A Rocha Living Waterways

A Rocha Living Waterways was the first project of A Rocha UK, the focus of which was in the communities of Southall and Hayes, in western London. It had originally been the vision of Dave and Anne Bookless, a local vicar and passionate birder (‘twitcher’ in the parlance of that group, that is, a bird ringer or enthusiast who is excessive, perhaps maniacal, in their enthusiasm) who felt called to work with A Rocha. In this sense, A Rocha UK had a similar beginning to A Rocha international, which had been the vision of Peter and Miranda Harris, who had been work as local vicars in Portugal when they first conceived of environmentalism as a mission of the church (they also wrote a book, called ‘Under the Bright Wings’ which tells of their beginning and the first years of A Rocha). At any rate, A Rocha UK then began, starting with the Southall project, which was named A Rocha Living Waterways. In this blog I have included a link to the A Rocha webpage, where you can view the various A Rocha projects, and see pictures and whatnot. The principle work of A Rocha Living Waterways centred on Minet Country Park- a 90 acre bit of greenspace which had previously been used as an illegal dump, etc., but which had, through the lobbying and social pressure of A Rocha and her constituents, become a community conservation land (I say community conservation land in that the area is designed for conservation of local flora and fauna, but also is intended as a park wherein local people can experience nature in a meaningful way). The conservation of Minet is of great significance, not particularly because Minet has any habitat or species of great conservation value, but in that it is a small island habitat, of nature, in the midst of a very densely populated bit of London, a community not unlike the Projects in New York- overcrowded, high rates of unemployment, etc. The second major emphasis of A Rocha Living Waterways—in fact, an emphasis which sets is apart from most A Rocha projects—is the community work. As ARLW is right in the midst of this complex and bewildering urban community, work with this community became the focus of the project, taking the form of environmental education in and out of schools, action with local elected officials, business people, volunteers, etc. It was into these community activities that Micah began work with A Rocha in October of 2003, as Community Projects Officer.