ConhamBathing

What is a River Charter? It is a living vow—a collective promise to honour, protect, and be in right-relationship with the river as a being rather than a resource. A river charter reawakens our ancient responsibility as guardians, not consumers, of the waters that give us life. The Thriving Avon Charter speaks this truth clearly: “I am the River and the River is me.” This sacred statement, drawn from Māori law recognizing the Whanganui River’s personhood, is a reminder that the river is not separate from us—it is kin. It flows through our lands and our lives, holding the memory of ancestors and the possibility of futures yet to be born. Through this charter, we name the River Avon as a living entity with rights: • To flow • To be free from pollution • To sustain life and biodiversity • To be restored and reconnected • To be fed and nourished sustainably To respect the river is to recognise its right to thrive. To practice reciprocity is to ask, What can I give back? We are each invited to become a guardian of the Avon—whether you’re a swimmer, farmer, artist, dog walker, or dreamer. This is a movement of many hands, hearts, and voices, working together to restore the soul of this land through care for its waters. Will you sign the charter? Not just in ink, but in action—by tending the river, protecting its rights, and living in kinship with the more-than-human world. The Avon is alive. Let’s honour it as such. #WeAreAvon #RiverRights #PersonhoodForRivers #EcologicalJustice #ThrivingWaters #NatureAsKin #AvonCharter #EarthJurisprudence #Reciprocity #RiverGuardians #DeepEcology #WatersOfBelonging

Welcoming our new citizen scientists! 💙🙌 Today we held a training session for some of our new citizen scientists ahead of our biggest ever sampling programme which will start in a few weeks! It’s a special one this year, as thanks to support from @surfersagainstsewage we will be able to monitor E.coli & Enterococci concentrations for a full year rather than just over the summer months. Before we got started, we were greeted by @weareavon1 (and some of the Avon’s source water) who dropped by on the last leg of their pilgrimage from the Avon’s source to mouth 💙🩵 We’re so thrilled to be joined by so many new volunteers/river guardians and can’t wait to get started on our biggest ever season of water quality sampling! Thank you so much for all your continued support, Team Conham Bathing 🦦 #citizenscience #riverpollution #ukwaterblitz #sewagepollution

🧫💧Our sampling results are in! 💧🧫 ➡️ Swipe through this post to see the latest result, taken 9th December (unfortunately it’s not good news) and for all the results received so far for the 2025-26 sampling season (also not the best news). 📈 For a more in-depth explanation and a graph of all the results so far, head to /sampling (or find via the link in bio!) Sorry to be the bearer of bad news to all our fellow winter swimmers and river guardians, but we are making moves to make 2026 a big year for the Avon and its guardians 💪 Watch this space! Team Conham 🦦

Autumn is my fave time of year to swim in the river🍁💚Leaves fall like an avalance. Shout out to @majalenamusic for this beautiful song that she donated to our film. The incredible @chiverin_ curated such a stunning soundtrack with some many of his incredible artists✨🪩💚 The song went with the moment The Bathing Belles discovered the community bench built for them by Chris, a local dog walker who thought they should have somewhere to sip hot tea after a frosty swim. Was so lush going for a dip with @conhambathing lovelies @emmas_nicol & @aggienyagari & first time swimmer to the spot @gabriellale_______ 🪩💚🪩🪩🪩✨ the last sample I took for @conhambathing a couple of weeks ago came back poor which is not a good result. It doesn’t stop us from swimming but we think our rivers should be free from pollution so we can swim safely. Thank you to the over 60 fellow citizen scientist for taking samples of the water with @surfersagainstsewage to try our best to understand the health of the River💚💚 Also big up to @redequipment for not only supporting our film so much but for gifting me their gorgeous robe, it’s so soft and colourful ✨✨✨

💙🪩 The River Was With Us 💙🏞️ (Swipe through for the full story) Our 81st screening of Rave On For The Avon @bristolaquarium wasn’t just about us gathering together, it was about our connection to the river itself. Our afterparty also launched an art exhibit ‘River Joy’ we were invited to reflect on what the Avon means to us. Huge thanks to artist @hannahbettershell of citizen science group @conhambathing for creating the interactive part of the installation. The Avon was present and people could leave messages to the river. On the dance floor, Avona puppet (a representation of the Avon river made by the community who love her) danced among us. We believe the river is alive and should have the right to flow. 📸 In the film, you can see @mrsmegavon floating in the river, projected above an audience full of people. A powerful image of how many of us still long to connect with the water. The exhibit is now extended at the Aquarium 🐠 so you can still visit, write a message to the river, and add your voice to the flow. 🎬 And if you missed the film, and would like to host a community screening, please get in touch. Photos by Robert J C Browne and @louisveillon

