VOLUNTEERS were bathed in warm sunshine as they cleaned up a section of the River Cray in Foots Cray Meadows.

Thames21 riverkeeper Ashe Hurst was joined by his Thamesmead counterpart Geoff Williams and 13 volunteers on April 28 to clean up the area around the Five Arches bridge.

Two teams of volunteers worked along each of the banks while Mr Hurst and Mr Williams took to a boat to clean up the deeper water.

Altogether the volunteers collected 25 black sacks of litter.

Among the rubbish dumped in the water were used nappies, drinks bottles and cans, disposable barbecues, bags of dog mess and plastic bread pallets.

Volunteers were careful to work around the bird nesting areas to avoid disturbing wildfowl and swans.

The River Cray is part of Thames21's Adopt A River scheme.

Originally the whole stretch of the Cray, which runs through Bexley, was adopted in 2003 by the Cray Anglers' Conservation Group, an organisation of environmentally conscious fishermen concerned about the state of the river.

This has now evolved into Thames21's river keeping programme.

The conservation group's efforts, and those of other volunteers and Thames21, have improved the quality of the river in Bexley.

In December last year, it was judged to be 87.9 per cent cleaner than it was in 2004, according to the River Cleanliness Index.

Thames21, a charity which works with other groups to improve the condition of London's waterways, is still looking for a group to adopt the River Shuttle, a tributary of the Cray in Bexley.

Interested volunteers can just adopt a section of the river and Thames21 will help them to keep it clean and learn more about the waterway.

The charity's events include clean-ups, river walks, bankside barbecues and other fun activities.

Thames21 will offer help, support, equipment and training, as well as insurance and health and safety instruction.

It will also arrange for the rubbish retrieved to be taken away.

If you would like to adopt a stretch of river, call Thames21's river programmes co-ordinator Matthew Loveday or email him at matthew.

loveday@thames21.org.uk