Please watch this eye-opening short film, produced by PFF (Parents For Future) West London, shot by Ealing volunteers, and skilfully edited to Schubert’s Trout Quintet. Playful, queasy, and factual, it premiered at the Ealing Film Festival on 3rd October , and focuses on the Brent, highlighting wildlife and beauty as well as multiple issues of pollution, and the work of CURB (Clean Up the River Brent). Find out more at Clean up River Brent – CURB and their CURB Facebook group.
Hope you enjoy the film! Watch The River Remembers on YouTube.
The Crisis Facing Our Rivers
Underinvestment, regulatory failure, over-engineering and negligence are killing our rivers. We have all heard about the many failures of our water companies, but agriculture, the road network, the building industry, environmental regulations, and public behaviour all have a vital part to play.
I was out with my dog in Pitshanger Park in October 2021 when I noticed the Brent had turned a foul-smelling grey. A blocked sewer had overflowed filling the river with human waste and detergent.
I was inspired to found Clean Up the River Brent (CURB) and with many volunteers we have since removed over 100 tonnes of rubbish, planted 1000s of plants and campaigned to prevent further pollution of the river. Anyone can become a River Guardian. (Ben Morris, CURB)
CURB
Curb (Clean Up River Brent) organise regular river clean-ups, but also run a planting programme, electronic networked water quality monitoring, road run-off testing, chemical pollution monitoring, and riverfly invertebrate counts. We lobby government to raise standards, and bring stakeholders together in collaboration to solve long-standing problems.
We work with local groups like LAGER Can on rubbish removal. Ealing Wildlife Group help with planting and habitat projects. Plus the Ealing Park Rangers, Brent River Park, Thames21, the Environment Agency, ZSL, Imperial College, Thames Water and other groups.
You can find out more about us on:
- Facebook (CURB – Clean Up the River Brent),
- BrentRIverPark.org,
- Bluesky (@CURB) on Twitter (@BrentPollution)
- Email us at cleanuptheriverbrent@gmail.com
Press coverage:
Feargal Sharkey Praises ‘Heroic’ River Brent Campaigners, Ealing Today, 16 December 2024
Raw sewage from new homes being flushed into river, BBC 18 November 2024
Revealed: The London flats pushing raw sewage into the Thames, London Centric, 20 March 2025
Parents for Future (PFF)
We campaign to fight climate change and build resilience in the community in the face of the climate crisis. Producing ‘The River Remembers’ alongside CURB is part of Parents for Future wider environmental work, promoting a love for and engagement with our natural world. Elsewhere in the UK, PFF Stroud is currently working on a campaign to recognise the rights of the River Frome.
Find us at https://parentsforfuture.org.uk/ on Instagram @parentsforfuture_westlondon, and watch a welcome video below and if you’d like to find out more https://parentsforfuture.org.uk/join-our-community/.
Call to Acton to Clean up our rivers
With more help CURB can get more of their projects moving faster. Get in touch about their next events and get involved. Their projects include river clean-ups, planting programme, electronic networked water quality monitoring, road run-off testing, chemical pollution monitoring, and riverfly invertebrate counts.
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