Future Generations Commissioner Meets Save The River Usk
February 28th 2025

Our Founder, Angela Jones meets with Future generations commissioner for Wales today Derek Walker.

Wales is the first country in the world to create an independent office to act as a guardian of future generations we shared the Beautiful Welsh hills with farmers who are working on nature based solutions to prevent water and soil loss . Its really important that we share data and solutions in restoring our Rivers Health for habitat and future generation's.

​Save the River Usk sits on the Core group of Bannau Brycheiniog Usk catchment group where we get chance to discuss , Share data and work on restoring our River Usk and set presidence for all welsh rivers .

Save The River Usk Quarterly Meeting attended by the BBC February 10th 2025 

Dr Cerith Jones from South Wales University who has been working with Save the River Usk on gathering data on Ecoli for 12 months with Talatu Usar & Alistair Hill Thanks to the BBC and all that attended Save the River Usk meeting last night .
Thank you to our Speakers  The results were pretty shocking ! Together we will restore our Rivers

Save The River Usk Hold Multi Party Meeting with 
MPs and MSs
February 2025

What a constructive meeting with a multi-party group of our local MPs and MSs today!

We shared STRU's extensive data and knowledge of the river, and we were joined by our ally Keri Davies (an organic farmer and head of the Beacons Water Group). After presenting our policy "asks" to them, we had an extremely constructive discussion.

The meeting ended with the politicians all signing up to a pledge to work together to clean up our beautiful Usk and we all left with a clearer understanding of the challenges and opportunities ahead.

​Thanks are due to :
MS Jane Dodd Leader of Welsh Lib-Dems) , MP David Chadwick, MS Peter Fox, MS James Evans.
MP Catherine Fookes & MP John Griffiths were unable to attend but sent videos of support and a representative.

We'll be organising a repeat event next month for those MPs & MSs who weren't able to be there.

Wales' most protected river which is actually full of poo
7th September 2024 (Wales-on-Line)

Great write up in the Western Mail (Wales online) regrading the River Usk and the amazing role STRU (Save The River Usk) are doing to protect it. (At LAST Save the River Usk are being taken seriously).  Our Data is key !

​Thanks to Jonathan Hill from the Western Mail for working with us on bringing awareness to the plight of Our Usk River . Thanks to all our amazing volunteers and Supporters

Together we will Restore Our Rivers .

To see full article click link below
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/wales-most-protected-river-actually-29879139?fbclid=IwY2xjawFNLzpleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHSWba_M1rartqOjKmC7_66Or7zpuDwwkyUjn4qlmvAT3_Aa6FFrkLRb80A_aem_5V2A9Gwuaz2zTSxPifKUyg#comments-wrapper

BBC Election Leaders debate
June 2024

BBC Election Leaders debate last night !
I was asked to be part of Audience. My Question to Leaders was:

“Half of voters say their voting decision will be influenced by the priority of healthy Rivers & Coastel waters.  What long term commitment are you willing to make to improve our rivers & coastal waters and how will the public know they aren't being fobbed off by gestures and sticking plasters once again??

​Reply from panelist!!!

The  biggest problem in Wales are our Welsh Mines leaching into our Rivers , Which panelist do you think said this ??? And thats why we need change.

River March with Trellech School Monmouth
​5th July 2024

​We marched to our New MPs office with the Children of Trellech school .
Our Message is Clear we want our Rivers Restored.
​
Catherine Fookes for Monmouthshire Make us heard and help us bring that change.

Guest Speaker at CPRW The Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales.
​3rd July 2024 

Wonderful to be asked by CPRW The Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales to be guest speaker about protecting our Rivers the Usk & Wye and present prizes to the many children of Monmouthshires Schools who wrote amazing poems and Art.

The Theme was their Dying Rivers and how they want to be able to bring awareness in helping restore what the clearly all love so dearly.

Our Future Generations deserve better and us as grown ups need to bring that change.

Raglan School River & Environment Talk
​24th June 2024

Wonderful to be invited to give a talk at Raglan School today .

The Children are so enthusiastic and supportive in protecting their Rivers and are keen to be working on a project to bring awareness .

​Thanks to the amazing Laura Eden Art for sharing her expertise and bringing art into the their project.

