Graduating towards a greener future!

From tree planting and brushcutting to reclaimed art and fish photography! Our riverlutionary trainee river stewards have completed our first Sheffield-based River Stewardship Skills Scheme! 

Congratulations to our first Sheffield trainee river stewards who have successfully completed a 6 month programme packed with all the environmental conservation training, practical skills and qualifications set to inspire the next generation of river stewards! 

Meeting one day a week, our amazing trainees have achieved an impressive 1720 hours of engagement - including over 700 hours of practical environmental work such as river clean ups, habitat improvement and riverbank engineering and over 200 hours working with 20 local community groups city-wide and beyond!

Community engagement includes planning and delivering a River Fun Day at Kelham Island Museum, creating a river-inspired piece of artwork for Efficiency North and Ignite Imaginations 'We Make Art Happen Together' exhibition displayed at Sheffield Winter Garden and rebuilding a polytunnel for Sheaf Training which will be used to propagate plants for river bank maintenance and riparian habitat creation as well as supporting students at the college with their practical activities.

There have also been 96 hours of certified training clocked up including emergency first aid, brushcutters, safe working near water and a Level 1 or 2 qualification in Environmental Sustainability as well as taking part in the John Muir Award environmental award scheme.

The group have worked on the city's rivers as well as made significant input into the 'Rewilding the Dearne' project site near Barnsley where they have been planting trees and erecting fences and gates in preparation for a riparian habitat creation and 'rewilding' project. 7

The first Sheffield-based river stewardship scheme was sponsored by Gripple Limited, who have been instrumental in inspiring our trainee stewards on their journey to a greener future or a career in the environmental conservation sector with a series of workshops, site tours and river clean up days with the Gripple teams. Gripple Limited encourage all their teams to connect with the natural environment around their businesses and engage in local environmental community activities in line with their wider commitment towards being climate positive.

Our second 6 month Sheffield based stewardship river skills scheme programme is now well underway and we will see all graduates from the first two schemes, along with our sponsors and partners, attending a graduation celebration event in September. Watch this space!

Sounds good? Register your interest in joining the Riverlution River Stewardship Skills Scheme here.

You can find our more about what our Riverlution trainee stewards are up to on our Riverlution social media pages #riverlution Facebook Instagram Twitter

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