BrueCREW AGM 2026 with River Tone

BrueCREW's 2026 AGM, with guest speaker Phil Tovey, on his quest to better know, and restore, our neighbour, River Tone, western Somerset -------------------------------------------- Phil will present his research from his source-to-mouth journey of our neighbour, River Tone, western Somerset. A study focused on ecological temporality, and a personal quest of reacquaintance with his river of birth. In two legs, one between 21st and 23rd July 2024, and the other the morning of the 23rd August 2024 (the interruption owing to a waterborne disease) Phil completed a total distance of 63 miles, walking / running solo and unsupported, from his home in Lydeard St Lawrence up to the second source - the Tan - at Holcombe Waters, Elworthy, down to the mouth of River Tone where they join River Parrett near Burrow Mump on the Somerset Levels, flowing out, then, to the Severn Sea. Uniquely, he did this all completely barefoot. He ate only what I could forage (mainly blackberry and nettle seeds) and drank only from River Tone, sleeping at night in stands of oak and beech alongside the riverbank. As a former Royal Marines Commando, Phil describes this journey as a deliberate test of endurance and expedition; to journey away from one's home, as modern notions of home increasingly feel deceitful. This is a story, in many ways, of going beyond into vulnerable states - or to “shut up and [be] trained!” to adapt Haraway (2015) - by a being “…whose vigor outstrips [ones] own” (Rogers, 2018, p.8). It proved a worthy test. Far from being romantic or heroic - two qualities river refuses to afford - the vital fluids of freshwater, blackberry juice, digitalised data, sweat, blood, vomit, diarrhoea, cortisol, rainwater, and stinging tears liquify contemporary boundaries and beliefs. Told through four richly described riparian encounters - Hind, Buck, Toilet and Winnard - this immersive talk doesn’t hold back. It offers a rare invitation to engage in the ancestral fleshiness shared between river, animal, feet and which ultimately, envelops our futures on this island. -------------------------------------------- Phil is the Director of Nature-Centric Approaches at ASRA - a United Nations Foundation hosted initiative for advancing systemic risk thinking and action. He’s the former Head of Futures at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and still serving Royal Marines Commando reservist with over 23 years operational service. Phil is a Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading where his research focuses on human augmentation and River Tone. -------------------------------------------- Join us from 7 pm, downstairs in the Clubroom @ the Chapel, for a drink, and then hear how a Landscape Recovery Project functions, and how each restoration technique can positively impact the river Please do consider donating £10 if you can, to enable BrueCREW to continue to host events like this, and fund our costs, such as insurance for our Riverfly monitors, and Balsam Bashing volunteers BrueCREW's AGM, including a review of our Brue's year, will be held after Phil's talk