Restore Nature Now !! 
​23rd June 2024

Restore Nature Now !!
Spent the day Marching through London with thousands of others then promptly positioned myself outside Westminster and Feargal Sharkey came over for a chat and called me hes Hero lol !!

​We all want one thing Respect for Nature ,Respect for our Rivers & Seas Respect for our Planet and this Government is Failing us !

Labour candidate Catherine Fookes interview
18th June 2024

I Don't do politics, I do Nature but i know unless Government tighten laws on pollution and Regulators are not enforcing we have no chance of restoring our Rivers Health.

Today I Spent a few hours with Labour candidate Catherine Fookes who’s running to represent Monmouthshire as our MP .

We walked along the River Wye, River Usk, and did some Water testing and discussing our Rivers health and what will she do if elected for MP about pollution and Protecting our Rivers , Wildlife and Environment ??

And no I haven’t been brainwashed I just know change has to come from the UK Government and we need MPs to Stand up for Our Rivers , Wildlife , Environment & Future generations and that clearly is not happening.

Feargal Sharkey Podcast.
​June 12th 2024

Good to meet up with Feargal Sharkey this morning and many others who want to restore our Rivers health and restore nature.

Listen to his podcast and Concise overview of why rivers are full of sewage and dangerous to swim in (especially the Usk and Wye) and what can be done about it.

​Spoiler: it’s not hard to fix and water bills do not need to rise.

​Listen 17.35minutes into podcast

Beacon foods expands its water treatment plant ​
​June 11th 2024

RESULT!!!

Real good to hear that Save the River Usk monitoring and data gathering is having real results and bringing attention to many forms of pollution.

People often ask about the value of our work , and is it a waste of time ??

My answer is always the same we are out there trying our best and will persevere till we restore our River Usk & all Rivers Health .

I would like to thank all our amazing volunteers ,together we are bringing change .
https://www.insidermedia.com/.../beacon-foods-expands...

Below are some graphs and data that our volunteer John H has been gathering which allows us to identify pollution hotspots and act on them and ultimately get results!!

Schoolgirl's plea to save the River Usk - Abergavenny Chronicle

June 11th 2024
Last week, the first Usk River Festival took place at the Island Park at Llanbadoc, to highlight the plight of the river and further raise awareness of what can be done to save it.
The event, organised by Angela Jones, chair and founder of Save the River Usk, and her dedicated team, was a resounding success; a testament to the community's efforts in saving the river.

Following a parade through the town, the festival entertainment kicked off with 11-year-old Emily Gourdie reading her poem, ‘The River Usk’ to the assembled crowd.

To read full article: 

www.abergavennychronicle.com/news/schoolgirls-plea-to-save-the-river-usk-695516

Ex-stream success for Save the River Usk - Monmouthshire Beacon

June 9th 2024

The banks of the River Usk in Usk town were bustling with activity on June, 1 as hundreds of people gathered for the inaugural Usk River Festival. 

​The event, organised by Angela Jones, chair and founder of Save the River Usk, and her dedicated team, was a resounding success that celebrated both the community's efforts and raising awareness about the importance of protecting the river and its environment.

To read the full Article click below
https://www.monmouthshirebeacon.co.uk/news/ex-stream-success-for-save-the-river-usk-693788

Save The River Usk 2024 River Festival 
​1st June 2024

​Save the River Usk are so Proud of the Support each and everyone gave us for our 1st Usk River festival.
The Day Usk Rocked!!!

Thanks to each and every one of you who so made this Joyous River Community Event so very ,very Special.

For for more photos and information see the following Usk River Festival June 2024

Sharing ,Caring and Protecting Our Rivers and Mother Nature .

Thank you
Chair Angela Jones, Secretary Maxine Hill and all our wonderful volunteers

Meeting Stephen Fry at Hay Festival
​29th May 2024

At Hay Festival just finished 5th Environmental Wild swim workshop talk and now chilling in the green room with a beer with Stephen Fry .
​
He totally agrees with me on how disgraceful we treat our Rivers and Seas .

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Trellech School Poems and Talk
​May 21st 2024

​These children of Trellech school have wrote Poems about the Rivers they so care so passionately about and they will be proudly read and displayed at our Usk festival June 1st.
​
Such a pleasure to go into talk with so many local schools on our River Environment and Water safety.
future generation so deserve for our generation to step up and bring that change.

