TideFest

TideFest is back for its second year on World Rivers Day to highlight and celebrate the recreational importance of the Thames Tideway to Londoners. With chances to get active with watersports, fun angling games, fascinating foreshore walks, live music acts and refreshment stalls there is a brilliant day out waiting for all the family!

• Get active on the water and try something new with a kayaking taster session provided by Edge Paddling.
• The Strand on the Green Sailing Club will be holding their annual TideFest Challenge Trophy competition. Spectators welcome!
• Fascinating fun on the foreshore – highly informative foreshore walks, children’s river dipping, water testing, games and much more!
• Strand on the Green Embankment will host marquees along the riverside with community activities, food & refreshments, live acoustic performers and local entertainers!
• Are you nature lover? Thames Water will be running guided birdwatching walks and species surveys at Kempton Nature Reserve, a rare opportunity to visit the nature reserve on Isleworth Ait with The London Wildlife Trust, and the Environment Agency are bringing along their freshwater fish tanks!

Windrush trips around the Thames Islands

The Windrush was built in 1989 in Burnham-on-Crouch and used by the National Rivers Authority, subsequently the Environment Agency as an inspection launch on the Thames based at Reading. Named after the Thames tributary she was often used for royal and civic occasions and eventually sold on in 2006. Of steel construction and teak interior she is powered by two Mermaid Ford 6 cylinder engines and is currently owned by Eel Pie Slipways, whose Director Ken Dwan is a former Royal Waterman and Queen's Bargemaster.

Come aboard Windrush for an hour's guided trip around the Thames islands at 11am, 12.15pm, 1.30pm & 2.45pm from Kew Pier, Richmond, TW9 3BE.

Discounted Trips from Kew with WPBA

Westminster Passenger Boat Association are running their normal trips from Kew Pier, leaving 12.30pm to Richmond and Hampton Court, 12pm noon, 3.30pm, 4.40pm and 5.30pm to Westminster Pier. A 10% discount is available to passengers with a TideFest programme or website voucher.