts of the river bank between the steps. Part of the work will be an environmental survey, and in particular an assessment of whether there are active water vole burrows on the site, and what to do about them. Please cooperate in any way that may be needed with this work, and apologies in advance for any inconvenience that arises; the ecological survey needed may take several days and involve restricting access to some parts of the river frontage. We hope at the end that the river frontage will be more stable. This work is certain to be expensive, so that subscriptions may have to be increased, although we will try to keep any increases to a minimum.

If you have a canoe or kayak on the site, it is very important that you identify yourself to the committee as the owner. The club may dispose of unidentified canoes and kayaks; in due course we intend to charge for canoe/kayak storage.

As pointed out last year, key deposits can be refunded only within one calendar year of a membership lapsing – we are not liable for refunds for long-lapsed memberships. Resubscriptions should be completed before the end of June in order to retain membership this year, and please note that disorderly conduct, as well as being dangerous, may result in loss of membership. 
 
Wildlife species seen at the club this year include mistlethrush, nightingale, a kingfisher, heron, and terns. A great egret was seen in the spring of 2020. River temperature extremes 2019: 2°C (35.5F) on 3 Jan; 22.5 °C (72.5°F) on 26 July. 



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