🐠🌊 Celebrate World Rivers Day with us inside the Aquarium! 🌊🐠 Our final Bristol screening and River Joy exhibit launch, will celebrate World Rivers Day this September. On Saturday, 27th September, we will gather to enjoy the film and participate in a Q&A session with Director Charlotte Sawyer & Mrs Meg Avon. Afterward, the Aquarium foyer will transform into our creative playpen for a vibrant DJ night afterparty with @frankincensemannolo @goldswn & @satsumasisters . This event will also launch a special art and photography exhibit titled River Joy. Tickets for The Rave On For The Avon film screening and The Avona Exhibit Launch are sold separately on Headfirst. Rave On For The Avon, Conham Bathing, Avona are coming together to create a river spirit puppet. This initiative aims to continue the campaign for the Bristol Avon. Bristol's new river spirit puppet, Avona, will join us on the dance floor, adding a unique charm to the evening. The River Joy exhibit will then open to the public the following day, Sunday, 28th September and it’s FREE. 🔗In the bio for Tickets 🎟️ 📸 captured by @_nic_kane from her collection River Joy ✨

Our ✨final✨ Bristol Screening Sat 27th Sep and it’s going to be a big one! Grab your tickets on headfirst at the link in bio💙✨🪩🎬🏞️🍿🦦 One of our favourite screenings last year was at @bristolaquarium is mega screen and we are back to celebrate World Rivers Day. We will enjoy a Q&A with Director Charlotte Sawyer @lottieworld and @mrs_meg_avon and enjoy her beautiful poetry. Stay for an afterparty with DJs Alfresco Disco’s @frankincensemannolo Gold Sŵn @goldswn & Satsuma Sister @mimas.mima 💙✨🪩 tickets sold separately. So many incredible campaigners and creatives joined our last event hosted by Bristol legend @msjaydeadams , with artists @farrahcontemporaryart DJs @ngaioamusic @goldswn puppeteer @arts_activist_uk campaigners @conhambathing supported by the incredible people at @truestartcoffee Rave On for the Avon is an independent wild swimming documentary that’s explores a community’s fight to save their bathing spot in unique, daring & distinctly Bristol ways. 💙✨🪩🎬🏞️🍿🦦 The Guardian gave our film four stars saying ‘Campaigning never looked so fun and friendly as it does in this joyous documentary about Bristol’s clean water campaigners’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Raveonfortheavon #documentary #Bristol #riverguardians #riveravon #saveourrivers #riverpollution #sewagepollution

🐉AVONA🐉 the river Avon’s spirit is taking puppet form 💚💚💚 Rave On For The Avon, @conhambathing & @theavonas are gathering Bristol creatives to create a river-spirit to campaign for the rights of the Avon and you can help create her with us. With the guidance of incredible @saskia_tomlinson @camillestraatman and @katja._.art we will gather at @puppetplace in Bristol July and August to create Avona. Check out the crowdfunder to see how you can get involved and for more sketches of this wrathful and beautiful goddess persona. 💚🪩✨🖐🏼Be part of her making 💚link in bio for all @puppetplace  workshops this summer in Bristol. ONE WEEK UNTIL FIRST PUPPET WORKSHOP 🖐🏼 Want to help create a spirit-of-the-river puppet for Bristol, for the Avon, for rivers? 🐲 Learn the art of giant puppet making 🌱 Understand how to use natural materials 💚 Be part of something bigger than you Sign up to our first puppet making workshop NEXT FRIDAY 25TH JULY. 🔗 Link in bio Can’t make this workshop? Sign up to the next one. We are so excited to create Avona with the guidance @saskia_tomlinson who shares her vision for her work ‘I am inspired by and aim to recreate the feelings experienced in nature and with human connection through the use of light, movement, technology and community.    #raveonfortheavon  #Bristol #riverguardians #riveravon #saveourrivers #riverpollution #sewagepollution

🚧 WEBSITE DOWN 🚧 A little update from us: We know lots of you are interested in seeing the latest sampling data and signing the charter on our website, especially during this peak bathing time! Our project team is currently very small and busy, and we are not in a position to pay the expensive website fees at the moment. We realise this comes as a disappointment. However, we are all volunteers and currently have no funding to do this work, so please bear with us as we figure out the best way forward! We are also figuring out the best process for communicating the sampling results as we get them, so please stay tuned as we hope to share these soon. The new team of citizen scientists has been doing a fantastic job of collecting the samples and ensuring equipment is well stocked. We are hoping to launch a crowdfunder to support the website fees and other costs of keeping this important campaign going. We’ll share details of this soon. In the meantime, we hope you’re all keeping cool in this heat! It’s times like this we realise what a gift the river is for us and for all life. We’ll be in touch with developments as they happen. Thank you for understanding! Team Conham Bathing 💙🦦