Berthin Brook Sewage - Usk
​May 12th 2024

This poor family were swimming and playing in Berthin Brook today where the sewage outlet from Monmouthshire County Council comes out. I attended due to reports of high pollution from our Volunteer who had tested it this morning.

The Phosphate levels were so high that i had to bring our higher phosphate reader with me , It maxed out at 30 ,nitrates was 50 and ammonia 6 which is a clear breach of permit NEVER has this been recorded on the Wye or Usk Rivers in all the years I’ve been gathering data with others.

This family were mortified that they had allowed their children to play in such a polluted area.
I can not let this matter pass as Natural Resources Wales is legally responsible to protect the public health from pollution and also a protected species like the Otter which has its holt less than 100m away also Monmouth County Council have a legal duty to protect public health

River Talks at Local Monmouthshire Schools
​May 9th 2024

​Wonderful day talking at the Kymin School and then Llandogo School. Where I share my love for the river and the beautiful wildlife which live in it.
​
These energetic enthusiastic children are so inspirational and realise that we all have a part to play in protecting their future.

Water Blitz day along the length of the Usk River 
May 8th 2024

Today was Water Blitz day along the length of the Usk River 

Many Volunteers From Save the River Usk, Gwent Wildlife Trust and The Wye and Usk Foundation all took part .

Our volunteers conducted their normal water sampling as well as collected an additional sample bottle for chemical analysis. The samples are currently on their way to the laboratory. The results will be matched against our citizen science samples. A fantastic way to validate our data. 

Some sites were also selected for citizen science environmental DNA sampling. A new way of sampling for genetic material from organisms living in the water and identifying the species present. 

​Thanks to Each and everyone who took part .And Alistair Hill and John Hadland for coordinating STRU

Monmouthshire Schools talks about the Rivers, combined with Speaking at ​Llandeilo and the literature festival
April 2024

​Crazy busy but wonderful week talking to Junior Schools in Monmouthshire and was so touched by their poems and work they shared with me on Our Wye & Usk Rivers and how they are desperate to help. Disappointed how they all individually had sent letters to Our Prime Minster and heard nothing back.

Lovely welcoming in Llandeilo and the litrature festival.  Had a sold out house for my River talk. I was presented with beautiful piece of Art from local artist who had been following my campaigning, which was very touching.

I was happy to advise with helping the people of Llandelio set up a community group to test their River The Towy. Our Rivers are our veins.  The More Groups the Stronger our Voice
We are going from strength to strength

Angela 

ITV Wales News - Archbishop of Wales Newport
​April 17th 2024

The Archbishop of Wales joins our campaign to Step up Pressure on Government and Polluters to Clean up our Rivers !

​If you missed yesterday’s News Watch below!! https://www.itv.com/.../indefensible-abuse-of-rivers...

​The Archbishop of Wales called for a halt on the "indefensible abuse" of our waterways.
Rivers, he said, were dying as they were poisoned by raw sewage and intensive farming practices, referring, in particular, to the "tragic" situation in the Wye Valley.

Save The River Usk

Training Volunteers at the River Taff, combined with an ITV Wales interview about the Archbishop of Wales.
​ April 16th 2024

In Cardiff Training up 30 New volunteers and helping them set up a New water monitoring group on the Taff River Today . By linking our Rivers and our communities our Voice becomes louder

I Was also asked by ITV if they could film me training group and my reaction to the “Great News” which is coming out from The Archbishop of Wales about support about cleaning our rivers up.

Angela

Testing for NRW at the Berthin Brook Usk - April 2024

​I test in front of Natural Resources Wales the pollution hitting the Berthin Brook from Monmouthshire CC, County Hall, The Rhadyr USK, County Hall Today to show first hand how much pollution is being caused.

The Phosphate measured at 10, Nitrates 20, EC 589 For those who don't know this is exceptionally HIGH and after Gathering masses of data on this site polluting with an 86 % failure rate we are told by NRW that we could be looking at 3 years to look at the license and permit again!

​What chance have our Rivers and waterways got?

We have many dedicated volunteers gathering credible data and data analysts and Universities that are on board with Save the River Usk so WHY oh WHY can we not have action from the Agencies that are supposed to protect???

