The River Sid Catchment Group has been making real progress over just the one year since its inception – and it continues to dazzle and delight in its projects.
Its latest endeavour has been its collaboration with the Sidmouth School of Art with the River Sid artwork now featured on Sidmouth’s Wallspace as reported in the Herald – to coincide with the Sid Valley Nature Festival in the Byes at the beginning of the month.
As the RSCG’s social media pages say, We hope you enjoy this celebration of our wonderful River Sid… up on the Sidmouth School of Art wallspace
This is the result of a 6 week project working with young people who created these stunning acrylic backgrounds and haikus under the guidance of our lead artist Kate Hennessy. The final piece was digitally ‘stitched’ together by project lead Emily Hobson- Martin, before the street artist responsible for our beloved Sid Seagul, Steve McCracken pasted the fish up to represent the struggle of our migratory fish such as brown trout, who are unable to navigate the full river due to barriers such as weirs. 
The final line of the haiku ‘stop pollution now’ is the young people’s call to action- for anyone who will listen. This small group gained a deeper understanding of the river and her wild inhabitants, which came with a will to protect.
And as the Sidmouth School of Art says about its joint project on the River Sid:
This collaboration between artists and young people sends a message of love to our river. With its natural tones and flowing energy, the multimedia composition of acrylic artworks, with fish pasted on is riven through with a series of haikus that describe the joyful qualities of the river ending with a powerful call to action to safeguard the future of its resident species.
The River Sid Catchment Group are champions for our wonderful river Sid working hard to monitor and improve water quality, habitat and climate change resilience.
A group of nine young people worked with our lead artist-Caitlin Hennessy, street artist Steve McCracken, project lead Emily Hobson-Martin, youth workers from Young Devon and other members of the River Sid Catchment Group , a multi- faceted project combining the river and the arts.
The resulting piece utilises acrylic artworks and haikus created by the young people, which were digitally combined by Emily, with Kate’s composition.
The young people of the Sid Valley would like to send a message of love and support to the river, whilst asking those in power to protect it, as its own natural entity with the right to thrive and continue to give life to the many species who call it home.
Working hard to monitor and improve water quality, habitat and climate change resilience, in 2024 they identified a need to get the local community engaged with the river and its natural surroundings. Thanks to the East Devon National Landscape Communities Project Fund, the River Sid Outreach project was born.
Finally, you can watch the installation happening here:
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