Thames Life

Thames Life Thames Life aims to create positive spaces and opportunities for resident empowerment and wellbeing!

Check out the latest episode of Fierce Dancing podcast herehttps://youtu.be/DTFRestotRsWe had the pleasure of speaking t...
03/06/2026

Check out the latest episode of Fierce Dancing podcast here
https://youtu.be/DTFRestotRs

We had the pleasure of speaking to Vic Stevens, long-time resident of Barking and Dagenham north of the A13. He reflects on a borough shaped by rehousing, movement, and continual reinvention since the Becontree Estate era. Through personal experience and local memory, he traces shifting housing, green spaces, and community life across decades of change.

Exploring Barking and Dagenham’s evolving identity, Vic offers an intimate view of a place marked by disruption, adaptation, and the fragile threads of belonging that still persist beneath it all.

🎭 **Carnival Arts Project 2026 – Upcoming Community Events** 🎶✨Two exciting community events will be taking place as par...
03/06/2026

🎭 **Carnival Arts Project 2026 – Upcoming Community Events** 🎶✨

Two exciting community events will be taking place as part of the **Carnival Arts Project 2026**, celebrating arts, culture, creativity, and community cohesion across Barking and Dagenham.

📍 **Pre-Carnival Launch Party Event**
🗓 Saturday 27 June 2026
🕐 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
📌 Valence Library, Becontree Avenue, Dagenham, RM8 3HT

A pre-carnival launch event will be held to bring together the community in celebration of creativity, culture, and engagement ahead of the main carnival.

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🎉 **Barking and Dagenham Carnival 2026**
🗓 Saturday 11 July 2026
📌 Barking Park, Longbridge Road, Barking, IG11 8TA

The Barking and Dagenham Carnival 2026 will be taking place, featuring music, dance, arts, wellbeing activities, and a celebration of community spirit for all ages.

🌟 These events are free and open to the community and aim to promote diversity, creativity, and inclusion through carnival arts and cultural celebration.

Police have said they will seek criminal charges against 57 individuals and 20 companies/organisations linked to the 201...
20/05/2026

Police have said they will seek criminal charges against 57 individuals and 20 companies/organisations linked to the 2017 fire that killed 72 people.

[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/may/19/grenfell-fire-police-criminal-charges-companies-individuals]

The Grenfell Inquiry exposed “systematic dishonesty” at the heart of companies that put profit above human life. If profit-driven corporations continue to ignore the health and safety of people and the planet, they must remember that the law applies to them too, and accountability will follow.











If Peckham can stand up against “gentrification on steroids” and reject a scheme offering just 12% affordable housing de...
20/05/2026

If Peckham can stand up against “gentrification on steroids” and reject a scheme offering just 12% affordable housing despite strong pressure from developers, then why can’t Barking & Dagenham do the same? The gentrification plans had faced strong opposition from local residents and campaign groups.

Read the story here:
https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/great-day-peckham-aylesham-centre-33973144

https://southwarknews.co.uk/area/peckham/aylesham-centre-redevelopment-rejected-it-would-have-changed-peckhams-skyline-forever-and-given-12-per-cent-affordable-housing/














How do we move from being spoken about to speaking for ourselves and shaping the decisions that affect our lives?Rooted ...
20/05/2026

How do we move from being spoken about to speaking for ourselves and shaping the decisions that affect our lives?
Rooted in Paulo Freire’s idea of critical consciousness based on his groundbreaking book 'Pedagogy of the Oppressed', this is about turning silence into voice, and dialogue into real power.




Footpath 47 is more than a path beside the Thames. It is one of the last remaining wild spaces in Barking Riverside, a l...
19/05/2026

Footpath 47 is more than a path beside the Thames. It is one of the last remaining wild spaces in Barking Riverside, a living reminder of the marshland, river history and open landscapes that once defined East London. Along this riverside route, wildflowers bloom through old landfill ground, skylarks sing above the grassland, seals appear beside the mudflats and the wind carries the sound of birds instead of traffic.