Angela

The Daily Telegraph Interview about the Rivers - March 28th 2024

Good to be meeting up and doing an interview today with Emma Gatten who is the Environment Editor for The Daily Telegraph.  Ive taken a huge amount of flak from vigilante’s and keyboard warriors this week but will Never stop Speaking out to Protect the Health of our River Wye , Usk all our Rivers from pollution.  Im in this for the long term .
Angela

NRW and the Berthin Brook - 28th March 2024

​We are told by Natural Resources Wales that our Reports to them on pollution in the Berthin Brook are not founded.  Well the clear Evidence is there and our Data analysts have put together these simple graphs for NRW and were also included all our data to back this up.

Phosphates samples that fail the phosphate target (red) vs those that pass (green) for Berthin Brook Of 184 samples taken just 24 samples have phosphate readings under the target level. 
84% fail the target set by Natural Resource Wales themselves.

Save the River Usk

STRU help setup River Taff River Water Testing Group March 2024

Wonderful turn out today in Cardiff with so many people interested in Protecting their River the Taff .
Happy to share our data and knowledge from the Usk & Wye .
 
Welsh Water recorded more than 30,000 hours of sewage had been released into the river Taff  in one year 

Riverfly Partnership Joins Save the River Usk - MARCH 2024

​Volunteer with Save the River Usk Maxine Hill is going to set up invertebrate monitoring along the Usk with our Volunteers.  There has never been a survey like this done on the Usk. A Legacy to her wonderful Father Dai the Duff who was a keen fisherman and passionate about improving the water quality in his local river.

He became the South-East Wales Coordinator for the RiverFly Partnership who coordinate local interested groups to monitor invertebrate life to assess the health of the river.

Please contact me if you would like to be trained up to be part of this project.
Chair Angela 

STRU spent the morning Testing with its youngest volunteer Harry ​(January 2024)

​He is so keen to demonstrate to the younger generation that we can all help protect our environment. He has been testing for 3 months now at Berthing brook and today we had some exceptionably high results nitrates 20 ,phosphates highest levels we can record 2.5 ,Ec 496 temp 8.6. 

​This is only 500m away from an Otters holt with young that I have been monitoring for years .
Harry will be sharing his experience data and thoughts about our River from a future generations prospective at our next meeting on 29th January 7pm Venue:
Kings Arms Hotel
Abergavenny
29 Nevill St, NP15AA
EVERYBODY WELCOME!

Guest Speaker at The Houses of Parliament for River Action Charter.
(July 2023)

​Thank you to River Action UK for asking me to be a guest speaker at Parliament for #CharterForRivers talking alongside Baroness Jones and MP Philip Dunne, It was a huge success and it was brilliant to have MPs, NGOs and campaigners together to tackle the crisis facing our rivers.

Tonight proved that collaboration is key if we want to see change. Together, we can #rescuebritainsrivers Please join us by signing our petition, which calls for ALL political parties to act now, and to act boldly, to rescue our rivers for people and nature: https://bit.ly/RescueRivers #Rescueourrivers

​It was good to catch up with Feargal Sharkey , Henley mermaids swim sisters , British canoeing, British Swimming,Wildlife trust ,Bat protection society. Welsh river union
Anyone that doesn’t respect Nature and our rivers and disagrees with the law of the land in protecting our ecosystems should not be in Power!

Save the River Usk invited to Hereford College -  To Talk about the River Usk/Wye and its Environment. (July 23)
I had the opportunity to speak to students at Hereford Art college about the River Wye & Usk and what part we can all play in bringing change and Protecting our Rivers .
I shared information with the students about what future generations can do and the role they can play in shaping the future of Rivers.

STRU campaign reaches the Welsh Senedd, Cardiff (July 2023)

Save the River Usk organised an event at the Welsh Senedd, Cardiff to raise the awareness of River pollution in Wales/UK

We were supported by many from all generations including llangynidr school .We invited MSs to join us outside .

Protestors held signs as they marched through Crickhowell (Oli Horsman/Mike Erskine )

Thursday,  6th October 2022 

Hundreds march through Crickhowell
to protest river pollution

Full Article Here
​

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By Jon Davies

Saturday, 17th September 2022 

Take notice before
it’s too late
warns River Usk campaigner

​Full Article Here

​Thursday  28th April 2022

​Hundreds turn out
to join in protest
over river pollution


​Full Article Here

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8 August 2021

River pollution in Wales: Swimmers warned
over sewage


​​Full Article Here