FAMILIES gathered for the Marden Valley Spring Equinox Festival on Saturday 18th March.
The festival, hosted by the Friends of Marden Valley, focused on being part of the solution to river pollution.
Inside Marden House families were treated to an informative film, talks and demonstrations and younger visitors had the opportunity to try their hand at candle making or build their own mini raft - later on raft makers took part in a river boat race. There was also a Wind in the Willows themed woodland hunt.
The highlight of the event was the river blessing. The Bishop of Ramsbury and Kate Dineen - a Shamanic practitioner donned their waders and took to the stream to carry out a very special ceremony. Flowers were passed amongst the crowd for individuals to make their own blessing for the river, these were then placed on a raft as a gift to the river.
Cllr Robert MacNaughton told us: "The highlight of the River Festival was the blessing conducted by Bishop Andrew, and Kate Dineen, a Shamanic practitioner from Stroud. With different words and songs, they thanked the River Marden for bringing us clean water over the millennia, with the hope that we will stop pouring poisons into her as soon as possible."
Last month the Environment Agency had to be called in to deal with an oil spill in the River Marden after a resident spotted the spill spreading about 5 metres.
For more information on how you can be part of the solution to our pollution problems visit http://www.friendsofthemardenvalley.co.uk/p/solutions.html
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