For years, local residents have walked this path for peace, reflection and connection to nature. In a borough shaped by industry, pollution and rapid redevelopment, Footpath 47 offers something increasingly rare in London. It offers space to breathe. It offers silence. It offers belonging.

Yet this landscape now faces immense pressure from large scale development. Thousands of new homes, roads and construction projects are transforming the riverside at speed. While regeneration brings investment and housing, it also risks erasing the fragile habitats and unique character that make Footpath 47 special. The loss of open sky, wild grassland and natural shoreline would not just affect wildlife. It would affect the people who depend on this place for wellbeing, identity and community.

Places like Footpath 47 are often dismissed as empty land waiting to be built on. But these so called wastelands have become vital ecosystems. Brownfield habitats support birds, insects and plant life that are disappearing elsewhere across Britain. The Thames edge at Barking Riverside is not wasted space. It is a sanctuary.

To save Footpath 47 is not to oppose the future. It is to demand a future where development does not destroy every quiet corner of nature left in the city. It is about protecting public access to the river, preserving biodiversity and recognising that working class communities deserve beauty, green space and heritage too.

London does not need another lifeless waterfront lined only with concrete and glass.
The drum has been taken down and now this area is a building site. How can we come together as residents to make sure Footpath 47 is not forgotten, not erased, and still belongs to everyone who needs it?

Resident Paul Scott makes a strong point in this article published in the BD Post. New homes are important, but developm...
15/05/2026

Resident Paul Scott makes a strong point in this article published in the BD Post. New homes are important, but development has to be matched with proper infrastructure, public services and green space. Many people support regeneration in Barking Riverside, but there are growing concerns that the scale and speed of expansion could place too much pressure on local communities if planning does not keep pace.


Seals have been spotted along the Barking Riverside shoreline, a beautiful reminder that nature is still fighting to sur...
15/05/2026

Seals have been spotted along the Barking Riverside shoreline, a beautiful reminder that nature is still fighting to survive in our city.

This is exactly why we must protect Natural Wild Footpath 47 from being concretised and overdeveloped. These wild spaces are not empty land waiting for profit driven projects, they are living habitats that support wildlife returning to the Thames.

Do the developers really not want future generations to witness these incredible animals thriving here? Once natural shorelines are destroyed, they are almost impossible to restore.

We need development that works with nature, not against it. Protect Footpath 47. Protect our shoreline. Protect the wildlife that calls it home. 🌿🦭



Last Thursday, residents and community groups gathered at the Barking & Dagenham Citizens Accountability Assembly at St ...
30/04/2026

Last Thursday, residents and community groups gathered at the Barking & Dagenham Citizens Accountability Assembly at St Margaret’s Parish Church, following a housing enquiry that engaged over 100 local people. The assembly brought community led demands, especially on fair work, wages and living standards, directly to decision makers. The Leader of the Council and party representatives, including Dominic Twomey(Labour), Andrew Boff (Conservative), Emma Grove(Green) and Ben Suter (Reform), were held accountable to residents’ asks.

Organised by Citizens UK, Thames Life and BD Citizens, the event focused on holding decision makers accountable to community priorities, with candidates responding directly to the issues raised. It was not a traditional Q and A, but a structured assembly where local voices set the agenda. Representatives said yes to almost all of the asks, and now we wait to see those commitments turned into action, showing the real power of organised community action in shaping the borough’s future.

The Gordian Knot was an intricate knot said to be impossible to untie, until Alexander the Great famously cut through it...
22/04/2026

The Gordian Knot was an intricate knot said to be impossible to untie, until Alexander the Great famously cut through it with his sword.
Like the Gordian Knot, large corporations can become so entangled in profit incentives and bureaucracy that meaningful accountability seems impossible. But the lesson of the story is not patience, it is decisiveness. When institutions fail to deliver transparency or fair service, communities do not have to keep pulling at the knot. They can cut through it by organizing, applying pressure, and forcing change.

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