News and Events

Hand painted petition at Rights of the River Cam festival

  • Posted on: 20 July 2026
  • By: Susan
Painting of sewage entering the Cam
Painting of concerns about the Cam

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.

Midsummer Celebration of the Rights of the River Cam

  • Posted on: 1 June 2026
  • By: Susan
Peter Hammond (WASP) speaking at River Rights Festival

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).

Daniel Zeichner's views on the state of our rivers, and what to do about it

  • Posted on: 21 March 2026
  • By: Susan
Sewage in the River Cam (papier mache poo and long distance swimmer-protester)

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?

  • Posted on: 20 March 2026
  • By: Susan

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. 

Talk: Threats to the river Cam and what we can do about them

  • Posted on: 19 November 2025
  • By: Susan

Friends of the Cam occasionally make presentations, including to community groups and students. Recent talks have included those to local Women's Institutes, Friends of Midsummer Common, University of Cambridge Student Environment Group and Anglia Ruskin students studying the rights of nature. We welcome invitations to speak. The attached presentation on Threats to the river Cam and what we can do about them will give some idea of content. Please feel free to quote, with acknowledgement.

Rob Larter on The changing West Antarctic Ice Sheet and its implications for East Anglia

  • Posted on: 22 April 2025
  • By: Susan
Dr Rob Larter in the Antarctic

We were pleased to host Rob Larter on May 21st 2025, who spoke about how the West Antarctic Ice Sheet change is the largest source of uncertainty in future sea-level rise predictions and how accelerating sea-level rise impacts coastal erosion and the risk of coastal flooding events around East Anglia.  A copy of Rob's slides can be found here. He highlighted how a relatively small rise in sea level has a disproportionate effect on the recurrence interval of extreme high wate

Challenging the Cambridge Growth Company

  • Posted on: 27 March 2025
  • By: Susan
Cambridge Station Square featured in The Guardian illustrating poor design

The Federation of Cambridge Residents' Associations (FeCRA) hosted Peter Freeman, Chair of the Government’s new ‘Cambridge Growth Company’, to explain what his vision for the growth of Cambridge means for its infrastructure, water and housing, and this was an opportunity for us to question him directly.  Friends of the Cam challenged the appropriateness of growth in our dry, increasingly hot, and water stressed region, which is also threatened by flooding from sea level rise.

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