“I realised today this is our 70th screening!!!” 💙🪩🍿🏞️🦦✨ Director Charlotte’s opening words to the loveliest crowd at our latest sold-out community screening in Bristol. Can you believe over four thousand people and counting have now seen this powerful story?? Thank you @tobacco_factory Bristol for hosting us for THIRD SCREENING at their stunning venues in Bristol. We couldn’t do it without the support of communities and venues like this. Big shout out to Catherine and her fantastic team who care so much for our previous Avon and know how to host lovely events! Thanks as well to @tombryanyeah for the gorgeous pics. @aggienyagari Co-Producer of Rave On For The Avon hosted the Q&A with @beccablease of @conhambathing , @mrs_meg_avon and Rebecca of @catch.swim . 
Becca Blease gave an update for Citizen Science collective @conhambathing , which (since the film premiered) has grown from 5 to over 80 volunteers regularly testing the water for traces of human pathogens at the much-loved bathing spot Conham River Park. This is the first year the bathers will be able to test all year round with support from @surfersagainstsewage . The site still does not have bathing water status and the group has some big plans coming up so watch this space… Mrs Meg Avon spoke of a new Bristol-based, woman-led art collective Avona that will be hosting a series of workshops this summer to create a goddess of the river Avon puppet, so as to animate the beauty and wrath of our beloved and degraded river. For more information on this project sign up to the newsletter (@theavonas link in bio). 
Rebecca Wetten of Catch, shared the importance of the right to access water “At Catch, everything we do comes back to access: ✨ Access to safe, clean, beautiful outdoor places to swim. ✨ Access to the water for people who’ve been historically excluded. ✨ Access to the mental, physical & community benefits that swimming brings. Please give @theavonas some support as we take this message forward into a fresh iteration of love for our gorgeous Bristol Avon 💙🪩✨🏞️ #raveonfortheavon #documentary #Bristol #riverguardians #riveravon #saveourrivers

We can’t wait for Rave on for the Avon to return to @tobacco_factory Wed 18th June 7pm at their new outdoor cinema space. 💙🪩🍿🏞️🦦✨The gorgeous team at the Tobacco Factory care deeply our precious Bristol Avon and we can’t wait to celebrate our shared love of the Avon with them. Following the screening, @conhambathing will update us about their campaign @beccablease @mrs_meg_avon @aggienyagari and the fantastic Rebecca Wetten founder of @catch.swim will share her journey helping more people to swim in nature around Bristol. 🎟️Tickets at the link in bio. 🎬Watch the full trailer on the link in bio. Rave On for the Avon is an independent wild swimming documentary that’s explores a community’s fight to save their bathing spot in unique, daring & distinctly Bristol ways. 💙✨🪩🎬🏞️🍿🦦 The Guardian gave our film four stars saying ‘Campaigning never looked so fun and friendly as it does in this joyous documentary about Bristol’s clean water campaigners’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐ #raveonfortheavon #documentary #Bristol #riverguardians #riveravon #saveourrivers #riverpollution #sewagepollution

You’re invited to a big warm hug of an evening. We're screening Rave On for the Avon, a proper feel-good film about river joy, community power, & the fight for swimmable water at Conham. 🎥 Rave On for the Avon - Film Screening & Q&A 🗓 Wed 18 June | 🕢 7:30pm | 📍Tobacco Factory Theatre There’ll be a Q&A after the film with: 🗣️ Becca Blease (Conham Bathing legend) 👰‍♀️ Mrs Meg Avon River Bride (the one in THAT dress) 🎥 Aggie Nyagari (superstar storyteller) 🏊‍♀️ & me – Rebecca Wetten, Co-Founder of Catch (big fan, possibly cried watching this film) What’s the film like? Frank’s winter dips. Meg’s river wedding. Lyndsey’s mermaid tail. All wrapped up in one gorgeous story about what happens when people come together to protect their river. You’ll laugh, you might cry, & you’ll probably leave wanting to organise a protest in a river. It’s also a reminder that the UK’s rivers deserve better - & we’ve got more power than we think to demand cleaner, swimmable water. 🎟️ Ticket link in bio. You won’t want to miss this.