News Archive

29 February 2016
Action for the River Kennet is thrilled to be receiving a grant from the Tesco Bags of Help scheme.   The amount though, rests with the public who can vote in local tesco stores from Saturday the 27th of February until 6th of March with a token system.  The stores where people can vote for the project are Marlborough, Ludgershall and Tidworth. 

"The Ramsbury Community River & Wildlife Project is an exciting collaboration between ARK, Ramsbury and Axford Parish Council and Ramsbury Scouts.  We really want to involve the whole village with this and can't wait to begin work.  There will be lots of opportunities to join in and be part of improving outdoor spaces by adding value to them for wildlife and for people" said ARK Project Officer Anna Forbes. 

Sties to benefit from the funding will be the Ramsbury Triangle, Ramsbury Wildlife Reserve, The Recreation Ground and the outdoor area surroung Ramsbury Scout Hut.  
Tesco like other large retailers is required by law to charge a minimum of 5p for ever single use carrier bag used by a customer.  Procees from the charge fund grants just like this one, to improve community spaces. 

Customers who receive deliveries having ordered online can take their Customer Delivery Note into any of the three stores and show this to a member of staff in order to be given a voting token.   

If you would like to get involved contact Anna.



25 February 2016
STOP PRESS:  Bird Ringing will take place at Stonebridge Wild River Reserve for the first time this Saturday morning.  Anna Forbes, Project Officer for ARK says ' This will be the first time that bird ringing has taken place at Stonebridge and it will provide a special opportunity to see our native birds up close.  We are extremely lucky to have trained bird ringer Matt Prior working with us , it's a real asset to have him on board with Stonebridge'.  All welcome, please see the attached poster for details. 
20 January 2016
 The river below the weir in the village of Mortimer has been modified in order to be passable to fish once more.  For full information click here to go to the Kennet Catchment Partnership website.  
17 November 2015

ARK Beef Boxes are now available to order.  The Beef is slow grown and will contain a variety of cuts prepared by Andrews Butchers of Marlborough.  They will be available in the New Year. 
[Read more]
06 November 2015

Work to install the new water pipeline is well under way. 

On 12 October 2015 Thames Water issued the following statement:

Progress for delivery of the scheme remains on track. Pipeline design has been completed and contract for this component of the works has recently been awarded with initial site work already started within the Honda factory site. Geophysical surveying is currently ongoing which is required to mitigate archeological impact along the route. This was agreed to be undertaken as part of the EIA screening assessment and is expected to be complete by mid-October. There are various phases of pipeline construction that will start in October and November with the pipeline programme to be completed in August 2016. Pumping stations and tunnel under rail construction will overlap with main pipeline and be completed September 2016. Commissioning will then be undertaken and completed by December 2016

Working on the pipeline



Map of the pipeline

05 October 2015
Work starts today (5th of October) in Mildenhall to replace thousands of tonnes of gravel that was dredged from the River Kennet during the 1970's. 

This is just one phase of a bigger project to improve river habitat through the beautiful village of Mildenhall (Minal).  

You can find out more here on the Kennet Catchment website

The River Kennet at Minal
05 October 2015
We are delighted to have launched two new yet easy ways for people to easily donate to ARK and enable us to continue our projects. 

Now you can support ARK by JustTextGiving on your mobile phone or via Easyfundraising (which won't cost you a penny!). 

Do you shop online?

If so you can raise funds for ARK while you shop. Just follow this link to our easyfundraising page and register as a supporter of ARK. Then, when you shop, the retailer will donate a percentage of your total spend to ARK. Simple! And it won't cost you a penny.  Happy shopping! 

JustTextGiving

For those wishing to donate a specific amount to ARK we are now delighted to be able to accept donations via Text.  

Simply text ARKK01 £1 (or £3, £4, £5 or £10) to 70070. 

Texts are charged at your mobile phone operator's standard rate and the charity will receive 100% of  your donation.  You must be 16 or over and have the bill payer's permission.  Full terms and conditions can be found on the JustTextGiving page here. 
03 September 2015
September is shaping up to be a very busy month in the ARK calendar.

 We have a number of scheduled walks, talks and events as well as a couple that have been rescheduled after some rather inconveniently timed rain over the summer.  

For full information check our Events page and of course stay up to date by following us on Facebook but to help you plan your diary here is a short recap: 

September 5th - Stonebridge Meadow Family Bioblitz
S
eptember 14th - Totally Thames Waterblitz
September 16th - September Moth Night
S
eptember 18th - Bat Walk & Talk 
S
eptember 20th - ARK Members Wilderness walk (email Anna for more details)
September 27th - World Rivers Day wildlife walk with Peter Marren
10 June 2015
Marlborough in Bloom. Would you like to help the Kennet look it's best for Marlborough in Bloom? ARK project officer Anna Forbes is running two volunteer litter picking sessions on the 1st and the 11th at July (both 2pm starts)  [Read more]
25 May 2015
ARK is encouraging everyone to get out to the river with their cameras to capture some great images this summer.  This week we are launching our 2015 Photographic Competition and the theme is 'Celebrating our Chalkstream'. 

This year we are proud to have the generous support of our competition partner Pete Davies Photography.  

For full details on what, where, and when to photograph and how to enter read more