Autumn Talks: Cameron Adams
CAMERON ADAMS: Where and how will we get our water both now and in the future?
Tuesday September 22, 6.30-8.30pm German Lutheran Church, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge
Eventbrite invitation here.
Fund Raiser for Friends of the Cam
Festival planning starts in the new year and to organise our Festival finances well in advance for 2027 (hold the date: 21 June), we have launched a Just Giving page, which can be accessed here. Any donation however small is very gratefully received. We have a target to raise £1000 to cover the festival costs.
Midsummer Celebration of the Rights of the River Cam
On June 21st, Midsummer's Eve, around 500 people gathered to declare the Rights of the River Cam for the 6th consecutive year. Some of the context for this is provided in the two introductory talks attached here. Peter Hammond, one of the the two campaigners from the River Windrush (Windrush Against Sewage Pollution) , spoke movingly about his motivations for his work, including the death of Heather Preen as a result of E-coli poisoning, and the bravery of her mother Julie Preen (now Maughan).
Autumn Talks: Bill McGuire
BILL McGUIRE: The Fate of the World. A History and Future of the Climate Crisis
Tuesday November 3rd, 6.30-8.30pm Unitarian Church, Emmanuel Road, Cambridge
Eventbrite invitation here.
Rights of the River Motion
On 16th July 2026 Cambridge City Council declared the rights of the river Cam in a motion which originated with Green Party councillors and was amended by Labour and Liberal Democrats. The declaration followed the practice of Friends of the Cam who have declared the rights of the Cam, at 6pm each midsummer’s evening, with a community of hundreds, at its annual river rights festival. The action of the Council in repeating our practice, involved a solemn undertaking.
Hand painted petition at Rights of the River Cam festival
Julie Kavanagh, Anne Rivington and Charlotte Rivington designed some colourful hand painted visual petition sheets on which people attending the Rights of the River event wrote personal messages, addressed to Daniel Zeicnher, Cambridge MP. The petition describes concern over high levels of illegal sewage dumping and expresses no confidence in the ability of Anglian Water and Cambridge Water to address the issues which their mismanagement has contributed to and calls for water to be brought back into public ownership.
Daniel Zeichner's views on the state of our rivers, and what to do about it
On Tuesday 17th March Friends of the Cam had a meeting with Daniel Zeichner as part of the Sewage Campaign Network Day in Parliament. The report of our meeting, as well as a report of an evening meeting focused on the Channel 4 drama-documentary Dirty Business hosted by Clive Lewis MP for Norwich South, is attached.
Who Decides Cambridge's Future?
This is a critical time for Cambridge and its surrounding area as the Government is in the process of imposing an unelected body - the Greater Cambridge Development Corporation - on the city region. On Monday, 23rd March Cambridge Past Present and Future hosted a discussion (the recording is available here: ‘Who Decides Cambridge’s Future’ ) and FotC’s steering group member (and Chair of FeCRA) Wendy Blythe was on the panel.
WHY FRIENDS OF THE CAM DO NOT SUPPORT A DESIGNATED BATHING AREA AT SHEEP’S GREEN
Friends of the Cam campaign for an unpolluted river, against over-abstraction from it, and the unsustainable growth in buildings and infrastructure that impact on both. Designating short stretches of rivers may lead to some very limited local improvement of water quality, at the expense of water quality elsewhere. Friends of the Cam opposed the DBA application in the consultation for reasons given below.
About
Friends of the Cam are a Cambridge based campaigning group committed to restoring the health of the river Cam and its tributaries for the benefit of nature. We are pledged to ending pollution of the river and overabstraction linked to unsustainable growth in the area. We have developed a charter to express these commitments which we invite others to sign.