Thames Rivers Trust has recognised the important role volunteers play in river conservation

Today our CEO Miles Morgan presented Glyn Horn an outstanding volunteer for Action for the River Kennet (ARK) with the TRT Peter Spillett Award for 2025.

The award was created by TRT to celebrate the late Peter Spillett, a Trustee for more than 10 years, who cared passionately about improving the Thames rivers and the wildlife that they sustain.

Glyn carries out a huge amount of valuable citizen science, regularly riverfly monitoring 7 sites on chalk streams in the Kennet catchment to check river health. Additionally, she is a regular water vole surveyor, mink raft checker and volunteers at a range of ARK’s practical river restoration tasks. As a key member of the charity’s trained support volunteers for ARK River School she can often be found in waders surrounded by primary school children sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm for important but often overlooked aquatic invertebrates that underpin a healthy chalk stream ecosystem.

The dedicated volunteer was nominated by Education and Environment Officer at the Englefield Estate in West Berkshire’s Dr Elizabeth Mattison, who was impressed by Glyn from the first time they met when ARK was taking part in the estate’s 2-day primary schools ‘Schools Days’ event.  ‘Her fascination with, and enthusiasm for, freshwater invertebrates was infectious and inspiring and she was great with the children taking part, being kind, patient and making sure they understood what they were looking at and the task they had been set.’

TRT’s CEO Miles presented Glyn with her award at ARK’s annual Volunteer Gathering event, in Wiltshire. He remarked, ‘Glyn’s dedication to river conservation and her passion for inspiring the next generation truly embody the spirit of the TRT Peter Spillett Award. Her commitment to citizen science and education is exceptional, and I am thrilled to acknowledge her incredible contributions. Volunteers like Glyn are essential to our efforts to protect and restore the Thames, its tributaries and its invaluable ecosystems.’

Glyn said: ‘I’m thrilled to have the honour; I do what I do for ARK because it gives me a direction and a feeling of belonging to something that I consider really worthwhile.’

ARK’s Director Charlotte Hitchmough added, ‘It is fantastic to have Glyn’s volunteering celebrated with this wonderful award. Glyn’s energy and passion for our chalk streams and all the projects she has contributed to over the last 10 years is something she should be very proud of. It is volunteers such as Glyn that enable ARK to deliver the number of projects we do effectively and efficiently. She deserves this recognition particularly for her years of commitment to riverfly monitoring and for the enormous number of River School workshops she has been involved in. ‘

The annual award is now open for entries and is once again seeking nominations for an outstanding individual who works or volunteers with a Rivers Trust or another NGO delivering projects for the environmental good of rivers in the Thames River Basin. More details can be found here.