Social media has been wringing its hands this week over the sight of shopping trolleys at low tide under Bridgwater’s  town bridge. Then suddenly at the low water mark on Friday volunteers turned up out of the blue, with magnets, hooks and lorries and it was sorted. Well, it wasn’t ‘quite’ out of the blue as Andrew Cosby from Towpath Dippers, the group behind the clear up,  explains.“A guy called Ben Bishop set the ball rolling by posting pictures on social media of the trolleys and then he put out a call for anyone who could help to turn up at Town bridge, 4pm, Friday at low tide.  Tow Path Dippers turned up with our magnets and hooks and the community joined in. I’d spoken to a bloke from the Town Council and he’d arranged for the town council workers to remove whatever we brought out and that’s what happened”.

Ben Bishop  said  “ I was disgusted to see how much waste was dumped in the river when I popped into town, so I took it upon myself to do something about it. The town council had not, or were not able to, and I wanted to make a difference. I wasn’t alone, the community really got behind this and helped out massively. Be the change you want to see in the world. I think it was amazing that one post snowballed into a community project like that. Also two businesses offered support too. The Fountain Inn offered free drinks after, and Fryer Tucks ( chicken wing restaurant in Eastover ) came with free food and drink for the people.”

Everyone mucks in

Liam Tucker, the manager of Friar Tucks said “We became aware of the effort after seeing it develop on local social media. When people started talking about taking action we knew we wanted to play a part. Unfortunately due to work commitments we were unable to physically join in, but what we could do is be in work a little earlier, prep a bit more stock and set some time aside to take some chicken and refreshments up to the volunteers, free of charge of course, somethings are worth more than money in life. We are proud to support our town and it’s wonderful community. It was encouraging to see so many young lads in attendance. There was no shortage of positive role models that day, instilling a bit of home town pride and community values and offering up an alternative from gangs and mindless vandalism.”

Brilliant response

Town Council Leader Brian Smedley said “This was a brilliant response to a situation which was heading for a cul de sac as we searched for an official solution. When we saw Ben’s photos we discussed who’s job it was to deal with this. The Environment Agency is responsible for the walls and banks of any river, but neither them, nor Town nor County Councils are responsible for the river itself and can just deal with the Highways and the waste on the streets, so we had to find a way to get it there so we could dispose of it. The river bed itself is the responsibility of the Crown Estate. So I wrote to them to try to get them to remove their rubbish and clean our river. The last time I did this was in 2019 when we had a dead cow in the river, caught up on shopping trolleys, and their response then had been first to offer to approach Asda to recover their trolleys and second to offer Town Council to lease the riverbed from them, which was a bit of a poisoned royal challice. At no point had they offered to come and clear the river despite them being one of the most profitable concerns in the country. However, before I got a reply Ben had led an uprising against them anyway and decided to get it done himself. He can only be praised. Firstly for raising the issue, then for not just complaining but getting on and doing it. It was his photos that alerted us and it was him at the centre of the action to get the trolleys out. He certainly deserves the credit on this one.”

Town Council Plays its Part

Cllr Leigh Redman had responded to the initial social media posts by putting out a call to ‘any magnet fishers out there’ to have a go and in return offered to get a town council lorry to remove anything they pulled out. Cllr Redman said ” I was  then contacted by a couple of magnet fisher men who were going to arrange something for Friday evening. I arranged through  Town Council Amenities Director Scott Mason  to have someone on hand to clear it up. I told the fishermen to stash anything they pull out opposite Nationwide so we could clear it. I was astounded by the community response and I’m so glad people rallied round.”

Andy Cosby commented “I’m currently on walking sticks due to health so couldn’t participate .I was giving guidance and supervising the younger ones and done a bit of sweeping. It was good to see the younger crowds getting involved kept them entertained for a few hours”

Ben pointed out it was people from all walks of life and especially singled out 73 year old Ray Harper, the countries second oldest Magnet Fisher “He came down all the way from Birmingham just to help out!” Andy added “The oldest is George Stevenson. He’s a Towpath Dipper and would have been there too but he was on holiday”

Proud of our Town

Cllr Redman added “So proud of my town.  While the Councils generally took a hit  this week it was for things  not within their control. I was pleased to be able to help a little, arranging for town council to clear & tidy if required after the wonderful Magnet fishers from across the area, coordinated by TowPath Dippers. So many people coming together to help make a dent in a complicated eyesore . Too many to mention but some of the ones I know – Andy, Ben, Fryer Tucks, Bridgwater Town Council, Fountain, Terence, magnets and so many more  thank you.”

Cllr Smedley summed up “People can’t be blamed for assuming it was the council’s job to clean this up but it wasn’t. It was the Crown Estate. It’s always best before criticising to find out who the right people to blame are though. Social media has a tendancy to do that, but in this case it shows what a positive use it can be put to. But at the end of the day it needs people who say they’ll do something and then do it. Well done Ben. We’d probably still be waiting for Crown Estates to respond by which time we could be walking across the river on shopping trolleys. And the other thing to say is…stop throwing them in there in the first place!!”