Wandle News

With The UK River Summit set to take place at Morden Hall on the River Wandle in under a month, we spoke to someone at the epicentre of the local community; the founder of Wandle News, Olivia Herlily. Here, Olivia shares her story, the motivation behind her work, and a bit about what the Wandle means to her…

“When I first moved to south London, I didn’t realise we had the beautiful Wandle Trail on our doorstep.  It’s easy to overlook when you’re commuting to work every day.  I discovered the river during the pandemic when I was looking for local walks, and my love for the Wandle was born.

I grew up in Salisbury close to the River Avon, and already had a passion for chalk streams, so I was delighted to find I had one right on my doorstep.

I started building Wandle News, when I realised there were probably others like me, who lived nearby and didn’t realise we had a beautiful river flowing through our area.  There was also no central place online that brought all the organisations connected to the river together.

During lockdown people were looking for walks and outdoor activities, and businesses were struggling to stay afloat. I saw an opportunity to build a website that could address both issues by promoting the beautiful Wandle Trail, and increasing footfall to local businesses at the same time.

The website has the river Wandle at its centre, and includes detailed descriptions of the 14 mile Wandle Trail, with a map, to help people plan their walks.  It also has information about local shops, cafes, pubs and businesses along the river, to hopefully increase their footfall.

We are extremely lucky to have a chalk stream flowing through our area.  I hope the website will help to foster a sense of pride in our local river, and encourage people to do what they can to protect it.

Since community is also very important to me, I wanted the website to be a place where locals could find meet ups and activities.  It has an events section which advertises river clean ups, volunteering opportunities, festivals, tours, talks, walks and pub events. 

Over the past year, the website has gained a significant following, with over 30,000 visitors in the last month.  Wandle News also won the award for Best Start up Business of the Year at the Wandsworth Business Awards in 2023.   I am hoping that it will continue to grow, and raise awareness of the environmental issues affecting our river.

If anyone wants to follow Wandle News, I encourage them to sign up to the newsletter through the website:  wandlenews.com”

Olivia Herlihy

Editor, Wandle News