Our Online Premiere hosted by Finisterre and Surfers Against Sewage
- Charlotte Sawyer
- Apr 10
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 15
After the Online Premier of Rave On For The Avon, we sat down for a live-streamed Q&A hosted by Finisterre and Surfers Against Sewage. I just want to start by saying a huge thank you to both of them for supporting this independent film and helping bring these conversations to a wider audience. It really means so much.
The panel was hosted by Kirsty Davis, Community Water Quality Manager at Surfers Against Sewage, and I was joined by Mary, a Women’s Institute Climate Ambassador and brilliant local campaigner, and Eva, a Research Fellow in river pollution and one of the central voices in the film. Finisterre's head office and flagship store in St Agnes Cornwall was a perfect setting for this event. Sitting amongst their gorgeous clothes and outdoor gear, we dug into the issues of the film.
It felt like such a special conversation. One that really captured what the film is about. Not just the issues facing our rivers, but the people, the connections, and the love that drives our efforts to protect them. You can watch the full Q&A video at the end of this article.
Citizen science and the power of people
We explores Surfers Against Sewage's Protecting Wild Waters campaign for 2026 and one of the things that came through so strongly was the role of citizen science. Eva spoke so clearly about how important it is, not just as data, but as a movement:
“Citizen science is so impactful. It underpins a lot of what we know about water quality and fills in the gaps left by official monitoring, which often just doesn’t cut it… most rivers are only checked every five years. It gives us a much bigger spatial and temporal understanding of water quality than we’d otherwise have.”
Hearing that, it really struck me again how much this movement has been driven by ordinary people. That is something I saw again and again while making the film and I observed that:
“It is citizen science that has completely changed this… it’s ordinary people doing things around work and life and doing something that’s actually quite approachable.”
Starting small
Mary’s story really stayed with me as well. She spoke about beginning with just a small group of people, and slowly building something bigger through conversations, local events, and persistence:
“We started off with just a small group of us… and built it up by going to events, talking to people, and getting the community behind it.”
It is such a simple idea, but also quite reassuring. You do not need a huge movement to begin with, just a few people who care enough to start.
Holding onto joy and hope
We also spoke about how hard this work can be at times, and how important it is to hold onto joy. For me, that has always been a huge part of this story. The creativity, the gatherings, the slightly chaotic energy of people coming together around a river.
“We need that joy and that creativity and that positivity to keep going, because it’s an issue that’s not ever going to really go away.”
That feeling of people coming together not just in frustration, but in love for a river, is something I really wanted the film to capture.
One of the most moving parts of the evening for me was actually the live chat. Seeing messages come in from people watching all over, sharing their rivers, their stories, their reactions, was incredibly special.
People described the film as “beautiful”, “powerful”, “thought-provoking”, and “inspiring”, and I honestly felt quite overwhelmed reading them. Making an independent film can feel a bit like sending something out into the world and hoping it lands somewhere. So to see it resonate like that really meant a lot.
What was also lovely was seeing how many rivers were represented. People tuning in from all over, from the River Ver to the River Tone, the Hogsmill, the Trent, the Avon, the Frome, the Irk, the Knickitty, the Wharfe, the Gannel, the Wye, the Mersey, the Wensum, and even the Río de la Plata in Buenos Aires. It really brought home how shared this story is, even if the rivers themselves are miles apart.
Kirsty ended the conversation with something that summed it up so well:
“Local action absolutely translates to national action. That’s how change really happens.”
That feels like the heart of it. This film is about rivers, but it is also about people. What happens when people come together, care deeply, and take action in whatever way they can.
And after that Q&A, seeing that community reflected back through the screen, it felt like those small actions are already building into something much bigger.
Thank you again for your support and for being part of this movement to connect with and protect our rivers and its ever-growing
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