So we heard a rumour about an island on the river Thames down Kingston way. The islanders took over the abandoned wedding and conference centre business that used to run from Raven’s Ait.  Their vision for this Thames jewel is to turn it into an eco conference centre, a place where community groups and organisations can come and support their cause, exchange ideas, share skills and help build the support structure for a strong and healthy environmental movement.  An amazing opportunity that could be Kingston’s real gift to the climate change solutions melting pot.

Nosy folk that we are, we had to go down and sniff out the situation for ourselves. Once again, we packed our trailer with our mini baby bike power sound system and headed off to the island. How exotic! Our efforts were rewarded with a sunny day on the island where the locals danced to the sounds of some pedal powered Reggae and Rocksteady. People were invited to have a picnic on the island and in the hours of the early afternoon all things just organically fell into place. People filled white picnic tables with nibbles and landed their dancing feet on the daisy-covered lawn to our sweet pedal powered tunes.

It was a natural setting for our bikes, pointing to the tip of the island parallel to the river flow, with Bushy Park to the right and spring sun above. Beautiful!

The island would be a great resource for Magnificent Revolution and organisations alike. Therefore, if you dear reader have 10 min to spare, sign their online petition or call the Kingston Council (Bruce McDonald, Chief Executive Kingston Council 0208 547 5151 or Gerry Sevenoaks, Head of Strategic Services 0208 547 5175) and let them know of your support for Raven’s Ait!

You can also sign their petition online.